Big Bend Tunnel

It was 1870 at Big Bend Tunnel when the drama unfolded. The expansion of the railroad would not, could not be stopped, connecting the whole country across plains and rivers and mountains that divide. Yet the times they were a changin’ and what used to be accomplished by the power of the human spirit was being given to the steam driven machine. So in West Virginia, the mettle of a man was tested against a steel drill. John Henry was a steel-driving man swinging 20 pound hammers against a bit to bite into rock and chip away a way through the hardest mountain pass. He declared a challenge and offered a race between himself and the new technology. At the starting whistle the steam drill roared to life and coldly approached the task. Henry’s heart hammered and his body began to sweat as he swung iron and moved rock. The steam machine, though, was quick indeed and shortly moved ahead. Henry would not be bested so easily and, to the wonder of all who watched, grabbed a second hammer, now swinging one in each hand. The thunder of the hammer blows merged into one cacophony pierced now and again by the squealing of the machine. Neck and neck they strove until at the last Henry proved the faster. But even as he won, the final hammer blow chimed, too, the last beat of his heart. For while Henry was the faster once, the Steam drill went on to dig again.

This weekend, a group of leaders from Highland Hills will sit down for our Dawnings Leader Retreat and we will formally start a journey as a church to listen again for who God is calling us to be and what God is calling us to do. As Caitlin mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we will be learning to ‘remission’ as a church - to consider from the ground up and inside out what it means to be Highland Hills. In many ways the task of remissioning is like the story above. The Ballad of John Henry tells of a pivotal time in American history when technology and innovation were quickly changing the ways people lived and worked. The temptation for many in the face of new technological possibilities was to double down on the tried and true method and assume that if we could just be a little bit better at what we have always done, that would be enough. That temptation is before the church as well. We could learn to be better at the programs we already have. We could learn to have more interesting topics, better advertising, better food (though that’s pretty hard here), better lighting, and better execution, but even if we were to do so we would ultimately miss out on what it means to be church here and now. Like John Henry we might win the race and start to grow only to die out in the end - perhaps literally, perhaps spiritually. The task of remissioning is not simply to be a better version of what we have always been, but to be the version of Highland Hills that God is calling us to be right now. Remissioning is hard because inevitably some things must change, but it is also an opportunity to be more engaged with the work God is already doing all around us. So let’s lean in, let’s listen hard, and learn to trust God with the journey.