Tonight I had the opportunity to meet at VST for a ministry reflection group that I've been asked to be a part of. I wasn't really sure what to expect and truthfully I had thought the night would be pretty dry. However, the whole experience was actually wonderful for me. More and more I feel the call of God to give him more and more of myself in service to the church in various service to my church, the MRG being one example. More and more I am able to identify with my church and my congregation. While it's great to be involved, I must be aware of the fact that I can let the actual passion of serving the church become a mask of my devotion to Christ. In other words, my passion to serve the church should not become a substitute for my passion for the triune God. More importantly (and frankly more of a danger for myself) I should not let all the tasks, the open doors that I've been given to serve God, and ultimately others, get to my head and over-inflate my ego. I wonder how much of a struggle it must be for those who serve much in a church, for a false sense of holiness can be developed (I would think, I could be wrong!) from being in positions of power and control within the Lord's house. Humility, therefore, is especially and vitally important.
So back to the MRG. Lately it seems that I've been exposed to the idea of "recognizing how what we're doing in our lives (our communities and congregations) relates to what God is doing in the world as a whole". The importance of this has been brought to my attention by many different sources, amazingly, and all around the same time. This, coupled with the work that I've been involved with the church as of late, has me somewhat convinced that I know what God is saying to me at this point in time. I feel that I could almost decipher his will. It's a strange feeling, but a good one, in which rooted within is a deep sense of peace and joy. My seemingly maturing faith (albeit it still has a looooong way to go! knock on wood!) is making an impact in my life in which decisions can start to be thought through via. discerning the will of Christ by learning how to listen to his voice. I apologize if I'm not making much sense here, it's a matter that's hard to put in words, especially in 30 minutes. God is with me and speaking to me in a way that I understand, just as I pray that he would.
And a word that has really struck me is "Mission". Ultimately, what Christians are called to do is to spread the good news of the gospel and help build the Kingdom of God here on earth. What we do in church - presiding, helping out with worship, fellowship - isn't everything done so that not only the image of God in ourselves can be strengthened, but the empowerment of God's people may lead to more people coming to know Jesus. Our mission is really quite simple. It is to announce, to spread, to show, the extraordinary love of God to those who are strangers to it. And with knowledge of God's unconditional love comes liberation and salvation.
So back to the MRG. Lately it seems that I've been exposed to the idea of "recognizing how what we're doing in our lives (our communities and congregations) relates to what God is doing in the world as a whole". The importance of this has been brought to my attention by many different sources, amazingly, and all around the same time. This, coupled with the work that I've been involved with the church as of late, has me somewhat convinced that I know what God is saying to me at this point in time. I feel that I could almost decipher his will. It's a strange feeling, but a good one, in which rooted within is a deep sense of peace and joy. My seemingly maturing faith (albeit it still has a looooong way to go! knock on wood!) is making an impact in my life in which decisions can start to be thought through via. discerning the will of Christ by learning how to listen to his voice. I apologize if I'm not making much sense here, it's a matter that's hard to put in words, especially in 30 minutes. God is with me and speaking to me in a way that I understand, just as I pray that he would.
And a word that has really struck me is "Mission". Ultimately, what Christians are called to do is to spread the good news of the gospel and help build the Kingdom of God here on earth. What we do in church - presiding, helping out with worship, fellowship - isn't everything done so that not only the image of God in ourselves can be strengthened, but the empowerment of God's people may lead to more people coming to know Jesus. Our mission is really quite simple. It is to announce, to spread, to show, the extraordinary love of God to those who are strangers to it. And with knowledge of God's unconditional love comes liberation and salvation.
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