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Community of Joy Lutheran Church |
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110 Balboa Road Hot Springs Village, AR 71909 501-915-9569 |
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On May 10th and 11th we will celebrate the third major festival of our church year-Pentecost (May 11th is also Mother’s Day). Thinking ahead to Pentecost I say, “Thank God for the Holy Spirit!” The Holy Spirit is the one part of the Trinity that I think most of us understand the least, and yet it is the source of our Christian power; our |
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spiritual energy; our ability to have faith and believe. Remarkably, the Holy Spirit works in and through and around us each day. However, for some reason, I am still surprised when I realize the involvement of the Spirit in something that has taken place in my life. I think many of us are still more likely to give credit to luck or chance than to realize that the Spirit has an active role in our daily lives.
Let me give you an example. This happened to me a few years ago. I generally don’t let stressful situations bother me. I am pretty “easy-going.” However - on this particular day I was feeling stressed as I arrived at my church office and I prayed that God would “unburden me.” After my short prayer regarding stress and burdens I turned to my daily calendar of inspirational quotes and found these words, “For the calming influence of your presence in times of stress, I thank you Lord. Give me the faith to know that no storm is too rough for you to calm. Amen.” Say what you will - I do not think that the “linkage” of my prayer and the quote from the calendar was a coincidence. I think it was a small indication of the work of the Spirit in our daily lives.
Think about the word inspiration. That speaks to something that “inspirits” us. It refers to something that allows us to feel and realize the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power of Jesus here on earth. Jesus has ascended, but his power, and God’s power are present with us and for us in the form of the Holy Spirit.
That leads me to the real point of this “Reflection.” I ask myself, “What does God expect from me in this place? Am I to be a “program director” or a “spiritual director?” The answer is probably - “both.” However, I do not want the spiritual direction to get lost in all of the “busy-ness” of getting things done. I need to go beyond the “doing of |
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tasks” to the “feeling” of being the spiritual leader of this congregation.
I need your help with this. You all may realize that I am a “doer.” I can and will get things done, but I don’t want to be so tied up in “doing” that I can’t “feel” with you. I pray that I will embody the Spirit of God in a way that will allow us all to feel energized and excited about loving and serving God! There’s much more to this Christian life than just “ticking off” completed items on some clipboard.
Certainly there is a need for programs, and we will “do” programs, however, I want my emphasis and focus (and I pray your emphasis and focus as well) to be on spiritual things. The programs and the results will come because of the emphasis on the spiritual aspects of this church - rather than the Spirit coming to us as a result of the programs. God does not call us to be “successful” (however we define that word), but God does call each of us to be faithful. We are to be faithful to God’s will for us in this place and at this time.
This approach allows God to be in control. A noted pastor and author, Eugene Peterson, says it this way, “The spiritual-director pastor is shaped by the biblical mind set of Jesus: worship orientation, servant life, and sacrifice. This shifts pastoral work from ego-addictions to grace-freedoms. It is work at which we give up control, fail and forgive, and watch God work.” Peterson says (and I agree) that pastors should be commissioned as Masters of the Imagination; with the understanding that this word imagination is linked to the fact that we are made in the image of God.
Imagination is the capacity to make connections between the visible and the invisible, between heaven and earth, between the past and the present, between the present and the future. For Christians, whose largest investment is in the invisible, imagination is indispensable!
Help me please! Pray for me and this ministry, that we will be able to lead this flock in such a way that we will be brought into something large and beautiful - into God and God’s salvation and love. Help me to reflect the love of God so accurately that all of us, in the actual circumstances of our lives, will recognize and respond to Pastor’s Reflections, page 2
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