They Call It Stormy Monday, But Tuesday's Just As Bad

 

It usually starts Monday morning, or what we preacher-creatures know as (pick your poison) - Monday Blues, Sunday Hangover, Resignation Day, or Remind Me Why I Do This Day. It is the day when most of us who are placed in the role of a pastor should probably just get busy working and let the day before go. And yet helping out in God's vineyard isn't a one time event, but a collection of moments, of days, weeks, and months. You get to see people's spiritual life begin in a struggle, releasing into the joy of growth, and you are there when they are experiencing the droughts and troubles of life. And your quest is to help as they reach out to God in trust for His provision, His direction, His peace.

So every Monday you check to see how the vineyard is doing.(If you can wait that long. Sometimes it starts at 12:15 Sunday afternoon)

If you do it as someone who is a worker in God's vineyard, it can be very helpful. There are victories to celebrate as you see new growth appear or old vines seem to find new life. When fruit appears you rejoice in knowing that God is at work and you got to see it. If something has damaged the vine or limited its growth, you get to work doing what you can do, always under the direction of the Master Gardener. In the long term view of a worker in God's vineyard, you know that it's all working together for good - for God's glory.

However if you allow yourself to sink into feeling like it all depends on you, then your trip through the vineyard can be one of the most destructive things you can do. This is not your church - it is God's church. You didn't produce the growth when it grew - God did. And while you might have had a bad day with the sermon, or said the wrong thing,or failed in some other way, God is still at work. You know that. You believe that. It's a conviction of yours. But your weakness can make you blind.

I've been blind so often over the last couple of years it isn't funny. I have an enormous capacity for letting both outward signs of success and outward signs of failure affect my mood and outlook. Makes me sick when I catch myself doing it. You'd think after being here all these years I would realize that smaller churches go through ebbs and flows. I do understand. And yet I still get wrapped up in the emotion of it all. When things are going great, I'm really happy about what I do and see unlimited opportunities for New Hope to do beautiful things for God. On the blue Monday's... not so much. You can take the smallest hiccup and have it overshadow everything or take a big win and turn it into a "yeah, but we didn't...." where "didn't" can be anything from "greet the new family in the parking lot", to "start on time."

My pastor friends know what I'm talking about here. You want it SO BAD. It happens SO SLOW. You invest your life into people and give them unlimited access and your unceasing prayers and love - and they leave or you see them so irregularly... you think "there must have been something I could have done." Well, what if there wasn't? What if you couldn't have? But you can't see it objectively, so discouragement creeps in.

As the song I linked to above says "They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday's just as bad" - that attitude can follow you all week - for weeks - even months.

And yet, if you look - if you clear your mind and open your heart and let God be God - the job of a pastor is the greatest job in the world.


God makes it all worthwhile.
Because He loves us.
Because He is faithful.
Because He's working it all together for His glory and we get to be a part of that.

Ronald Reagan once said that "the majority of the world wonders if what they are doing matters - the Marines don't have that problem." Well pastors and friends - partners in the work of God - we shouldn't have that problem either.

Would you take a minute every day and pray for your pastor(s)? Pray that God would give them the ability to see as He sees, love as He loves, and live as Jesus lived.

Sunday Recap Aug 22, 2010

We've been looking forward to this weekend for weeks, as we were going to have a pretty rare event - a church wide social. One of the areas we've identified as "needs improvement" at New Hope is our relationships with each other across genders and ages. When you are a church that meets only two times a week, even a smaller church, you can get in "silos" where you know the folks in your Bible Study class well, but not the good people in the next one. So we've revved up our monthly game night again for the fall, and are going to have some activity each month like our ice cream social tonight. New Hope has great people and getting them together tonight (as many as we could) was awesome. But let me go back to the morning activities.

Had a good turnout for Bible Study and some really great volunteers that stretched to cover some holes. Got everyone taken care of and I hear good things about what went on.

We headed over to worship and the praise band led us in:
Today Is the Day
How Great I Our God
Whole World In His Hands
Still
and Just As I am as the invitation hymn.



I used two video clips today that caused me to run a little longer than planned, but they really were great. One dealt with the danger of slipping into a meaningless ritualistic Christianity and the other really hammered the need to trust Christ and let His Holy Spirit change you. Felt like a bit off a chunk of Scripture and had to work to keep moving through, but I think the core of the message made it through. Had a visitor indicate that he had trusted Christ as Savior so God was working today and that's awesome.

