S&T Factor

When I was looking for something else, I found a sack with some books I had bought several months ago. One of the books is named Surprise Me: A 30-Day Faith Experiment and details the journey as the author’s daily prayer was simply three words, “Surprise me, God!” Terry Esau is not afraid of challenges or change. The author is in the music industry and has a personal theory called the “S&T factor” which states his belief that if there is not at least one person who Squirms and Twitches when they hear it, then toss it out, it’s dead. A phrase that has given him energy and courage over his career, and that he shares with leaders, is: “Incrementalism is innovation’s worst enemy.” Boy, just reading that made me start to squirm and twitch! He believes that if we are trying to ease our way into change, “same our way into something different,” in a way in which no one feels uncomfortable, then the original momentum will be diluted, mutated, or derailed. Maybe this advice works well as attention-getting music for TV commercials or radio jingles, but how many other venues can really apply this advice??? When you are problem-solving in mechanics, if you make too many adjustments at once, you don’t know which the key to the correction was. It’s best to be slow and deliberate. When you get into the pool are you more likely to dive in all at once, or walk down the stairs trying to adjust temperatures in stages? Was Jesus more likely to apply the “Steady as She Goes factor” or the “Squirms and Twitches factor” as he taught? Perhaps there will be more than just children fidgeting in the pews if we are willing to be surprised by God.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, We are surprised by your Grace. We are wary of sudden revelations but impatient with lesson-filled wanderings. We want to maintain our position. Help us to let go of the comfort of familiarity and learn to value the uneasiness of the mystery. Help us to discern the changes that are your will, and to bring them about with strength and devotion. Let our own thoughts be subject to your authority and release our conditions to your vision. Even though we prefer to be in familiar surroundings, let us be open to travel, challenges, revisions and change as we encounter you in new ways. Surprise us, God! Amen.