Author Archives: Pastor Steve

Don’t Miss the Miracles…

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I just completed my 2011 Pastor’s Annual Report. It was interesting to think over the events of the past year. It’s all but impossible to miss the miracles — miracles of changed lives, miracles of changed hearts, miracles of many kinds.

If you’re not looking, you will miss these.

C. S. Lewis is reported to have said, Miracles are a retelling in small letters the very same story which is written across the world in letters too large for some of us to see.

Sometimes I miss the miracles written in large letters. Sometimes I miss those written in small. But as you look back on what you’ve observed as you’ve attended Curwensville Alliance over the past year, be sure not to miss the miracles.

And pray that we all will see the miracles God does in this world.

By the way — if you’re using Twitter, you can get these kinds of quotes by following Lewis here: https://twitter.com/#!/CSLewisDaily

You can follow Curwensville Alliance here: https://twitter.com/#!/cvillealliance

~Pastor Steve

Seeing the Power of Grace…

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I finally made it through all 102 minutes of Babette’s Feast. I have always wanted to watch it, but the distinct lack of fast cars and powerful weaponry made it difficult for me. However, working on a short sermon series on grace, and reading Yancey’s What’s so Amazing about Grace (for the second time) I was inspired to watch the DVD.

I won’t detail the film here except to say that it communicated to me a fresh picture of my own inability to appreciate the greatness of the grace God’s given me. I would guess that my failure to grasp the depth of God’s grace is partially due to what Frederick Buechner says about all of us.

People are prepared for everything except for the fact that beyond the darkness of their blindness there is a great light. They are prepared to go on breaking their backs plowing the same old field until the cows come home without seeing, until they stub their toes on it, that there is a treasure buried in that field rich enough to buy Texas. They are prepared for a God who strikes hard bargains but not for a God who gives as much for an hour’s work as for a day’s. They are prepared for a mustard-seed kingdom of God no bigger than the eye of a newt but not for the great banyan it becomes with birds in its branches, singing Mozart. They are prepared for the potluck supper at First Presbyterian, but not for the marriage supper of the lamb…. ~Frederick Buechner as quoted by Philip Yancey in What’s so Amazing about Grace?, pp. 62-63.

Yep. That’s me. God’s grace is so much bigger than anything I could hope to produce or contribute to my own walk with him.

That’s what hits you between the eyes when you watch Babette’s Feast — not the power of a fast car or a super-weapon, but the power of grace. As the feast is prepared, the mentality of those receiving it is such that they simply want to get through this to give honor to Babette. But as they begin to enjoy the luxury of her gift, they become new inside and release old grievances, spreading the grace they are receiving.

May we all invest our lives in celebrating the power of grace.

Avoiding Pain by Avoiding Purpose and People…

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Some time ago, a couple came to the local churches asking for financial help. When Pastor George asked, “Where do you attend church?” the answer was, “We don’t.” They are professing Christians, but they don’t go to church anywhere. This is common.

I was thinking about why folks who call themselves Christians don’t regularly fellowship with other Christians, and while I know there are a variety of reasons, I think one reason is because they have been injured in the past. Sometimes avoidance of church is symptomatic of aversion to social interaction in general.

However, God created us as social people. The phrase, “It is not good for man to be alone” does not only reveal the origin of marriage, but verbalizes our need to interact with others. This interaction is essential if our lives are to have real meaning.

Paul Borthwick stated this well just over two decades ago.

It is possible to evade a multitude of sorrows through the cultivation of an insignificant life. Indeed, if a man’s ambition is to avoid the troubles of life, the recipe is simple: shed your ambitions in every direction, cut the wings of every soaring purpose, and seek a life with the fewest contacts and relations. If you want to get through the world with the smallest trouble, you must reduce yourself to the smallest compass. Tiny souls can dodge through life; bigger souls are blocked on every side. As soon as a man begins to enlarge his life, his resistances are multiplied. Let a man remove his petty selfish purposes and enthrone Christ, and his sufferings will be increased on every side. (Paul Borthwick, Leading the Way, Navpress, 1989, p. 86)

Borthwick says a mouthful in those few words. He speaks of being significant. He encourages sanctified ambitions. He addresses the purpose-driven life.

