| You Just Never Know
One of the pieces of a pastor’s life not always considered by non-preachers is how often sermons work on the hearts and minds of preachers, first. Most of us who preach have periods where we know that God is first addressing us, long before God intends to address people in a sermon. Such is the case with the present series. Long before I knew what circumstances might come, I decided to preach on Ecclesiastes. Lord, how the Teacher has taught me.
This week, we consider the tweet, “You Just Never Know.” Part of the Bible passage speaks to the fact we cannot always know what God is doing. Such has been the case around the church for the past couple of months. Staff turnover has become the summer experience for this pastor. First, the director of music with whom I’ve had a great working relationship and friendship – perhaps the best with a church musician I’ve enjoyed in my 20 years. Then, the children’s ministry director wanted to return to full-time motherhood, and no-time staffer, understandable by those of us who’ve had stay-at-home moms at our house. Then, Pam in the front office decided she wanted to devote more time to a photography business and less time at the church (she plans to stay on and manage our publications, thankfully). That left us in a position we were in two years ago, an opportunity to split responsibilities in a position that simply cannot be done by the same person or personality. The same week, Matt who leads worship at the middle service, decided to make a change and move with fiance’ Michelle to Houston to pursue her new opportunity and his career as a teacher. By the time two weeks had passed, the weekly email updates to S-PRC read “News from Lake Staff-be-Gone” in the subject header.
This time of year is not the most conducive to search for staff in a local church, so I held my breath, prayed a lot, and tried to see what God was doing. I am still not sure, and am comfortable that I may not ever know. It may not be God at all, but if so, we must be in for something really good. What I do know is this – these kind of transitions don’t happen unless God is doing a new thing, whether we perceive it or not. The best news is, we now have some good candidates for almost every position we need to fill. Please pray the rest will be made known to us in due time as the Spirit of God calls them to us.
Isaiah, in the 40th chapter, relates that those who grow weary will renew their strength, but before he wrote those words, he asks the question, “Who can know the mind of the Lord or be his instructor or counselor?” Certainly not me, but I am waiting on the renewal of strength. I am ready to soar again like an eagle, but for now, I wait upon Him.
See you Sunday, where we will search to understand His mind toward us, and where we will search to know what new thing He may be doing.
Blessings,
Mark
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Weekend Update July 30, 2010
There are Three Simple Words July 25, 2010
[podcast format="video"]http://www.westernhillsep.org/uploadswhumc/ThereareThreeSimpleWords.m4a[/podcast]
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Weekend Update 7-23-10
| Inside and Out
During our graduate school years, my father paid the plane fare for my family and me to come home during the Christmas holidays. Attempting to save all the money we could, we never took the same route since different years meant specials by different airlines through different airports. The pre-Internet years made that an even larger challenge for us and travel agents.
One of those trips, and I can no longer remember which one, we had an extended layover with a new experience for our two sons – a moving sidewalk. Due to the need to keep them preoccupied as we waited for our flight to be called, the boys and I spent a good deal of time on the sidewalk. They competed to see if one could run down the corridor and beat the other to the of the walk while the other stood on the belt, and all sorts of other competitive experiences. I noticed, and helped the boys notice, signs that pointed the way to places we needed to go, how to exhibit moving sidewalk etiquette and how to avoid “standers” as well as high speed walkers as we played. As I reflected on that experience, it reminded me of the call to ministry. It was very much like that period of my life.
I had answered a calling that had grown inside me for a long time, started a process of education to make sure I could do it as well as possible, met obstacles and challenges along the way, and all the while aware that I seemed to be in a process that was taking me somewhere without fully knowing what would be at the end when it was completed. It has continued to be that way ever since.
Next Tuesday evening, we will meet together in our sanctuary to hear about the call to ministry in the life of one we know well and despite the nature of her not being a native El Pasoan, she is one of us. She has stepped onto a moving reality for her that is as unique as she is, but with some very common elements that all calls to ministry embody.
We will meet with her for at least two reasons. One, anyone can believe there is an inner urge from God to go preach. If there is not, it is disastrous for that person to pursue that urge, no matter how strong it may be. That is where the church has its role. The church must, along the way, not only acknowledge that God is still calling persons to ministry but that our responsibility is to help examine the source of that calling and the gifts and graces of the person. When the inner sense of a call meets with the validation of the congregation, then both church and person can be reasonably sure the experience that is unique to each of us is indeed real.
We will also meet because this is a moment of validation and celebration for the ministry of our church. It means that ministry has happened in various and wonderful and even hidden ways, so much so that someone senses the call of God to pursue ministry. We are not “standers” on the belt moving forward, we are participants in the call who help point the way, can even stand in the way and can help move things along as we participate with someone who senses a call.
See you Sunday, and see you Tuesday, where we will celebrate His call to each of us to minister in His name.
Blessings,
Mark
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July 16, 2010 Weekend Update
Focus – it can be said that what has our attention, has us. A story is told about a man whose two sons grew up to become sailors, even though they lived in the middle of America’s farming heartland. The father’s best friend visited and as they were catching up, the father lamented that it had been months since he had seen his sons and he truly missed them. “I don’t understand it,” he said, “how those two boys, growing up in all this farming territory, would have such a love for the sea that it became their life’s work.”
The next morning, the father’s friend, who just happened to be a psychologist, emerged from the room in which he had been staying. “I think I know the answer to your question,” he said. “Come into this room where I have been sleeping. Is it not the same one in which your sons grew up? What do you see on the wall opposite their beds?” Hanging on the wall, just above a dresser, was a picture of a four-masted cutter, sails unfurled in the wind, making wave across the sea. What has our attention will also have us.
Psalmist David said he would only ask one thing of the Lord: to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Not that the Temple was for pristine and kingly living, it was about the relationship he enjoyed with God and never wanted to be out of God’s presence. The Apostle Paul, relating to the Philippian church, stated that one thing he did was to forget “all that is behind me and strain forward to take hold of the reason Christ Jesus took hold of me.” The context for Paul was one of a review of his accomplishments and knowledge of God, and what he needed to leave behind to encounter more of the reason Christ wanted him.
All summer long, I fight myself to focus. It seems a little influence one way or the other, or something imposed upon me, helps me focus on everything from yard work (grass is getting mighty tall) to the spiritual disciplines (pride sure is creeping into my thoughts and attitudes again). No matter how much I seem to believe in something and even experience its benefits, I still have to impose my own sense of focus on many things. That includes worship – would I be there each week if it weren’t my calling? I want to think so, but I am glad I have that imposed upon me. I might start to slip in the summer fulfilling my vows of participation if it weren’t. See you soon, in the place where He comes “eagerly” (Luke 22:15) to meet with us and help us re-focus.
Mark
July 9, 2010 Weekend Update
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