Ephesians 6: 7-8: Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because
you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do.
Pastor Jeremy spoke last week about serving the Lord. He did NOT speak about serving the
church. The older I get (and I’m getting old fast!), the more I recognize a difference between
serving Jesus and being active in the church. More on that in a moment.
We are more than halfway through Lent. I began Lent with three intentions:
1. To donate money weekly to local organizations to help meet their missions.
2. To donate at least one book per day.
3. To rid our household of at least one object per day, to the Habitat Restore or to Goodwill or to a local garage sale.
The monetary donations are going as scheduled. I’ve already met the quota of donated books. I’ve found and cleared out a stash of birdseed behind some books on a basement shelf that was probably put there by a mouse!
It’s been much harder to get rid of the STUFF. I found myself reluctant to get rid of some shot glasses that we got as a wedding present more than 50 years ago. We don’t even use shot glasses! I’ve passed on some lanyards from old tour groups (what if I need a lanyard? I won’t). I found scarves that I never wear, measuring cups that have the measurements worn off, old light bulbs? I can look at any object and think of some POTENTIAL use for it that certainly won’t happen in my lifetime.
I don’t need that stuff. It wears me down and it collects dust. But what does that have to do
with my Christian life? Why am I so reluctant to get rid of things that aren’t helping me? If I’m
keeping shot glasses that haven’t been used in 50 years but have been packed up, moved and unpacked nearly a dozen times in that time, how can I ever give up everything to follow Jesus?
Our church family is getting ready to make decisions that will determine our church’s future.
Some of us wonder why we are doing this, or why we are doing this NOW, when we could
sweep the issues under some rug somewhere (a good reason to keep an old rug!). The results of these decisions will be painful, no matter the outcome. At some point, we must stop stewing about other people and their sexuality and return our focus to serving the Lord.
In the meantime, we as a church have gotten rid of some issues:
1. Thinking about the elevator as something that will happen “someday” and using that as
an excuse not to move forward.
2. Changing the leadership structure of the church so that someone who wants to start a
ministry or take an action doesn’t have to go through several committees and several months before beginning.
3. Getting some new tables and chairs so that people can actually sit comfortably in
Fellowship Hall!
We are getting ready to move forward, into a renewed season of serving the Lord. As Easter comes, let’s celebrate!