Next week is Barefoot Sunday, where we finish our collection for Soles4Soles so you know it's going to be great. Plus we decided we are going to do our favorite 4 worship songs so you better get ready to leave your voice at New Hope if you join us next Sunday - and you ought to join us. :)

Sunday Recap August 15, 2010

Had a great day. The Bible Study classes seemed to be filled with people wanting to know more about how to follow Jesus. The Kidmo kids sure were busy during the week getting their take home papers done, because the Kidmo store got lit up when they redeemed their Bible bucks. I passed out the questions for this coming Sunday's ice cream social game  - "New Hope Jeopardy" in envelopes marked "TOP SECRET." Hopefully we'll get some really interesting answers and by playing the game we'll all come away knowing more about each other.

Worship - one of the best I can remember in a long time. Beginning (and ending) it with "Today Is the Day" sure didn't hurt. That is a great anthem of worship and had people enthusiastically singing and clapping - IN A BAPTIST CHURCH!!!!  Who knew? :)  We added "Arise", "Our God Saves", and offered the invitation with "Softly and Tenderly." Then we sent everyone out with "Today Is the Day" again. Just so uplifting. Great job by the praise team today even if we were missing two key folks.



The sermon continued our look at Paul's letter to Colossae and tackled the problem of legalism. I'm going to write a separate post about the sermon, but I think that the Word got through some barriers in people's hearts Sunday. Wish it had been recorded, gonna work on fixing the problems with that this week.

Sunday Recap August 1 2010

I love dandelions. I know, I know - they are a weed. But give them long enough, and though it doesn't seem anything is going on, they spread. And when they flower, it's beautiful. So I think God must love them too. But just looking at them, you wouldn't expect much. And yet...

You never really know everything that God has going on, do you? We really do "see through a glass, darkly" in this life. So the focus of a church and the people in it has to be following Jesus - loving Him with our lives and loving the people He places in our lives. Harder said than done sometimes. Circumstances can block your view of the little bit that you can see of what God is up to. But every now and then...

Opened the Kidmo "store" Sunday to a rousing reception. If you remember, Kidmo is a cutting edge discipleship tool for kids. It's high energy and high content that uses the latest in technology to bring the kids INTO the story each week and (this is what pumps me up) sends the story home with them in the form of the "MAP" or "Mission Action Plan" that they discuss and walk through with their parents each week. Well, we've put some incentives in play that encourage the kids to bring their Bible, return with a completed MAP, memorize their "Compass Point", and bring friends. Had a blast being the store keeper Sunday. I LOVE OUR NEW HOPE KIDS. One of the great joys I have in this job is being their pastor. So we had a great crowd over there and they had a blast both in SS and in the extended session (Children's Church).

Had a young woman come up after the service and wanted to know how she could tell if God was calling her to be a missionary. She's someone who deeply loves God and who - even though she struggles with illness - is very dedicated, faithful, and in love with what God has called New Hope to be and do. We talked for a little while and I hope I was able to give her some guidance. All the while I was thanking God for being a part of His work - not just here at New Hope, but through our missionaries - both the ones with that label through a denomination and those who are teachers, computer guys, granddaddys, moms, servicemen and women - through all the people God has blessed us with over the years.

The music set for worship was: He Reigns, Nothing But the Blood (Redman version), How Can I Keep From Singing, and In Christ Alone. Good mix of songs, and the praise team did great. Was great to have John Chandler on bass. He adds so much to the mix. We're working on some new songs and some old songs. Stay tuned.




We're walking through the book of Colossians and this passage, though brief, really illuminates both Jesus' role as Savior, and our state - both prior to coming to faith, and in Christ. Our culture tends to elevate the individual and give us affirmation regardless of our actions. Unfortunately, this has crept in the side door of the Church as well, and as a result we have people who are not truly believing that Christ had to die for their sins, because they don't see themselves as anything but a "good person." A recent study identified this and called it "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism." I briefly touched on that, but it's worthwhile if you are interested in the faith of millions today to check into it further.

I'm convinced that until we realize just how much we need a Savior, we will never truly appreciate God's grace. In that conviction, I stand with the author of the most beloved song in the church - "Amazing Grace." John Newton said this "'My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.'"

Amen.