The Upper Room Daily Devotionals in Nashville, Tennessee, United States "DIRECTIONAL ARROWS" for Friday, 28 October 2016 with Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:5 and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. 6 These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; 7 and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, 9 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.With sunrise an hour away, my friend and I had the responsibility of marking the 5K course for the walkers and runners participating in the race sponsored by two neighborhood churches. In a pickup truck, carrying directional signs, water for the halfway point, and a map, we started. We marked the straightaways and turns for the participants with temporary directional arrows to ensure that no one would go the wrong way.
At times in my life, I have gone the wrong way, ignoring the directional arrows found in the Bible. Eventually, the arrows on the race course disappeared; but the wisdom and guidance found in the Bible endure. My capacity to learn from making wrong turns and to follow God’s leading depends on my daily commitment to connect with the Lord through reading the Bible. Proverbs 3:3 captures the direction I need: “Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.”
Read more from the author, here.
Who Am I Following?
Tinkering with words at the computer is enjoyable for me. Often, I sense the good Lord is nudging me to write. Our local newspaper,The Richmond Times-Dispatch, and The Advocate, a magazine published by the Virginia United Methodist Conference, both ran this piece.Two mornings a week, I’m up before five heading to the Tuckahoe YMCA. I work out with weight machines and get my heart pumping on a stationary bike. But Hercules, Samson, and Charles Atlas need not fear my weight machine workouts. I am wiry like Barney Fife. This is a significant change from my days as an overweight youth.
During January at the YMCA there seems to be an increase in activity. I’m assuming people are wrestling with New Year resolutions, but by March that initial commitment is as fleeting as winter’s last snow flurry.
As I ride the stationary bike, the large color monitor on the peddling machine beside me is often a distraction. This cleverly animated display of bike riding options flashes: “Working out has never been this much fun!” And later, I’m intrigued by another brief prompt: “Follow the pacer.”
Honestly, sometimes I wonder what am I doing at the YMCA when people with more sense than me are catching extra minutes of sleep. But in those solitary moments of exercise, my mind roams all over the place. Recently I’ve been thinking about the sentence, “Working out has never been this much fun,” and occasionally I switch the words to: “Attending church has never been this much fun.”
So is attending church fun? As a youth, often I felt church was boring. After college, church attendance for me was Christmas and Easter and nothing else. After getting married and starting a family, church slowly became a consistent habit again.
But what does it take to make church fun? I’m no expert on the topic, but I do have some observations.
Over the last few years, I’ve heard the phrase “radical hospitality” used in reference to churches. I agree that hospitality is essential for newcomers within the walls of the church. First time visitors will probably feel awkwardly unwelcome if upon finding a seat in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning they are shortly greeted with the territorial “I’m sorry, but you are sitting in my pew”!
Another key piece is a church’s capacity to help people find their way within the church. Can the church staff and congregation match their offerings to a person’s interests or needs? This is a matter of helping an individual find their comfort zone while also providing opportunities for spiritual growth.
Navigating large churches can be overwhelming, and it is incumbent for hefty churches to have a balance of offerings. A critical piece is designing programs that touch every age demographic from infants and their families to the elderly and everything in between.
Churches that rely upon a tired template of doing the same things over and over again because "that’s the way we have always done it" will mire deeply in their own redundant mud. Calculated risks can be opportunities to grow, and who knows what fun might be generated!
Another piece of the tired template is related to our perspective and how we see our church facilities. Viewing the building and grounds with “tired eyes” can create complacency in maintaining a facility. Taking the time to really see interior and exterior areas from a different perspective can improve the “tiredness."
Churches must actively pursue opportunities to move beyond their existing walls. When I think about the encounters Jesus had with people, I realize walls did not contain him. Jesus was like a pacer, moving through assorted environments, interacting, leading his disciples, assisting, and rarely slowing his pace.
If churches aspire to be vibrant, fun places for people to connect and grow, then maybe we need to more carefully revisit the work of the steady pacer, Jesus, by following his practical examples of love and wisdom both inside and outside the walls of the church.[Bill Pike]
See an image the author at the 5K ceremony, here.
Link2Life for October 28, 2016
Thought for the Day: Even wrong turns can be an opportunity to grow in my faith.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to be more loyal and faithful to you each day. Amen.
Prayer focus: PLANNING TEAMS FOR CHURCH EVENTS
Link2Life for October 28, 2016
Bill at 5K ceremony.
The Author: Bill Pike (Virginia, USA)Thought for the Day: Even wrong turns can be an opportunity to grow in my faith.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to be more loyal and faithful to you each day. Amen.
Prayer focus: PLANNING TEAMS FOR CHURCH EVENTS
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