Seeing What God’s Doing Through What He’s Done - Part 2

An Inkling

Two weeks ago we had our Ministers and Musicians Weekend as part of our 75^th Anniversary celebrations.  At the Saturday night dinner we showed some video selections from two of our ministers about their years here.  Last week I sent you the video for Lou Skidmore’s remembrances, and this week Earl Morey’s. 

Earl pastored here from 1960 to 1985, and his formative impact is felt to this day.  His partner in ministry, Betty, had her own effect at St. Giles, and her reflections are briefly captured too.  (Please excuse the disconnect between the video and the audio at points.  I’m not sure how that happened.  You can still get the idea.)

The point of attending to what God has done is not to glory in the past, but to develop eyes more attentive to what God is doing now.  Watch and enjoy!  And may God grant us eyes attentive to what he wants to do next, both through St. Giles and each of us!

Blessings,

Keith

Seeing What God’s Doing Through What He’s Done

An Inkling

Lou Skidmore was here with us this past weekend for one of our 75^th Anniversary celebrations.  At the Saturday night dinner we showed some video selections from his reflections on his years here.  For those who saw it, here’s an encore, and for those who missed it – you’ll see why they wanted an encore.  (Next week I’ll send out the video of Earl Morey.)

Skid was one of the pastors here in the 70s and 80s, and had a huge impact on St. Giles.  As you’ll see in the video, he was and is very much alive in the Spirit, in whose power he ministered to great effect.  And for those of you who knew Nancy, it’s a wistful video, as she went to be with the Lord about one month later.

The point of attending to what God has done is not to glory in the past, but to develop eyes more attentive to what God is doing now.  Watch and enjoy!  And may God grant us eyes attentive to what he wants to do next, both through St. Giles and each of us!

Blessings,

Keith

A Fast Read

An Inkling

During Lent lots of people fast from sugar, coffee, or some such.  There’s an intuitive sense that temporarily giving up something that we “must have” heightens our sensitivity to spiritual matters.  Many fast with little more than that intuition, and likely benefit – at least in the realization that much of what we’ve declared a “must have” is actually just a “really want.”

Fasting can be of greater benefit when we’re more intentional.  Think of fasting as temporarily setting aside some good gift of God that we yearn for so that yearning for that which matters most can find some space.  God has wired us to yearn for himself.  But if that most important yearning is never identified because we are so readily sated in all manner of lesser yearnings, then we’ve lost an essential part of what binds us to the One who loves us most.  Thus fasting. 

From what might you fast?  Well, what (besides God) do you find yourself frequently yearning for?  Is it sugar or coffee?  There’s a possible fast.  Increasingly for me it’s the internet, as indicated by an all too frequent compulsion to see what email has just come in, or what headline is on the news site, or who has posted the funniest picture.  When that “must have” eagerness is not sated – when the internet is down – my agitation rises quickly.  Logically I know I don’t have to have the internet.  But viscerally?  That’s what the agitation is about.

But how might one fast off the internet?  It’s not just a relational network and entertainment.  It’s a central tool for my work, one that leverages efforts to greater effect.  And it’s hard simply to fast from one part of the internet – say, from all matters entertaining.  On the internet work, relationships, and entertainment are all interwoven. 

So how might an internet fast work?  Richard Foster has a good idea.  He suggests fasting from the internet one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year.  So I’m trying that this way – an hour a day (the first hour), a day a week (Sunday, at least after checking for messages that impact worship services!), and a week a year (family vacation week).  We’ll see if I get the shakes!

And how about you?  Is there a “must have” that needs to be set aside for a while?  It’s funny how holding lightly can help us not to lose our grip – another of God’s gifts.

Blessings,

Keith

The Gift of Perspective

An Inkling

Last week at this time my mind was full of such things as:  details of the upcoming 75^th Anniversary Celebration, a car repair, staff needs, sermon plans, our ongoing denominational change process, and restoring the house from “bachelor pad” to “normal” before Sarah returned from her trip.  Such concerns loomed large.

Then in a moment’s time they shrank.  Our daughter, Anna Beth, called and said that her pregnancy had become perilous three weeks before her due date, and that she was going in the hospital to deliver.  Suddenly something genuinely large had given me a different measuring stick for importance.

The same thing happened Sunday.  By then Anna Beth and Jonathan were the proud parents of little Miss Susan, and all were well.  Sarah had gotten home in time for the birth, and we had done some major celebrating.  But by Saturday my mind was again filled with those “large” concerns – until Walter gave his witness in worship about a pastor friend in a middle-eastern country who is being persecuted by the authorities there.  He may be jailed, and his family may lose their home.  Yet he and his wife are thanking God for the privilege of bearing witness there.  Again, my “large” concerns shrank. 

The concerns must be tended.  They’re not nothing.  But God has a way of surprising us with gifts of perspective.  Sometimes such gifts come strangely wrapped, and I’m sure I leave many unopened.  But these gifts I recognized and received, and I was changed – much for the better.  Now I have my eye open for more such gifts.  How about you?

Blessings,

Keith