I once had a professor at Duke who admonished our class not to put illustrations into folders for use at a later date. He related his own experience of those illustrations or experiences being outdated or forced into sermons. The same could be said about current situations or current events – we sometimes use them or force them into situations. But his point was simple, if something happens and it’s relevant, use it!
OK – point well taken. There have been several things that have been happening in the ministry of the church, and in many ways they are all related. Regular attendees would probably not see these things in action for they are more administrative details and things that happen behind the scenes. Let me try to describe the events.
The first happened on Monday. I was given the task of evaluating and reviewing a program that we offered last fall. The program was made possible by a grant through the United Methodist Foundation. (Did that sound like a public television broadcast?) Following the receipt of a grant, the recipient is responsible to report the progress of the program, which usually involves reporting how the money was spent. It is a measuring tool.
Today, I am preparing a presentation to our Church Council on how important it is to provide focus to ministry through a Vision Statement. Vision Statements are measuring tools by which programs can be administered and evaluated.
Finally, an organ tuner just arrived. For those of you who have ever had to sit on the other side of a wall from organ tuning, it is an eyebrow furrowing, ear twitching experience. You don’t know that an organ is out of tune until two like notes are played together and you can actually hear the sound waves clashing. The tuner meticulously moves from note to note to measure, and fine tune the instrument.
All of these events combined have me thinking about a mid-lenten evaluation. Maybe it’s the time for us to measure where we are on this Lenten journey as well as where we are personally on this walk of faith. Maybe it is a wonderful opportunity to make a mid-course adjustment to your commitments that you’ve made to the church. Questions you can be asking are: am I spending time with God; am I attending worship regularly; am I serving the Lord and those God is calling us to serve; am I regularly praying and moving myself forward on this journey to the cross?
The prophets in the Old Testament often used the image of a plumb line or what some call a plumb bob. It is a weight at the end of a line of string. It is used in construction to measure the up-rightness of a wall or building. Holding the line at the top of a wall, the weight would hand down straight. Today, contractors and home improvement geeks use levels to determine if something is plumb.
The Lord showed the prophet Amos a plumb line to let him know that we need to be measuring and evaluating and assessing our lives constantly. So I guess I have just one question – How are you doing on this walk of faith? Do you need a tune-up or mid-course adjustment? What will it take for you to get your wall of faith back in line?
My prayer for you this day will be that you are plumb, and if you are not that you might be given the tools and the strength to make those little adjustments so that you can stand upright and righteous before the Lord.
This week in worship we will be continuing our series on Following Christ and removing our own preconceived notions of life as we follow Christ to Hope. I hate to tell you this part – Its daylight savings time this weekend. Remember to set your clocks ahead! I look forward to seeing your tired eyes on Sunday.
Please pray for me, and know that I am praying for you.
Greg
OK – point well taken. There have been several things that have been happening in the ministry of the church, and in many ways they are all related. Regular attendees would probably not see these things in action for they are more administrative details and things that happen behind the scenes. Let me try to describe the events.
The first happened on Monday. I was given the task of evaluating and reviewing a program that we offered last fall. The program was made possible by a grant through the United Methodist Foundation. (Did that sound like a public television broadcast?) Following the receipt of a grant, the recipient is responsible to report the progress of the program, which usually involves reporting how the money was spent. It is a measuring tool.
Today, I am preparing a presentation to our Church Council on how important it is to provide focus to ministry through a Vision Statement. Vision Statements are measuring tools by which programs can be administered and evaluated.
Finally, an organ tuner just arrived. For those of you who have ever had to sit on the other side of a wall from organ tuning, it is an eyebrow furrowing, ear twitching experience. You don’t know that an organ is out of tune until two like notes are played together and you can actually hear the sound waves clashing. The tuner meticulously moves from note to note to measure, and fine tune the instrument.
All of these events combined have me thinking about a mid-lenten evaluation. Maybe it’s the time for us to measure where we are on this Lenten journey as well as where we are personally on this walk of faith. Maybe it is a wonderful opportunity to make a mid-course adjustment to your commitments that you’ve made to the church. Questions you can be asking are: am I spending time with God; am I attending worship regularly; am I serving the Lord and those God is calling us to serve; am I regularly praying and moving myself forward on this journey to the cross?
The prophets in the Old Testament often used the image of a plumb line or what some call a plumb bob. It is a weight at the end of a line of string. It is used in construction to measure the up-rightness of a wall or building. Holding the line at the top of a wall, the weight would hand down straight. Today, contractors and home improvement geeks use levels to determine if something is plumb.
The Lord showed the prophet Amos a plumb line to let him know that we need to be measuring and evaluating and assessing our lives constantly. So I guess I have just one question – How are you doing on this walk of faith? Do you need a tune-up or mid-course adjustment? What will it take for you to get your wall of faith back in line?
My prayer for you this day will be that you are plumb, and if you are not that you might be given the tools and the strength to make those little adjustments so that you can stand upright and righteous before the Lord.
This week in worship we will be continuing our series on Following Christ and removing our own preconceived notions of life as we follow Christ to Hope. I hate to tell you this part – Its daylight savings time this weekend. Remember to set your clocks ahead! I look forward to seeing your tired eyes on Sunday.
Please pray for me, and know that I am praying for you.
Greg
2 comments:
Thanks for the good writing.
Thinking about the implications of your post left me, well, plumb tuckered out.
Thanks for your good words.So true. With God's grace and the covenant relationships of sisters and brothers in faith I am pressing or plumbing on.
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