Not a Sermon - Just a Thought
He called on me one morning as I was preparing a sermon, introducing himself on my parsonage doorstep. It was not uncommon in my country church for people to stop by unannounced needing to speak with a pastor. I poured us a cup of coffee to knock off the fall chill and we sat in my study, me not sure what to expect. He began by telling me he was looking for a new church to join; good news to an ambitious young pastor! I was new to my country church and any addition to the membership was sure to please our congregation.
I asked about his reasons for wanting a new church and I learned that he was coming from a church that I knew. The pastor was a friend of mine. In the distinctive Virginia Tidewater accent, he told me he’d “gotten sideways” with the pastor and thought it best to leave. I pressed him to find out if he’d spoken honestly with the pastor or any of the leaders of the church about the issue at hand, and admittedly, he had not.
Something came out of my mouth that surprised us both.
I told him I didn’t think it was good for him to leave his church and join mine without at least talking to his pastor. He got flustered and I could see his anger rising. Here I was, less than three minutes into the conversation with a man who wanted to join my church, and I was telling him he ought not to do that. As you would predict, the rest of the conversation went down hill.
I’d like to report the happy news that he went back to his old church, resolved things, and they all went forward happy. I later learned through the grapevine that he went to yet another church in the community and took all his emotional and spiritual baggage with him. He caused problems in his new church, and it leaves me thankful that God protected me and my church from his angst and anger.
I tell you this story because it illustrates a problem with many churches. I see a profound lack of spiritual and relational vitality in congregations where people come and go based on whims, worship style, or a charismatic pastor’s entrance/exit. Churches, when they live out their identity as the bride of Christ are people who make and keep promises to one another. Keeping promises is sometimes costly – like working out differences on hard issues – but living in covenant commitment we must sometimes pay the price without regard to circumstances.
It’s like an argument in a good marriage. Sometimes things get heated, sometimes there is a lot of yelling and angry silence. But in the end, the two partners stick together because the good things easily outnumber the disagreements. Church families ought to be the same way.
This Sunday at Willow Meadows Baptist Church we’re going to be talking about our promises to one another that are codified in our church covenant. I’m going to tell the story of Ruth, a woman in the Bible who made a difficult promise and kept it by unusual faith. For modern Christians living in communities of covenant, her story teaches us that we sometimes have to:
· Tolerate things that are difficult and frustrate us;
· Share a burden we don’t want to carry, and;
· Tell the truth to one another, even when it hurts.
We’ll worship at 9am and 11:10a.m. I hope you can join us if you’re in the Houston area this weekend!
More than Promises, Promises,
Pastor Gary
PS – Reference to the obscure 80’s band Naked Eyes comes free of charge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9luwJyAXZM
Not a Sermon – Just a Thought is a weekly column written by Gary Long, pastor of Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. You can learn more about this covenantal church at www.wmbc.org. You can be added or removed from this list by emailing me at glong@wmbc.org.
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