Friday, May 19, 2006
If You Wanna Touch the Sky, Better Learn How to Kneel
I am in a pondering mood. My mother, the mother of my child, and my son are all fast asleep in my home. It is good for us to be together. This fragile fragment of a fractured family has resurged, resillient and strengthened. And with the joy of our little child, and my brother's three children, we have hope and joy for the future that comes out of a clouded past. With God's help, we will avoid the disasterous personal tectonics that shifted the ground underfoot in the 90's. My little family is trying to find new ways to live and relate and to find more fully our new identity enrobed by the Holy Spirit to model and share. We have not arrived; but the journey is probably the only home we will have until we see Jesus face to face.
Our little church is on a journey. My walk with you has only been the last lap of a forty year marathon. Some have run from the beginning, others of us have joined later. But in the last year, our lap together, we have so much for which to be thankful. When I arrived, I was initially unaware of the five families who had left our little fellowship just weeks before I arrived. I was aware of the financial predicament that we were in. Attendance slumped in the later summer and early fall. Jim and Terrie announced they were moving, two key staff members as well as church members. And yet God has made a way, like he always has. Attendance is up now. Giving is up from last year. We have baptized five new believers. We have added two new staff members since the beginning of the year. April was our best giving month in my tenure. Attendance in April and the first half of May, excluding Easter, averaged 120 which as far as I can tell is about as good as attendance in our church has ever been over a comparable period. The temptation might be to push even harder, to work harder, to capitalize on the good work that God has done through us and among us.
But I do not believe that's the next step. I do not believe that God's work is done by humans trying harder to accomplish things for Him. One of the truths that I have come to realize, once again, is that we must live the words God Almighty gave to the Psalmist (46:10)- "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted in the nations, I will be exalted on the earth!" Without stillness, without reflection, without rest, I will revert to the insticts and training that left me emotionally stranded, spiritually hopeless, and intellectually defeated. While the perimeter, the walls and boundries of my life, are now patrolled by two and not merely one, it does not mean that I cannot bring destructive behavior into my life. I must resolve to reflect on both my life and God's grace in order to discover who I am and what I am called to accomplish.
In the month of June we will collectively endeavor to rest. I have directed staff to reduce their workload and to rest from some of their duties from June 5 to the end of the month. Already, there have been both request for, and successful attempts to, go around these boundries. I have compromised already on a few dates and times. Still, I believe that we need to rest and reflect on who God is in our lives individually and corporately. We will not become all that we were created to be by our own devising or merely trying to work harder.
Actually, rest may be harder than you imagine. Sometimes we keep busy so we don't have to face God, be open to Jesus about our work and relationships, or even have time to listen to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. We like to fly around, create hobbies, do anything but be still and come before the Lord of the Universe. While God is all-loving, and all-forgiving, coming before his Presence with our lives can be frightening. Even though we are assured of His forgiveness and Grace, rejoicing in our giftedness for service well used and humbly accepting our failures to do so is daunting.
I want to encourage you to spend time with Him in the coming month. I know that when there are fewer activities at church, you will be tempted to fill your schedule with other things. I also know that as we merge down to one servie in latter June, it would be easy to not go at all. Yet, what we need, both for ourselves and for our families is not more activities- we already do too many of those- but a new sense of God's transferable holiness to us and a renewed sense of life mission. If we string our activities end to end we might find purpose in them, but only in intentionally seeking out God's will for our lives will we find the fulfilment and purpose that he wants to grant out of His love. We need to model for our children the priority of our relationship with Jesus, even if it means there is less time to be with them. They may not understand now, but they will not forget our example.
So come along on this scary adventure of meeting Jesus in rest. Read scripture. Meditate on it. Pray. Examine your life. Sense the wind of the Spirit encouraging you and leading you. Coil yourself for the next leap that God has for you individually and collectively in the ministry of the church. He is faithful to do more than we can ask, or even imagine, in our lives and in our community. May Jesus Christ be praised in both our work and in our stillness.
In His Name,
Amen.
Our little church is on a journey. My walk with you has only been the last lap of a forty year marathon. Some have run from the beginning, others of us have joined later. But in the last year, our lap together, we have so much for which to be thankful. When I arrived, I was initially unaware of the five families who had left our little fellowship just weeks before I arrived. I was aware of the financial predicament that we were in. Attendance slumped in the later summer and early fall. Jim and Terrie announced they were moving, two key staff members as well as church members. And yet God has made a way, like he always has. Attendance is up now. Giving is up from last year. We have baptized five new believers. We have added two new staff members since the beginning of the year. April was our best giving month in my tenure. Attendance in April and the first half of May, excluding Easter, averaged 120 which as far as I can tell is about as good as attendance in our church has ever been over a comparable period. The temptation might be to push even harder, to work harder, to capitalize on the good work that God has done through us and among us.
But I do not believe that's the next step. I do not believe that God's work is done by humans trying harder to accomplish things for Him. One of the truths that I have come to realize, once again, is that we must live the words God Almighty gave to the Psalmist (46:10)- "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted in the nations, I will be exalted on the earth!" Without stillness, without reflection, without rest, I will revert to the insticts and training that left me emotionally stranded, spiritually hopeless, and intellectually defeated. While the perimeter, the walls and boundries of my life, are now patrolled by two and not merely one, it does not mean that I cannot bring destructive behavior into my life. I must resolve to reflect on both my life and God's grace in order to discover who I am and what I am called to accomplish.
In the month of June we will collectively endeavor to rest. I have directed staff to reduce their workload and to rest from some of their duties from June 5 to the end of the month. Already, there have been both request for, and successful attempts to, go around these boundries. I have compromised already on a few dates and times. Still, I believe that we need to rest and reflect on who God is in our lives individually and corporately. We will not become all that we were created to be by our own devising or merely trying to work harder.
Actually, rest may be harder than you imagine. Sometimes we keep busy so we don't have to face God, be open to Jesus about our work and relationships, or even have time to listen to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. We like to fly around, create hobbies, do anything but be still and come before the Lord of the Universe. While God is all-loving, and all-forgiving, coming before his Presence with our lives can be frightening. Even though we are assured of His forgiveness and Grace, rejoicing in our giftedness for service well used and humbly accepting our failures to do so is daunting.
I want to encourage you to spend time with Him in the coming month. I know that when there are fewer activities at church, you will be tempted to fill your schedule with other things. I also know that as we merge down to one servie in latter June, it would be easy to not go at all. Yet, what we need, both for ourselves and for our families is not more activities- we already do too many of those- but a new sense of God's transferable holiness to us and a renewed sense of life mission. If we string our activities end to end we might find purpose in them, but only in intentionally seeking out God's will for our lives will we find the fulfilment and purpose that he wants to grant out of His love. We need to model for our children the priority of our relationship with Jesus, even if it means there is less time to be with them. They may not understand now, but they will not forget our example.
So come along on this scary adventure of meeting Jesus in rest. Read scripture. Meditate on it. Pray. Examine your life. Sense the wind of the Spirit encouraging you and leading you. Coil yourself for the next leap that God has for you individually and collectively in the ministry of the church. He is faithful to do more than we can ask, or even imagine, in our lives and in our community. May Jesus Christ be praised in both our work and in our stillness.
In His Name,
Amen.
