Once in a while a book comes along that grabs my attention and causes the light bulbs to come on.
‘A Non-anxious presence’ by Mark Sayers is one of those books.
In it he describes the world we are living in as the grey zone….the space between the passing of an old era and the beginning of the new.
After all, the agricultural era didn’t end on a Tuesday and the industrial era begin on the Wednesday! There was a space in-between, in the middle, where things were grey and difficult.
It seems to me that this not only describes where our world is at right now but where many of us are at personally.
We are in the middle, we are in the land between, there’s a sense of the old going but the new not quite arriving and it’s a difficult place.
Sayers commentary on our current cultural moment resonates deeply with me, he asserts we are characterised by more conflict both physical and verbal, rapid change, confusion, chaos, contradictions and above all….chronic anxiety.
Could anxiety be more than merely personal but even systemic?
Could we be living through another pandemic….anxiety?
Yet within all this there is hope….
This is ‘nothing new under the sun’ when you look in the rear view mirror of history. In these grey zones, these middle spaces, these land in-betweens there is much to do and much to experience.
Here’s a few ideas, I’m sure you have more, I’d love to hear them….
In the grey zone listen….to your deepest fears and to God’s deepest promises. Maybe the grey zone sums up life for you right now? He promises to never leave us or forsake us, He promises to be peace that guards our hearts and minds like a sentry on duty, that’s the original word for ‘guard’ in Philippians 4 v.7, unflinching, immovable and unshakeable. He promises to work all things together for our good, He promises that we are not at the end of our story.
In the grey zone learn…we instinctively want to retreat to what we know, the systems, structures can I even say strongholds that give us security and assurance and yet God is doing a new thing. The grey zone can be the growth zone!
Hey leaders, if you’re not learning you’re not leading….
In the grey zone look….for colour, it’s all around us if we could just see it. Lives transformed by Gods power and grace, a growing hunger in people for the transcendent, a dissatisfaction with what was and a desire for what could be and what should be. I sense a slow but steady awakening of the dreamers and the darers, people not just asking why? but also…why not?
The grey zone is difficult, demanding, at times disorienting…
But there is life in the grey zone, seeds of renewal, green shoots of promise and more than a few hints of heaven….
Would love to hear what you see and sense right now?
This definitely sums up where I’m at. A time of working through the rubble, digging deep, clearing the ground, ready to rebuild something new. Difficult, but necessary.
Absolutely! It will be worth it!
Brilliant book! I was just with Mark on Sunday at his church in Melbourne and he brought a great message in his series entitled Following is Focus. Mark is a great thinker!
As are you my friend!! Cheering you on…
This definitely resonates with the season we are going through at my school where I work. We’re on our 4th headteacher in two years and there’s been several moving of goal posts and lots of change; out with the old and slowly adapting to the new, again and again. The grey area has felt like a time of chaos at times. But thanks for reminding me whilst it’s a time for change, it’s also a time of learning and listening. Nice one Leon.
Thanks Jodie hope you’re doing well…
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 comes to mind when I read these quotes from your book recommendation.
“We have been taught by the great strongholds of our day, whether formed with a structure of secularism or cultural Christianity (or a hybrid of both), that pressure is a bad thing. That it is possible to live life and walk through the raindrops without getting wet. So as the cultural pressure increases against the church in our gray zone moment and we find ourselves in a wilderness, those who turn to God, who choose not to run from the wilderness, who seek His presence in the wilderness, will be transformed with spiritual authority.”
Without this wilderness, “we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. Jesus himself entered into this furnace.
There he was tempted with the three compulsions of the world: to be relevant (‘turn stones into loaves’), to be spectacular (‘throw yourself down’), and to be powerful (‘I will give you all these kingdoms’). There he affirmed God as the only source of his identity (‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone’).”
Mark Sayers, A Non-Anxious Presence: How a Changing and Complex World will Create a Remnant of Renewed Christian Leaders
Thanks Leon for your superb embracive teaching/exposition
/encouragement/challenges over the month of January along with the succinct summary this morning.
All my love
Ian