God’s grace be with you.
“A pastor asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the morning breakfast. ‘Lord, I hate buttermilk,’ the farmer began. The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wonder where this was going. The farmer loudly proclaimed, ‘Lord, I hate lard.’ Now the pastor was growing concerned. Without missing a beat, the farmer continued, ‘And Lord, you know I don’t much care for raw white flour.’ The pastor once again opened an eye to glance around the room and saw that he wasn’t the only one to feel uncomfortable. Then the farmer added, ‘But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits. So, Lord, when things come up that we don’t like, when life gets hard, when we don’t understand what you’re saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing. It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen.’” (A story from Facebook)
St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12 how the church is a body made up of many different parts. Each of those parts has a specific function to fulfill in order for the body to maximize life and movement as a single living entity. Like a fine tasting biscuit comprised of different ingredients which by themselves might not be flattering or wonderful or tasteful, the church with the proper mix of people, spiritual and temporal gifts, talents, and abilities, rooted in the love of Christ and the Word of God, is a wonderful and powerful entity of grace and mercy salting the earth and flavoring the world. God provides the right mix of people and talents and abilities in the local church to fulfill ministry in the local community and in the life of the world.
Where the church often falls short in this ideal and tasteful mix is when people withhold their talents and abilities from the Lord and His church, or when worship of God is not a priority over worldly goals and aspirations, or when love and forgiveness and mercy reflective of the cross’s message is not practiced on a regular basis within the church community and/or outside the doors of the church. Quite often people are quick to judge themselves as being inadequate, quick to judge others over dumb things, and quick to judge the imperfections of the church community and its practice of worship without investing any time or energy themselves. Excuses abound for not being involved and not flavoring the church with the specific gifts and talents God has given to each person.
Instead of seeing the church as a community of believers with everyone offering their gifts and talents on all levels in the life of the church to get the work done, more often than not in today’s society, more people are comfortable just sitting back and letting others do the work. And so, churches find themselves asking why they are not growing, or what might the congregation look like in 5 years when the older generations have gotten older and the younger generations have gone missing.
Paul is very clear that all the ingredients we need to be the church are present because God has willed it so. And each of us is part of the overall ingredients which make the church sing its song of praise in mission and ministry for all the world to hear. I believe (and hope that it is not just wishful thinking) that everyone in God’s church has aspirations for this song to be as beautiful and melodic as it can be, just as the farmer wants that perfect biscuit when all comes together in the end. The challenge for each of us is to prayerfully reflect on how God is already using us and to keep serving and worshipping faithfully…and if we feel distant or not engaged in Christ’s ministry, then perhaps it is time to invest ourselves and re-engage with time, talent, and treasure to relieve the burden of the few who might be carrying everything for you in the church. Jesus’ “Parable of the Talents” particularly in relation to the man who buried his talents, not even investing it in the bank to earn minimal interest, comes to mind (Matthew 25: 14-30).
We have a song to sing, or perhaps using the image from earlier, a good biscuit to enjoy as one body in Christ. As we enter into our fall activities in the church and continue to offer praise and thanksgiving to God in our regular times of worship…and take advantage of the opportunities to study God’s Word as well as the opportunities to do the labor of mission and ministry to and for others…may the Lord’s Spirit lead each and every one of us into the fellowship and work of the saints so that what we experience is even better than the song that we sing or the wonderful biscuit the farmer enjoys. Amen
Peace in Christ,
Pastor Steiner