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Notes From the Lay Leader

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Ephesians 6:7: "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people."


Pastor Jeremy’s current sermon series is entitled "Jesus and We". The theme is that we all have work to do to promote the Kingdom of God. In his special music, Richard Patton sang that “Lord, I’ll live my life for you.” Pastor Jeremy preached that “God is going to stir up this church to…(fill in the blank).” He suggested that we take note of something that needs to be done, something that no one is doing, and then DO IT.


One of the things that amuses me about people is how we all are so good at the first clause of the sentence above. At this church, and in any other organization that I’ve been part of, most people are surprisingly good at identifying things that need to be done. Unfortunately, most people also phrase their observations as “somebody needs to do X.” The person with the observation, who is mostly correct in the statement, will go on to explain how they are not going to do X. They think their job is to observe, and then they are finished.


It can be worse: I worked for more than 20 years for a supervisor at Ferris who was surprisingly good at finding things that needed to be done. When the faculty in my program supported the idea, she would then construct a detailed explanation for why we are NOT going to do what needs to be done, because she claimed that she just didn’t have the time, even when the faculty were going to do the work. Change frightened her. When the task really DID need to be done, she would assign it to one of us, even when the job was listed in her job description. When it was my turn to get something dumped on me, she would always flatter me by explaining that I was so good at my job that she wanted to reward me with more responsibility. (Well done, good and faithful servant. Here is more work for which I - the supervisor- will take credit after you do it).


Last Sunday night/Monday morning, I woke up in the night and remembered to lie still and see if God had anything to say to me. God reminded me of something that I think needs to be done at church and that nobody is doing.


Let me tell you, God is not interested in excuses at 230 am. I won’t do it perfectly: well, I can

do the best I can. It will require being organized; I’m good at organizing things. It will cost a

little money; I can afford it, and besides, it’s not that much money, and it is God’s money

anyway. If I do this, I really also should do X, Y, Z and Q also. God replies: one thing at a time.


If/when I can get this job done, other people can focus on other ministries. It will bless some

people who are worthy of blessings. And months from now, maybe I can start on X, Y, Z or Q.


Stay tuned. God has work for all of us to do.

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