Learning to Come

Yesterday afternoon, I actually had some alone time to work on uploading pictures to my Shutterfly account so I could work on a memory book.  As it takes some time for photos to be moved, I had the brilliant idea of working on a watercolor painting I’d started last spring, but never finished.  So here I was moving from the computer on the deck, enjoying a warm afternoon before the storm hit, to go downstairs to where I paint.  Back and forth, back and forth.  And then it hit me.  Why am I making such a project of something that should bring joy and rest?

I took time with the photos, then thanked God for great times with my husband and extended family and the way we saw God at work in us.  After taking time to choose and upload the best photos (quite a project with a son, son-in-law and other extended family members who are great photographers!), I let it be for a while.  

Then I spent time finishing a painting from an anniversary trip.  As I took time to work on it, God brought to my quieted mind memories, not only of a great time with Steve, but also reminding me that it was on that trip that we got a phone call from my Mom that my Dad’s health was failing.  The beauty of the sunset I was painting was a reminder of God’s faithfulness and presence with us in the really good times and also the really challenging and difficult times.  

Isn’t that our life stories? Wonderful and hard, precious and desperate, quiet and crazy?  Yet in all of it comes Jesus’ voice:  “Come to me; come to me.”  As we spend time this fall as a church family considering the focus of “Running at the Pace of Grace,” let’s ask hard questions of ourselves: 

- Where do we needlessly impose stress on our lives?  

 
- Where can we take the necessary tasks before us and bring them to the Father as prayers?  

- How do we take Jesus’ statement seriously, “Learn from Me?

Thankfully Jesus does not expect us to do this alone.  His fulfilled promise to send a Comforter and Guide in the person of the Holy Spirit enables us to keep on learning and growing in Him.

Serve

Pastor of Youth and Young Adults, Karl Helvig

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Servant.

I'm not sure that's a term that people eagerly take upon themselves. In the first century (when James was writing to this scattering of churches) it could be a profoundly degrading categorization. If you were a servant (slave is probably a better translation), then you were simply an item on an inventory. You were a possession, you belonged to the master of the house.

You would be listed along with the cattle and sheep and pots and furniture.

Slaves were not people, they were property.

So, why does James take that names for himself?

James was a leader in the early church. He was one of the chief leaders in the church in Jerusalem (which, if you hadn't heard, is a rather significant city for Jews and Christians). James was a person whose opinion was sought after and whose decisions mattered.

But James, a pillar of the church, willingly identified himself as a servant, a slave.

Here is the thing about slaves, their job is simple. It can all be boiled down to just one thing: do the masters will. If you are a slave, there shouldn't be much confusion about your role. Your role is to do what the master tells you to do.

James tells us that his desire is to only do the will of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How does that sit with you? Are we willing to see ourselves as servants, even slaves, of our good and gracious God?

Are we willing to only do the things that God desires for us to do?

First century masters could be harsh at times, the term slave is a loaded term and can bring up all sorts of negative connotations. But, Christ is the most gracious and benevolent Lord this world has ever seen. Doing his will, while it may be challenging at times, it ultimately a good, even joyful endeavor. It is always a blessing to be a servant of Christ.

So, what is the will of God for you today? Will you listen for his voice? Will you follow his leading? When you do, you might find easy paths or difficult paths to walk, but they will always be good paths. They will always be paths worth walking; paths you look back and find yourself blessed for having traveled them.

Slowing Down to Run Well

Senior Pastor Steve Thulson

I once heard a Chinese proverb: 

When you walk, walk. 
          When you sit, sit. 
                    Whatever you do, do not wobble.

I suppose it means to do what you do clearly, intently and fully: whether it’s diving into work or pulling back into play.

I have a way of “wobbling.” My multitasking can end up fragmenting me more than fulfilling some focused purpose.  My breaks can land me in escapes like TV that barely cover-up a restless stewing about the tasks that didn’t get done. There’s neither fruitful labor nor peaceful rest. I could blame our driven, busy and hurried culture; except that culture is in me as much as I in it.

Yet all the more, I am in Christ. And he is in me.

I hear the still but strong voice of Jesus say “Come to me and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:29). He gives a deep rest even as we also take up his “yoke” of actively working with him, and take up our “crosses” of sharing in his suffering that’s redemptive. He leads us into work and rest that’s not “wobbling.” As we hear the Apostle Paul say: “Whatever you do… do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 3:17). That’s a way of saying “Do all you do in the presence of Jesus – with him, not just for him, much less apart from him.

Part of our church family’s focus this Fall and beyond is slowing down to run well. That’s not about being slow because you don’t run well – even if that’s the literal case for some us now! It’s growing into a freedom to let God run the universe and find peace in the place you get within that – no more, no less. It’s finding a pace – sometimes moving fast, sometimes being absolutely still – that’s “in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). In the words of Eugene Peterson paraphrasing Jesus, it’s learning  “the unforced rhythms of grace” (Matthew 11:30 in The Message).  

By his grace, that’s the “run” Jesus has me on. How about you?