The United Methodist Church of Willmar, Minnesota, USA
Rev. Chad Gilbertson
[Posted 6-18-08] Last Thursday, one of the large, old trees that sits on the edge of the parking lot that separates the church and the parsonage fell during a wind storm. While I was initially impressed with the gust of wind that broke both “arms” of that tree off about 20 feet from the ground, a closer inspection of the remains offered a better explanation for why this might have happened.
This tree, which had grown both taller and wider through the years, was rotten in the center. So while outside appearances would have us believe that this was a big, strong, healthy tree, on the inside it was really quite weak and very susceptible to damage.
As I looked at the pile of wood that lay on the ground after the tree service cut down the remnant, I couldn’t help but think that people are similar to that tree.
How many people do you know who appear to have everything under control in their lives? They carry themselves in a strong exterior, not seeming to let anything bother them. They seem to have what it takes to absorb the winds of change and challenge. But when those winds blow a bit harder than usual, they snap.
Are you that way?
Psalm 139 is a beautiful expression of a profound truth: God is the searcher of every human heart, the One from whom no secrets are hidden. God examines and knows every aspect of our being in more intimate detail than we ourselves can see. Verses 5 and 7 remind us that there is no place we can hide from God:
“You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me…
Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?”
These verses may inspire more than a few beads of sweat, or they may bring great comfort. While the truth that we cannot escape God’s all-seeing eye may weigh us down at times, it is really the only remedy for our uneasiness. Only when we allow ourselves to be searched and tested by God will we be able to find the healing and strength we desperately desire.
The closing verses of this Psalm seem to reflect a “giving in” to God to allow this process of examination to begin:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Have parts of your heart begun to rot? Is there a hole in your soul? Are you simply carrying the appearance of strength in a weak and vulnerable body? Let God take a close look…and let God do the work of patching and healing.
Blessings-
Pastor Chad
[Posted May 12, 2009] Have you ever felt like you needed a miracle?
Maybe the situation you were facing seemed impossible…
Maybe you felt as if there was no way out of the trouble you were in…
Perhaps the diagnosis you received was terminal…
What do we do when we need a miracle? Hopefully the first place we turn is to God. And as we turn to God, we can pray one of at least three ways:
•We can pray a ‘small-faith’ prayer like, “Lord, I give you a small piece of my problem. Just let it stop right there.”
•We can pray a ‘medium-faith’ prayer like, “God, please don’t let my problem get any worse than it is today.”
•We can pray a ‘big-faith’ prayer like, “Please remove this from me, Lord. Heal me completely.”
Praying big-faith prayers is what Daniel did in the Old Testament. Daniel, you might remember, was one of the Jews who was displaced to a new country – Babylon. There Daniel grew up in a completely alien culture. His life and his faith were put to the test when he was still in his teens.
Daniel was introduced to food that contradicted Jewish dietary laws. Even though he was in a foreign land, he vowed that he would not turn away from his Jewish tradition. Although he was far from home, God was near. Daniel spent a great deal of time in prayer with God, and as he prayed, he grew closer and closer to God.
While his devotion to God helped open a number of doors for Daniel, it eventually got him into a bit of trouble. When Daniel formed a number of enemies who were jealous of his rise to responsibility, those enemies convinced the king to create a new law, making prayer to God illegal – an act punishable by death.
Daniel, of course, would not stop praying. And it didn’t take long for his enemies to convince the king to enforce the law and have Daniel sentenced to die. Those who know the story know that Daniel was sentenced to the lion’s den…and to some very hungry lions! But thanks to his big-faith prayers, the mouths of the lions were kept shut and Daniel was saved.
When we find ourselves in need of a miracle, let’s not be afraid to pray big-faith prayers. And if you’re lacking in words, try these (taken from the book Pivotal Prayer):
“Dear God, I need a miracle – or at least I think I do. This situation
has me completely overwhelmed. Instead of being lost in your wonder,
I’m lost in the pain and fear of an uncertain future. I need your help.
Help me to call on You more often. Please remind me that a life of
bitter, prideful ingratitude is empty. Give me a taste of Your glory,
Your wonder. The lions are roaring, and I’m afraid. Please
help me! Amen.
Pastor Chad
[Posted July 21, 2009] When you were a kid, did you have rules at your house? I’ve been in some homes that have the rules clearly posted:
If you use it, clean it
If you move it, replace it
If you break it, fix it
And so on
And so it shouldn’t surprise us that, even in the church, there are rules. At the risk of being redundant (and being accused of saying the same thing over and over again…), I want to talk a little bit more about the “Three Simple Rules” that have been preached about over the past three weeks.
First, the General Rules, in their entirety, are printed in The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church. They can be found in the paragraph on “Our Doctrinal Standards and General Rules” (I’m not sure why they call it a paragraph, since it goes on for 15 pages!). In the introduction to the General Rules, there is a Bibliographical Note: “The General Rules are printed here in the text of 1808, as subsequently amended by constitutional actions in 1848 and 1868.” What that tells us is that they’re old!
But while they may have been written literally centuries ago, they have withstood the test of time. If they weren’t relevant any longer, our denomination would have voted to eliminate them from the book which guides who we are and directs how we are to live as a church.
Bishop Reuben Job, author of Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living, writes, “There are three simple rules that have the power to change the world. While they are ancient, they have seldom been fully put to the test. But when and where practiced, the world of things as they were was shaken until a new formation, a new world was formed. The Wesleyan movement is a prime example of this new creation that is formed when these three simple rules are adopted as a way of living.”
Do no harm…Do good…Stay in love with God. They sound so simple, don’t they? And while it may be a simple task to avoid an argument, or do a good deed, or pray once in a while, the encouragement is to do them constantly…to make them a way of life. And the benefits of doing them daily are two-fold: they benefit us because the more we do something, the better we get at it; and they benefit others because they become the recipients of our kindness and generosity. It’s a win-win proposition!
Bishop Job concludes his book with this paragraph:
“The rules are simple, but the way is not easy. Only those with great courage will attempt it, and only those with great faith will be able to walk this exciting and demanding way. There are many other options for us to choose, but they are all lesser options and lead to lesser results that range from poor to disastrous. The question from Jesus continues for each of us, ‘My daughter, my son, do you love me?’ And of course there is only one answer that we want go give, ‘Yes Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.’ The next question then becomes, are we ready to choose the costly way that involves these three simple rules as our way of living?”
Perhaps the diagnosis you received was terminal…