Growth and direction

Almost two years ago, Steve and I moved from the church we had been attending, the church he grew up in, to a church closer to home. We had several very good reasons for leaving our old church and finding a new church home, but it was still a scary proposition. This was the case mainly because we were moving from a church where we knew almost everyone to one that was much bigger where we knew almost no one.

The first thing I knew I had to do was to find a Sunday School for myself and Steve. We visited a few and found a home in the Asbury Class. The leader of the class was warm and welcoming as was the rest of the class. The class wasn't too large and we liked the sorts of things that were discussed. Eventually, I became co-leader of the class, which made me feel even more at home because I love to teach adult Sunday School.

We went through the new member's class and joined the new church a year ago December. About two months later, the minister announced that he was being moved (as Methodists are wont to have done to them). We watched a minister we liked leave and a plan for church expansion get put on hold.

When we found out who our new minister was to be, I found his wife online through her blog. She found my photo blog and we had lunch shortly after they got to town. A warm and truly engaging person, I fell in love with Mollie and her family through her. Brian's very personal approach to us as members of the church (which isn't easy to do with a congregation of our size) made me thankful that our church had been brought this new pastor.

Now, our church is about to embark on an even bigger expansion than the one laid out in the blueprints that got mothballed a year ago. We recently found out that a loan has been approved for us to purchase a retail center that abuts the church parking lot. Perfectly located for us to grow without "moving", the largest space in the center is a empty grocery store. We will begin renovations there. I have walked inside this empty store and the amount of room is astonishing! I can't wait to see what we will do with this opportunity.

I am also anxious to see and hear what God will call us to do with this opportunity. In reading books like The Jesus of Suburbia, and Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, I have been made keenly aware of how easy it is for today's churches to focus inward on their own members and those members' desires and biases. What I hope to see is vibrant outreach in our community, where we can have true impact on those all around us that are not believers, that are not churched, that are in need.

What will God do with our church? What part will my family and I have in this growth? I guess we all just need to pray and listen! I find this so difficult to do, so please join me!

Clay

This past Sunday, my minister approached me to ask if I would be willing to serve the church. I had hoped that this day was coming soon. I knew that the lay leadership committee of the church had been working on a slate of officers and committees. The thing is, I wasn’t asked to do the thing that I had hoped to be asked to do. Still, I gladly accepted the position that was offered, knowing that I was well suited to the role and that I could serve the church well there. But, I would be lying if I said I didn't struggle with the fact that, again, I was being asked to serve in a position that was very like my day to day work and was not, in my opinion, necessarily in alignment with my spiritual gifts.

As ususal, my Father spoke to me in my daily Bible reading just a day later:

Woe to the one who argues with his Maker—
one clay pot among many.
Does clay say to the one forming it:
What are you making?
Or does your work [say]:
He has no hands?
How absurd is the one who says to [his] father:
What are you fathering?
or to [his] mother:
What are you giving birth to?"
Isaiah 45:9-10

Oops. You’re right, Lord. I have no right to question. I must remember that the gift that the church has asked me to use to serve the body of Christ is one that God blessed me with every bit as much as the one I hoped to be asked to use (if in fact I even have that gift). In studying more the concept of the potter and the clay, I found additional convicting scriptures:

You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
"He didn't make me"?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
"He doesn't understand [what he's doing]"?
Isaiah 29:16

Oops again. I was daring to think that God, through the church, didn’t understand what He was doing. I dared to believe that I know myself and my place better than He did.
Jeremiah says:

So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.
The word of the LORD came to me: "House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter [treats his clay]?"—[this is] the LORD's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy [it].” Jeremiah 18:3-6

This makes me think perhaps this turn from where I thought God was leading me may have something to do with me being flawed and needing some fine tuning. I was beginning to force my will upon God in many respects. Looking for a greater calling, I was in great need of a lesson in humility.

The scripture continued to speak to me through Paul:

But who are you—anyone who talks back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" Romans 9:20

So, I came to a place where I can happily, willingly say (paraphrasing Isaiah 64:8):

Yes LORD, You are my Father;
I am the clay, and You are my potter;
I am the work of Your hands.

