From Pastor Paul

The first church I ever served was St Paul UMC in Fort Wayne. I served there for 5 years as a student pastor. I normally arrived at church early but on this particular morning our family was running late and had arrived just a few minutes before the worship service was to begin. After unloading the kids from the car, I straightened my tie in the mirror and watched something which is really rather commonplace in a rather uncommon way.

I had seen people go in and out of church many times. That morning though, it was as though a veil had been removed from things I had never before seen. It was one of those moments when something that has always been right in front finally comes into focus. Where I a painter, I would love to paint this image the way that it appeared to me that day. I’d paint a portrait of people walking as if unencumbered yet clearly overloaded with piles and piles of clutter on their shoulders.

It was as though God was allowing me to see the burdens that we carry with us every day and bring with us into the doors of the church every Sunday. It was as if He wanted me to know just how heavy and cumbersome those burdens are. As I watched the people filing into the church building from their sedans, trucks, and minivans, it occurred to me that each person carried his, or her, own invisible burden.

Some carried the burden of guilt for past sins. These people hoped that by regularly attending church they would convince God to forgive them. Some of them carried the burden of fear, depression, and anxiety. These people came to into the church hoping to find peace – even if only for an hour on Sunday morning. Whatever their burdens were, one thing became clear to me; most of us, all of us, carry burdens that we were not intended to carry alone.

As I watched all of these people, many of whom I knew well, making their way into the church that Sunday, I was struck with the sense that so many of us come to church and generally live out our Christian faith out of what is largely a sense of obligation rather than of love. We fill our lives with repetitious, albeit well intentioned, deeds in order to fulfill our obligations rather than living a life which flows from the love of God working in and through us.

Imagine the folly of a man who chooses day in and day out to hoard and heap burdens upon his shoulders which are not his to carry alone. Imagine the woman who works diligently to earn the forgiveness which she has already received.

Dear children of God, if we are ever to learn to live lives which are filled with the grace of God, if we are ever to live the grace-filled life, we must let go of obligation and embrace love. We do not do good works to earn God’s favor; we do good works because we have received His favor. Good works, duty, stoic obligation are not what is pleasing to God. While people tend to be mostly concerned with the outward appearance of things, God is concerned with our hearts. (I Samuel 16:7)

See You Sunday

Pastor Paul