A sunday evening musing

Today at All Saints we celebrated the harvest, and were joined by the Presbyterian church down the road to rejoice in God's provision and providence. And after a great day (possibly the best Sunday we've had since we've been here), as I sit here receiving with thanksgiving (1 Tim 4:4) the bounty of Cuba and Scotland, I am struck again by God's kindness to us.

We who were dead in transgressions and sins, who simultaneously ignored and raged against our creator, were graciously made alive in Christ. He looked on us in mercy, and in unfathomable love gave himself - made himself nothing - so that we might be made his very own. We have been given everything - life, love, grace, forgiveness, freedom, peace, fellowship, communion. We deserve nothing but receive everything - oh the glory of the cross!

And so now we serve - in freedom and love. We proclaim boldly, love freely, forgive willingly - and in God's grace he even uses us in his ongoing work - through us reconciling sinners like us to himself.

Mondays in ministry can be hard. We look back on opportunities missed and people who appear unaffected by this fathomless love. But don't lose heart, brothers and sisters! God is always at work, his word going forth, always effective as he intends it.

Somewhat depressing.

We continued today at church working our way through Ephesians - the text this morning being Eph 4:1-16. For me this is one of the most programmatic texts for evangelical ministry, and I preached it with all I had in me. God's word equips God's people for God's work. Catchy, I thought.

As usual, I came down from the pulpit absolutely exhausted, but pushed on with prayers, and communion, and greeting new people and so on (no staff teams here!). And observed afterwards the most enthusiasm that I have seen since we arrived here. Enthusiasm for the sermon? No. Enthusiasm for the unity that we have in Christ (another major theme of Ephesians that we've been pushing over the past weeks)? No. Enthusiasm for the new coffee plungers that I bought this week that were producing (for the first time, I might add), real coffee at church. Somewhat depressing? What do you think.

But then I get home, and see that a group of guys in the UK who pray for the work here in Methven have sent through this (arriving at exactly the moment I stepped out the pulpit, if you're into that kind of thing):

...Rico [Tice, at the London Men's Convention] spoke of 2 Cor 4:1-6 as his job description today. I pray we all, especially those somewhat isolated physically in small NZ towns, will not lose heart but boldly proclaim the message we've been given...

Somewhat depressing? Hardly. In God's grace he uses his people just when we need it. And so in light of God's word, we'll keep at it. Month in, month out. In season and out of season. Setting forth the truth plainly and trusting that God will feed his people not only with good coffee (now), but also with his timeless and perfect word which will equip them for their service of each other and him.