July 28, 2020

A blessed Tuesday to all,
It has been some time since I jotted down a thought and I apologize to you all for the lapse.  I pray that everyone is doing well and it has been a joy to be able to gather with those who can attend on Sunday morning.  One thing I have heard from more than one person is "I did not know how much I missed it". I realize that intellectually, and theologically, I can argue that the building is where we meet to worship but the church is who we are as a people. However, there is a feeling when we gather than can not be duplicated in any other fashion. Well, at least not for me.  There was a couple of thoughts I wanted to pass on to you this morning. 

The first has to do with the current political climate that has bled over into the church.  Passions are high, folks are making a stand on their views on social justice, law and order, abiding by state mandates, and even whether we should wear face masks or not.  I have heard and read some well worded arguments for opposite stands. I have also heard or read arguments that are undeniably passionate but woefully short of logic.  In the end, much of what drives the opposing views hinges on which source of information a person deems to be credible. This is evident because several points of view will cite one data source or another.  If one data source provides information that contradicts another data source, which data source we choose will determine the outcome of our decision. 

I realize that we all know this already so please indulge me as I restate it. Only God's word is truly reliable. Only God's word is one hundred percent truth. Therefore, whatever source of information we choose to examine must be looked at through the lens of Scripture. How can we be sure that our course of action is appropriate for a child of God, it is when it is consistent with God's word. 

The second thing I wanted to share comes from an thought that comes from Bernard of Clairvaux, a twelfth century monk.  He wrote of the infusive and effusive gifts of God through the Holy Spirit. What he meant by this is that some gifts are meant for our own development and some to be passed on to others. The summary of his lesson is that we can't effectively minister to others if we neglect our own spiritual needs.  We will talk more about this in the future but for now I thought of airlines that instruct passengers that in case of emergency, they are to first put on the breathing masks before helping others put on theirs. What I am getting at is that while we are called to minister to one another, we should not neglect our own needs. To meet those needs we need time in prayer, reflection, and God's word. Thus, we find ourselves back at anchoring our lives to the only sure truth, God's word.
Have a blessed day in His word, Vic