Monthly Archives: July 2015

What to say on your way out the door

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“And now I commit you to God and to the message of His grace….” (Acts 20:32).

You’re leaving the church you have served for a shorter period than expected.  Perhaps you were forced out or were informed by the Lord and/or the leadership that your ministry had been aborted and you should leave.

If this is your first time to leave a church in this sad way, your heart is broken and your family is confused.  Nothing about this is good.

Some friends in the church are crying; others are gloating.  It’s the real world, my friend. Sad to say, the church is frequently too much like the world.

Anyway….

Try not to be too hard on those who want you gone. And as much as possible, stifle the martyr complex that keeps rearing its egotistical head within you.

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Good job, God!

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“Lord, you have treated your servant well, just as you promised” (Psalm 119:65).

“Lord, I was just looking back at the things You have done for me the last few years, and I want to say, ‘Thank you.  Good job, Lord.'”

Only a battle-scarred veteran can look back down the years and tell the Heavenly Father, “Well done, Sir!”

We are well acquainted with the Lord’s promise to say something similar to the faithful disciples who are reporting in and “weighing up  ” at the end of the day. He says to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many” (Matthew 25:21,23).

Wonder how it would be if we said something similar to Him?

Maybe put a star by His name?

The only people who know that God treats His servants well “as He promised” are those who, first, know His promises and, secondly, over a lot of years of service have found Him to be true and good and trustworthy.

They have found Him faithful.

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On the shore, waiting to cross over to the other side.

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“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand” (2 Timothy 4:6).

Suppose you are 95 years old, as my friend Bill is. You buried your wife of over 50 years some six or seven years ago, and you have serious health issues now.  So, you begin to think of transitioning from this earthly dwelling to your heavenly existence.

The minister–that would be me–comes to see you in the rehab hospital.  And he asks some probing questions.

Can we talk about this?

This morning’s paper contained a tiny article about the Fort Morgan ferry that runs across Mobile Bay to Dauphin Island.  The cost for one car and two passengers, this fellow said, is $20.50.  That’s up considerably since the last time my wife and I rode it with our grandson.  Grant was about six, as I recall.

We had arrived at the ferry landing and took our place in line with other cars. I bought the ticket and we were milling around waiting for the ferry to arrive from the other shore.  Grant was apprehensive.

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Grief and Humor — Part 2

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(The first of this two-part piece was posted on June 30, 2015.  Access it by scrolling backward on our website.)

There are no comedians in Scripture and no jokes.  But there is a great deal of humor.

Elton Trueblood’s classic “The Humor of Christ” nowhere mentions the Lord as telling jokes or trying to be funny.

In times of grief–the subject before us today–it’s humor that eases the pain and lifts the spirits.  Not funny business, although there are notable exceptions.

I’m all for fun and laughter.  But mostly, we save that for another time.

At moments of grief, something a little gentler and sweeter is in order:  Something humorous.

Tom Brokaw’s new book “A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope” tells of his battle with cancer in recent years.  Multiple Myeloma is serious stuff, and it required his putting his life on hold to deal with it, and the involvement of Mayo Clinic as well as Sloan-Kettering.

Brokaw was speaking to an audience in Portsmouth, New Hampshire recently, and it was being telecast.  I happened upon it in the middle. Throughout his presentation, the audience was often laughing. Since I’ve been working on a paper dealing with “grief and humor,” I paid attention.

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10 things about worship on a Sunday morning

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I’m preaching on worship today at a church in Southwest Mississippi. A few weeks ago when the pastor asked for my subject, I quickly said “Worship is a verb” for a title of the message.  Hardly without a thought.  This is a big deal with me, I thought. God is working on this in me.  I’ve preached and written on it before.  I know some basic texts and have one huge burden on the subject, namely, that most Christians I know have it backward and think worship is all about “me.”  Then, as often happens, when I began preparing and praying for the message, I realized just how little I actually know on the subject.  God help me. 

1) God wants His children to worship.  In fact, He wants “everything, everywhere” to worship Him.

In Revelation, at the climax of all history, the praise chorus will include “every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them” (Revelation 5:13).  No wonder Scripture says “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).

I wouldn’t be surprised if finally “the rocks cry out” (Luke 19:40).

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Ramifications: It has nothing to do with sheep

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“We who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:5)

We are all interconnected and are in this thing together.

The sooner we realize that, the better.

In the introduction to their book “One Anothering,” Dan Crawford and Al Meredith wonder if you have heard “the goose lesson”.

Geese flying south for the winter usually fly in a V-formation.  This formation adds at least seventy-one percent greater flying range, because the flapping of one bird’s wings creates uplift for the bird immediately following.  When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the flock, and another goose flies point.  Geese honk from behind to encourage the lead goose.  If a goose gets sick or injured and falls out, two geese follow it down to help protect it.  They stay until the fallen goose is able to fly or is dead, and then they join another formation and continue their journey. Should a goose fall out of formation, it quickly feels the difficulty of flying alone and returns immediately to the formation.

You and I are so interconnected, we might as well have slots and tabs.

No man is an island.

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Pastor, you’ve been invited to preach in an unfamiliar setting (and you’re trying not to panic)

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A preacher friend whom I know only from Facebook sent out a panicky plea. He’s been invited to preach in a church known to be rather loose regarding some basic Christian doctrines.  The friend is a Bible-preaching conservative.

Uh oh.

He is anxious and eager at the same time.

He asked a number of us:  “What should I preach? What text should I use?  Suggest some good ones! Some of the people in that church are probably unsaved.”

The answers piled in. One minister urged him to preach the entire story of redemption beginning with Creation and the fall and going forward.

That advice strikes me as highly questionable, although I’m confident it was well-intended.

I said: “My brother, do not try to reverse the history of this church in one 25-minute sermon. Just preach a text the Holy Spirit gives you and leave the results to Him.”

Then, I sent this personal, private note.  “This is no time to reinvent the wheel and attempt something you’ve never preached before. Take a lesson from grandma in the kitchen. When guests are coming, you do not test new recipes. Serve something you’ve prepared before and know your way around.  Ask the Lord to lay on your heart one of the time-tested messages He has taught you in the crucible of life.”

Preach what you know.

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What I told her when she said her prayers were so weak

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“It’s not all up to you.”

She had given me a burdensome list of prayer needs.  Her husband was battling a terminal illness, her daughter was in a bad situation, the grandchildren were at risk, and she herself felt so far away from the Lord.

I’m breaking no confidence in sharing this.  First, she gave permission, and second, her needs are not unlike a dozen people whom I know. There is a lot of this going around.  A few minutes ago, a mother whom I do not know, but who found us on the internet, wrote with a similar list of prayer needs.

She asked me to pray for her. She did not ask for advice. However, while I am indeed lifting her needs in prayer, the next best gift I can give is to encourage her own praying.’

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