Dear Fellow Children of God,
I was blessed during worship last Sunday in a manner I
had not previously experienced. After
the sermon and communion preparation were completed in the worship service, I
was kneeling at the altar. I received
the Lord’s Supper from our Elder, John Lee.
Then the acolyte followed with the basket for me to place my cup
there. As I laid my cup in the basket
Brooke Lehman leaned over said quietly said to me, “God bless you always,
Pastor!”
People have blessed me before in many ways. But for a third grade girl, who was not being
prompted, to give me such a heart-felt blessing in the middle of worship, I was
touched.
I shared my feelings about Brooke’s blessing in an e-mail
message with her mom, Kelly, and then I told my wife. Kathy shared with me, “I went into the
sacristy after worship to thank Brooke and Kelly too. As (our grandson) Henry was placing his
communion cup in the basket, Brooke told him, ‘Thank you, Henry!’”
I shared these stories at our men’s Promise Keepers’
gathering on Tuesday night and a number of the men said that Brooke had also
thanked them at the altar. And, all this
came from Brooke after her active singing that day of our hymns and worship
songs. Brooke is usually quiet and
almost a little shy when I speak with her.
But, on Sunday she bounced up and down and did hand motions to the songs
she knew. She was truly into worshiping
God with her heart, soul, mind, and body.
Brooke was exhibiting joy to worship and serve her Lord, Jesus. And, even as a child her actions were an
example of faithful worship and service to the rest of us.
In Isaiah 11, as Isaiah describes the coming Messianic
Kingdom, he shares a prophecy. “The wolf will live with the lamb, the
leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling
together; and a little child will lead them.” (Isaiah
11:6) That prophecy about a child
leading ultimately points to Jesus, the Son of God who came to this world as a
child. But, children can also lead as
they teach the rest of us the joy of serving our Lord and Savior.
However, on Sunday,
Brooke was not the only one who joyfully and willingly offered their service
for the Lord’s work. Karl Kopperud
offered to meet and discuss some church business. When I told Gerry Zellar I
had been really busy, but a lot was left to be done, Gerry offered, “What can I
do to help you?” Al Kastar offered to
reach out to a father in need. And,
Hunter Richards, without being asked, offered to lead noon Lenten worship
services for those who can’t attend evening services.
I share this because we
sometimes struggle with joyfully serving the Lord. Maybe our schedules are busy. Maybe we have been hurt by a fellow church
member or by a congregation. Maybe we
are angry at God about a life tragedy. Or,
maybe we want to be served, rather than to serve. But sometimes all people, even Christians,
can have issues with giving of our voices and efforts and our time to serve the
Lord. We can especially resist serving joyfully.
One of my favorite worship Psalms is Psalm
100. Listen to what this Psalm says
about joy and gladness. “1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the
earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3
Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his
people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his
courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is
good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
God is good.
His love does endure forever
in Jesus’ perfect life, in Jesus’ death for us, and in the victory of Jesus over
death. When we realize all that God has
done and continues to do to bless us, we really do want to serve Him and
worship Him. And when the grace and
mercy of God catches us, our worship and service are a response that the Psalm
calls for, glad and joyful.
It is such a blessing
to know the love of God and to joyfully serve Him in His church. And, last Sunday a little child, and many of
our fellow brothers and sisters, led us and taught us to “Worship the LORD with gladness!”
A Child of God, Learning Joy again from the Little
Children,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Here are two fishing pictures from my Monday
ice fishing trip this past week. https://picasaweb.google.com/114993745799525883148/IceFishingWinter20152016#6249170923405400930
and
****
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE
PASTOR’ - I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to
all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly
adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this
e-mail for the first time.) However, if you don’t want to receive this
e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for
this message.
****
No comments:
Post a Comment