And, I will know that by serving Him where He places me, I am certain to bring Him glory, not myself.

Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

All scripture quoted from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

There are cookies!

About two or three years ago, a live action movie based on the Scooby Doo cartoons came out in which the lovable Great Dane and his mystery solving friends found themselves captive in the house of a mysterious man. There were other prisoners there as well as the front door had been booby trapped to capture anyone who rang the doorbell more than once. The first group the gang encountered was an enthusiastic troop of Girl Scouts who wanted to know if they wanted to buy some cookies. Next, they saw a pair of nicely dressed young men who asked them, “Have you heard the Good News?” Scooby responded happily, “Yeah! There are cookies!”

As I was driving home from our Wednesday night church service, this scene came to mind. Our pastor read from the book of 1 Timothy 2:1-7:

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live. He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we've learned: that there's one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth. (The Message)

In his message, he pointed out that we need to be taking the mission to share the Good News as seriously as Paul did. Specifically, Bill asked, “If we don’t tell other people, how do we know we truly believe it ourselves?”

Think about that. Think about all of the things that, in a given day, you DO tell other people. OK, I’ll confess. What do I tell other people in a given day?

I relate stories I heard on NPR on my commute. I explain my work to my boss. I explain to my employees how to do their work. I tell my kids that, yes, they will get their bath tonight because I am their mother and I said so. I tell my husband and my children that I love them.

And, folks, I gossip. Sometimes it is telling one coworker what another coworker said or did. Even worse, sometimes it is telling one coworker what another coworker said or did based on what a third coworker told me! (By the way, this is an issue for another day…but one God and I are working on daily.)

Now, do I honestly believe all of these things that I am using my mouth to pass on? I guess I do or I wouldn’t have taken the time to say them, right?

But, in my heart, I profess to believe the following more than any of these other things: I believe that Jesus was God walking on earth. I believe that Jesus died not just generally for the world’s sins, but specifically for MY SINS…sins that I had yet to contemplate when He was being nailed to the cross. I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that one day I will see Him face to face…my savior, my God, my One and Only.

In short, if I truly believe what I profess to believe, I need to be using my mouth to do more than tell people there are Girl Scout cookies available.

Let Go and Let God

My youngest, Lizzie, started kindergarten this year. I was certain we would have some adjustment issues with her, but didn't expect problems like the ones we have dealt with for the first two years of Maury's public schooling. See, Maury turned out to have ADD. We have spent all this time getting his medication just right so that he can make it through most days without being a terrible disruption. Lizzie...well, I was expecting her issues to be with talking too much. I also thought she wasn't quite as ready for the academic stuff as Maury had been.

I was wrong. Lizzie is actually performing in the top of her class. And, it's not talking too much that is the problem. It is screaming. Not following directions. Hitting. Squirting classmates with juice. Climbing the walls in the bathroom.

Last week, she hit the low point when she was sent to the principal's office. The worst thing about that was that she REALLY acted out when she was told to go to the office. Nope. The punishment of it was not enough to scare her straight even for a moment. That night, we told her that she would not be allowed to attend a school carnival if she had another day where she was on "red" or had a note sent home. We also offered some positive reinforcement to her if she stayed on "green" the rest of the week.

She came home the next day reporting that she had been on "red". She hadn't even made it to her classroom that day before she started acting up, in fact.

So, this Monday, I went to the bus stop feeling worn down by her. (I haven't even mentioned that she was getting in trouble on the bus as well.) What could I do? I had met with her teacher. I was trying to reinforce things at home. I was talking to her morning and night about it. Nothing was getting through.

Nervous and discouraged, I got in the van and prayed. "Lord, Fill them up. Amen."

I should have done that sooner. Why didn't that ever occur to me until then? I'm not with her during her school day. God is. He always is.

She hasn't gotten on "red" yet this week. And, I am praying every morning for them after they get on the bus. My prayer is more elaborate now, though. It is one that starts with praise for God...then asks Him to please do it again!