Remnant Ramblings: June

Summer is now upon us and I think that is good news for most of us.  The warmer weather is a great change of pace and allows for more outdoor activities we enjoy.  Of course, we also look forward to BBQs, different types of gatherings, and family vacations over the course of the summer.  Summer can be a very relaxing and enjoyable time for most of us, but it can also be a very busy time.  It is no different for those of us involved in youth ministry.  We typically like to keep our teens busy over the summer, as one of our aims is to give our teens opportunities to fellowship, serve, and carve out many special memories.  As my wife and I were drawing up our summer calendar recently, I reflected on hard lessons learned in my early days of youth ministry.

I spent a whole summer working on youth group curriculum for the upcoming year.  I invested hours upon hours of research and writing, trying to build the perfect set of questions and reflections that would enable teens to go deeper in their relationship with Christ.  To make a long story short, this curriculum fell way short of the hopes and expectations I had envisioned.  Why?  It was too complicated.  I had spent too much time making sure it was perfect that I ended up losing focus and creating something mostly unusable.

I can recall a couple nights in particular where I was super excited about the messages I was to give.  It was so well thought out and planned, right down to games to match up with the Scripture and theme of the message.  Of course, God didn't show up and it made for miserable nights for me.  And when this happens, my students suffer as well.

What's the common denominator here?  I became so consumed with feeling pressure to perform and crafting something “perfect” that I forgot to invite God in and let him take the lead on my well-crafted plans.  It completely threw my life out of balance as a result.

Perhaps this is something you can relate to in your own life.  Many times we get so bogged down with burning the candle at both ends, the different pressures we feel, and our busy day-to-day schedules that we forget to place God in his rightful place as the center of our lives and the plans of our lives.

Does this mean we should not strive for excellence, or feel guilty about working hard, or settle for less than the absolute best we can give?  Absolutely not.  Let's just remember to allow God to work through us.  Too many times I've not included God in my plans and the results have always been fruitless.  Keeping God out front is a habit that takes time to develop; however, the more we allow him to move and work through us, the more we'll be able to move through the messiness of this life.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”      Matthew 6:31-34

“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” Psalm 62:1-2

“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31                                            

Yours In Christ,

Pastor Drew

Remnant Ramblings - April

In Luke 14, Jesus fins himself attending a dinner held at the house of a well-known Pharisee. At this dinner, his hosts again try to humiliate Jesus by placing a man suffering from dropsy in front of Him. The man was a test, probably unable to walk and with multiple tumors. He was not somebody who was normally invited to the house of a Pharisee. They thought if Jesus healed the man He would be guilty of disobeying the Sabbath law. Then the Pharisees could use his disobedience to make Jesus look bad before the people. After all, it was wrong to do work on the day of rest. Knowing something was up, Jesus asked his hosts, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" They were silent at his questioning, for if something of value to them was lost on the Sabbath, would they not do what was necessary to retrieve it themselves?

Those surrounding Jesus did their best to be seen in a positive light by the people of Israel. They were the 'in' crowd, an exclusive group. Not just anyone was welcomed to eat with them. They wanted Jesus to look bad in front of them. That's why the man with the disease was there. They wanted Jesus to mess up. After all, he was a troublemaker in their eyes, someone who upset the social balance. How dare he upset the system?

Maybe we're all too familiar with the class warfare idea, cliques, and exclusive groups. Perhaps we identify with the individuals in the text: the Pharisees, who think they're more special than the rest, the diseased outcast, or maybe even Jesus. Maybe we can identify with wanting the status of belonging to the 'in crowd'. This was the concern of Jesus in Luke 14:12-14. He said, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed."

Jesus was not saying, don't eat meals with your family members or that we shouldn't invite our friends over for dinner, but His message was to show hospitality to all. So often, we miss the people who need Jesus most because we are too busy paying attention to those who already are accepted, who get noticed. But who will reach out to those who are forgotten? In Matthew 25:40, Jesus states it from another perspective, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." When we extend hospitality to others, when we treat them well and allow them to be a part of the 'family', we are extending what Christ has extended to us.

With love in Christ,
Pastor Drew