To me, he’s saying: Brave the pain, risk the injuries, and dream big for the sake of being significant in the eyes of Christ.

Thankfulness for your Church Family…

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Today, as I sat with Alverta’s son and daughter-in-law, I noted Fred was reading Life Together. Just seeing the book reminded me of something I typed from it years ago. I will cut and paste it here.

In the Christian community thankfulness is just what it is anywhere else in the Christian life. Only he who gives thanks for little things receives big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for the daily gifts. We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest good. Then we deplore the fact that we lack the deep certainty, the strong faith, and the rich experience that God has given to others, and we consider this lament to be pious.  We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.

How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully received from Him little things?  If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

This applies in a special way to the complaints often heard from pastors and zealous members about their congregations.  A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God.  A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.  When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has been placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself first to see whether the trouble is not due to his wish-dream that should be shattered by God; and if this be the case, let him thank God for leading him into this predicament.  But if not, let him nevertheless guard against ever becoming an accuser of the congregation before God.  Let him rather accuse himself for his unbelief.  Let him pray God for an understanding of his own failure and his particular sin, and pray that he may not wrong his brethren.  Let him, in the consciousness of his own guilt, make intercession for his brethren.  Let him do what he is committed to do, and thank God.

Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification.  It is a gift of God which we cannot claim.  Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification.  What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God.  Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature.  The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases.

Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.  The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.

~Life Together, by Deitrich Bonhoeffer  pp. 29-30

One of the most amazing things about that statement is its timelessness. When I typed it, I was using Word Prefect 4.2. That dates it to what, about 1987? But it’s still as applicable today as it was then.

I thank God for my church family. Always. (1 Thessalonians 1:2)

Sometimes We Can Be Clueless…

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Those who know me well know I can be mercilessly critical of myself — particularly of my ministry. Yesterday, I preached a sermon twice. That’s not new; I’ve been doing the two services for, what, about a month? But this week I observed something peculiar.

In the first service, I sensed the Holy Spirit’s presence in a greater way than the norm. I can’t explain how that feels or how it happens, but there are times in a service when you can feel the Holy Spirit working in a special way. Such was the case for me in the first service. But in the second service, I felt none of that. I felt like the sermon was disjointed. It seemed to me that the illustrations were muddy. I thought that the applications were irrelevant. And I felt that it was way too long — like ten minutes longer than the first. Giving you a glimpse into my struggle I admit to you that this was so distressing that I wondered, “What am I doing? This sermon is pathetic! I should stop now!” Sunday afternoon I listened to the first service. I was right — it was as good a sermon as God ever allows me to preach. I didn’t listen to the second service. I didn’t want to face the discouragement I was sure it would bring.

It wasn’t until this morning, Monday, that I listened to the second. And as I did, I realized it was the same as the first. In fact, every criticism I had leveled at myself from Sunday noon until Monday morning was false. The sermon was cohesive, the illustrations clear, the application accurate, and the time — if you take out the technical glitch, it was two minutes shorter than the early service. The words were the same; the tone was the same; the heart was the same. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the work of the Spirit was the same.

I am just clueless, at times.

This leads me to speak to you about your cluelessness. Self-criticism can be a tool that the enemy uses to make you give up. But the truth is that we are often clueless as to the effectiveness of our service to God. Only he can objectively evaluate. And in his grace he accepts that which is lacking, improves that which is weak, and judges by standards separate from ours.

In response to the fact that we are unable to judge objectively, God says, “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” — Jeremiah 17:10 (NIV)

Do yourself a favor: Obey the leading of God as he directs you to serve him. Leave the criticism to him.

Because it was shorter, I posted the audio from the second sermon on the church web site. If you would like to hear the first, it’s here. I am pretty confident that both of them are good. 🙂

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