WATCHWORD:
1 Then Job replied to the Lord:
2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job 42:1-6
Meditation:
God’s Church – Part 3
This past Sunday, our Pastor preached on the topic of what is happening within our churches. With the harshness of truth, he cited many of the changes that have shaken our church over the past 30 years, that have left many of us wondering about the future of our congregation. The change has been in elements of mission, for there is so much in our history, that is embedded in our memories of the way “it used to be” that makes it hard to look at where we are now, and what will be.
If you’ll pardon a personal reference here, I’ve said this before but one of the things that I don’t care for about the game of golf, is that a good round of golf sets me up for disappointment in my next round. We revel in the power of a thriving Church, every pew filled, beautiful organ music and choirs, outreach, and dinners, and on and on, all of which attracted that mighty congregation. That stopped working years ago but the image is still there in the frontal lobes of the membership.
Pastor Jeff went on to talk about, what do we do? Do we take out the pews, install an indoor fire pit and sit around the fire singing Kumbahya? That’s probably not a good idea to go in that direction. But what the heck do we do? He suggested that we need to embrace the idea of letting go. And find a way to both grieve and celebrate our losses and recognize that the mystery of God’s purpose for the church is unfolding and we have to live with that mystery for a while and see what we are being given.
He went on to say that it took some time for those who stood crying over a destroyed temple to realize that God wanted them to gather in small groups, in many home-synagogues, but they eventually got the message and did it. Seeing what God is doing in the church is the path on which faith wishes to place us. So many of our churches are in the midst of great loss and, on one hand it’s worse than we think, and because of that, it is better than we think.
His closing comment was this: “If the narrative of the history of God’s people has anything to say about it, we need to repent of our old thinking as Job did, let us grieve and celebrate, and watch and wait, and risk testing wild ideas, while listening for God’s direction.”
We cannot know what God has in store for any of our churches. I have heard it said that embracing our religion is easy, but truly acting on our faith, now that is hard. That is what we are called upon to do in the present era. Counting the numbers in our pews is not where it’s at. The future of the church is in the hands of God, and in the trust of believers. He has told us that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and we need rest on that. God bless is all. Amen.
Bulletin Board:
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow through the wilderness calling and free
Spirit, Spirit of restlessness, stir us from placidness, Wind, Wind on the sea.
Praying with the Apostle Paul:
Romans 8:38-39 — And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
