A Peculiar People
Some people know I affectionately refer to our church as the “Land of Misfit Toys – People Edition”, referencing one of my favorite holiday shows. I wonder often about the amazing group of people that God has put together into our church family. One of my favorite things is being part of people getting to know each other, in fact it is at the center of our church motto – Love God, Love our Neighbor, Serve Humanity.
If you are committed to loving someone you get to know them, you become focused on who they are and what they like and dislike rather than what are your own interests. This is the heart of any relationship, with God, with our children, spouse, boss, parents, friends – across the board.
Yesterday I had two of those “ah-ha” moments where I saw people living what we claim to be about. Both were moments to celebrate.
The first was in worship. Earlier in the service I was speaking about a person in the church family who had a unique and fruitful ministry and how much I admire that person. In the middle of the sermon he had to get up and leave to go serve in that ministry. I was grateful that he made the commitment to get up early on a day he was going to put in a long day of ministry and make it out to church for the first three-quarters of worship.
As my friend got up to go, right in the middle of the sermon, people began to clap for him as he headed out the door. (Of course there are some issues to address when a church applauds one of its own who gets up to leave in the middle of a sermon!) What I took the applause to mean was that the church family recognized and appreciates that this person is very engaged in a ministry to young people in our community – it is not an “official” ministry of our church (what does that mean anyway?) but we claim it and we claim that each and every one of us has a calling to minister wherever we find ourselves. We are committed to making the lives of our neighbors better and that is God’s plan for our church.
Each week I look out and see people who, motivated by their relationship with Jesus, are working to know and love their neighbors and serve their community to “leave it and those we encounter in the community better than we found them”.
The second vignette was Sunday afternoon standing in the swimming pool playing with a dozen kids from the church and looking over a back yard of fifty or so people from our church family talking, getting to know each other and becoming friends in the midst of being part of a family. It was one of the best things I have laid eyes on in the five years we have been worshiping together and goes in a mental file of other moments like it before and after church, at housebuilds, at Delanco Camp and many other places. We cannot love each other until we invest in getting to know each other. I am thankful for these two among many beautiful moments in our family history.
Tonight we are working to move the Ashe family into their condo in Atco and we are excited about what God has in store there.
Yesterday I was approached about beginning a Christian Recovery program at Crossroads and we will be investigating that possibility over the next few months.
Today the church made a $400 donation to a local missionary whose car broke down and is raising funds to continue in ministry.
This coming Sunday we will once again be in Matthew 13 and will be looking at the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.
May God Bless you as you seek to know God and know God’s will for your life, as you learn to love your neighbor and serve all people through the love of Christ.
- Pastor Jim 7.18.11
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