| JUNE 21, 2009 | ||||
| WELCOME PASTOR WILLIAMS | ||||
| An Introduction | ||||
| This is a wonderful day. Father's day is one of my favorite days, primarily because I can be lazy. I am the king on that day and everybody does what I ask, without question. Well at least that happens in my dreams. It is a great day, because I have a son and that single fact brings me more joy than most anything else can. I love my son and would do anything to ensure his safety and prosperity. God does that with us. We are His children and He keeps an eye on us and watches over us. He even sacrificed for us so that we would be redeemed from our sins. So that brings me to the question: What should we give God for father's day. Talk about the man who has everything. I am sure that in heaven God has everything he desires. I am pretty sure that when I get to heaven I will have all the things I need. I remember a story of this wealthy banker who somehow made it to heaven. He arrived at the pearly gates carrying two heavy suitcases. St. Peter was shocked that he had brought them. It got his curiosity up that this man had come to heaven lugging these things. He finally got the man to open the suitcases to show him what was inside. When he saw that they were filled with gold bricks. He looked at the man in amazement and asked, Why did you bring paving bricks? We have plenty of roads here. Hmmm so He doesn't need physical things. What can we give Him? Ourselves! That is what He wants for Father's day, and every other day. In Paul's letters to the various churches he is always mentioning servitude. In his second letter to the church of Corinth he says: “But in everything and in every way we show that we truly are God's servants.” He goes on to say that they have paid a heavy price for their service, “We have had a lot of trouble, suffering, and hard times. We have been beaten, put in jail, and hurt in riots. We have worked hard and have gone without sleep or food. But we have kept ourselves pure and have been understanding, patient, and kind. The Holy Spirit has been with us, and our love has been real.” Now just as we parents watch over our children and would gladly give ourselves for the benefit of our children, God does the same. We all expect that at some point we will grow older and hope that our children will come to our aid at that time. God is a little different in that He doesn't have to wait to get old. You can't get much older than God. He gave freely to us and now He asks that we give back to Him. He gave each of us gifts and talents. I don't care who you are, or how much you may think that you don't have gifts, You do. It is up to each of you to decide how best to use those gifts to make God happy. This is my first Sunday as pastor here. It has been a rather circuitous route that God has used to bring me here. And though often God did not do what I thought He should, He has always done what needed to be done. A few of you have come up to me and said that you want me to grow this church. I believe it was Paul Norton that came up to me a few weeks ago and said, “We look forward to you getting the membership up to a few thousand.” Well Paul, I can tell you that it may take a little while to get there. And more importantly, it is not me who will grow this church. It is you, each member of Ider United Methodist Church that is responsible for growing this church. And I have every confidence that you can do it, if you want to do it. The Spirit is here waiting to help us. Over the next few weeks I am making it a point to come visit with each of you. I want to get to know you. I also want to get to know what you see as this church's future. Will we just sit here and slowly die away. Will we do just enough to keep us alive? Will we decide that we want to touch every life in this area? As I said, it is up to you, I am only the pastor. It is my job to inspire and lead you. To present you with opportunities to use your talents and gifts to serve God. And I will do all possible to be responsible to my duties. Now, Yes I do have some hopes of my own for this church. And when I visit with you I will gladly share what those hopes are. I will tell you that I pray for this church to grow. I pray that we will have a choir up here. I pray that we will have an active young people's ministry and that our pews will be filled every Sunday with people desiring to serve God. But my dreams mean nothing. Unless it is the desire of you, the church, to make this happen, it will not. I will continue to pray that the spirit blesses this church and each of you individually. I pray that He will inspire you to use your abilities to support and grow this church. I have confidence in God, and I have confidence in this church. I am asking you to undertake a difficult journey. Unlike that of Paul, I am sure that ours will not contain any beatings, riots, or imprisonment. But I am sure it will be difficult. I foresee that our main difficulty will lie within ourselves. As we undertake projects there will be certain people who think we should do it one way and other people who think we should do it another way, and maybe even another group who feels that we shouldn't do it at all. I expect that, and I welcome it, because it shows that we are all intelligent and capable of thinking. But we are also loving and spirit filled. For that reason I don't worry about the differences and difficulties. I am just looking forward to the opportunities. This morning I have passed around a sheet asking for your names, phone numbers, etc. As I have told you, I am terrible with names. Maria blames this on my getting older. I know that isn't the case because 1. I have always been terrible with names and 2. I am definitely not getting any older. But there are two reasons for this list. The first is that I want to be able to contact you so I can arrange a good time to stop by and visit and the second is that I want to eventually put together a directory for the church. Before I visit with you please take the time to think about what you see as Ider's future. What do you see as your gifts and talents, and what of your gifts and talents are you willing to share with this church. These are not easy questions, because they lead to a commitment. And as Christians, our word is important. I feel that every member of the congregation shares my belief that there is nothing more sacred than a man's word. When people can't rely on you to do what you say you will then there is an important part of you that has died. The vows one takes to be a member of the Methodist church were changed at the last General Conference. They now say that you will support the church “with your prayers, presence, gifts service and witness. ” Though almost all of us took a slightly different vow when we became members, I am sure that we would all gladly vow to this new statement. I am asking you today to stand before God and make a promise to fulfill what is required of us as members of the United Methodist Church. I will also say that it is entirely between you and God. It is my job to help direct your work. It is not my job to stand over you with a whip or words to exhort you to do what you have promised to God. I am making a commitment to you that I will do all in my power to follow the desires of this congregation, to support and encourage you, and to lead. I will also do my very best to be a friend and a pastor. As this is my first church, I am going to need a lot of help. But I believe that I have a great church. I feel blessed to be with you and am looking forward to doing great things with you. I would like to ask for the members of the Admin board, the pastor-parish relations committee, and the finance committee to meet with me for just a few minutes after the service. I promise to only take just a few minutes of your time. |
|