Let's not try to gloss it over or blame someone. We don't like change. That's why us guys wear the same clothes every time we can get a chance. That is why we avoid the cute little tea places our mates tell us about. That is the reason we go back to the same cars or trucks or brand-name appliance. (Sometimes price wins over nostalgia!). We like to have the same doctor and HATE the new process of men and women stethescoping our chests when we can't even pronounce their names. They do that in hospitals now, you know. Your long-time doc just isn't going to be over there any more. Everything about you is on a computer anyway. They can all read the screen. Even if it is in several languages.
We like to sit at the same place in church. There are no reserved seats, but there ought to be. "Hey buddy! You're in my place! I have sat there for twenty years! Look at all those empty places down front. Move along now, so I can settle in to worship, and then smilingly greet you when the time is right."
Stay with me now..... recall those days and years of the past when you were excited about change? You maybe changed your name. You changed cities and jobs and schools, and never minded a bit. Your church changed pastors. They got a young guy that your mother said "Looks like my grandson!". He wanted to change things. He had the offering taken at the END of the service. Who ever heard of that? They started singing CHORUSES! The Young People sat at the front. Your dad had always been on the back row when he was a teen. The church sold the old school bus and bought vans! Change! We loved it back then.
I thought of a hymn as I wrote this essay. It is rarely sung except at a funeral. There is one verse I will close with. "Swift to it's close ebbs out life's little day
Earth's joys grow dim, it's glories pass away.
Change and decay in all around I see:
O Thou who changest, not....abide with me."
