During one of our Second Saturday Outreach work projects, a member of
our church came up to me and with a smile on his face said, “Let me see your hands. I want to see some
blisters.”
Blisters are a sign that we are getting some
work done and that we’re doing something that we normally might not do. I don’t
like blisters. They hurt. But over time, those blisters toughen up our skin
allowing us to get more accomplished.
I
would imagine the disciples had really rough hands. I don’t even want to think
about what they’re hands looked like compared to my soft hands. No comparison.
That’s
what I like about the disciples. Many of them were tough fisherman who left
everything to follow Jesus. Instead of pulling in nets full of fish every day,
they were now using those same hands to offer God’s healing love to the people
around them. I’m sure they continued to fish from time to time, but Jesus had
taught them to use their hands to also build up God’s kingdom here on earth.
Do
me a favor and look at your hands. Does anyone have any blisters on your hands?
If so, raise your hand so we can see them!
Of
course, I’m referring to blisters on our hands as a metaphor to emphasize the
need for all of us to be involved in serving as Jesus’ followers. Maybe you
have developed a few spiritual blisters as a result of serving Christ and his
church. Hopefully, those blisters were only temporary and now that you have
been serving over a period of time, those blisters have been replaced with an
inner joy of knowing that you are making an eternal difference in people’s
lives.
In
our I Corinthians scripture reading, the Apostle Paul tells us that the church
is made up of many different people who have many different ways of serving.
This is how God designed the church to function.
Like parts of the body, each person has God given abilities that
contribute to a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. And, like
a human body, when one part suffers, the rest of the church body suffers with
it and must devote its energies to making the body whole again.
Vernal E. Simms served as the Senior Pastor of Morris Brown A.M.E.
Church in Philadelphia. In the book, From One Brother to Another, he
shares how he grew up in a rough Boston housing project called Columbia Point
in a family of nine children. Although he was a hard working student, paying
for college seemed impossible.
But his mother used to say, “Pray,
and the Lord will make a way somehow.” He remembered his mother’s advice
and began to pray about being able to go to college. He also felt called by God
to enter the pastoral ministry which would mean attaining a Master of Divinity
degree as well. Stepping out in faith, this young man packed for college and
went to orientation but he still didn’t have enough money to enroll. He was
about to pack up and make the 100 mile trip back home.
And then something amazing happened. An heir to a corporate fortune
heard about his plight and paid for his college education. After he graduated,
he went to his benefactor’s office to thank him for all he had done and asked
him what he could to repay him.
Imagine him saying to this multimillionaire, “What can I do to repay you?” And the man responded with, “Help somebody.”
Vernal Simms went on to spend the next twenty years pastoring churches
in the drug-ridden, crime-infested inner city as well as in well-manicured
suburbs. He followed the advice of his benefactor by applying those two simple
words, “help somebody.”
Help somebody. This is what it means to be committed to Jesus Christ.
Each one of us has been given at least one gift to use in ministry. We are all
called to get some spiritual blisters for Jesus.
Susie Griset serves in our caring ministries. Let’s hear her testimony
about serving in this important ministry area of our church.
This morning, I invite you to pull out the commitment form on serving
from your bulletin. If you have been attending worship the last several weeks,
you’ll notice that this commitment is a lot longer than the other commitment
slips we have been using. The reason for this is because our church is involved
in over a hundred ministries that are helping us to make disciples of Jesus
Christ for the transformation of the world.
Many of you have filled out these forms the past few years. First of
all, I want to thank you for completing these and sending them back to us.
And
secondly, I want you to know that these completed serving forms have greatly
helped our church to include more and more people into the life and ministry of
our church family. We are thankful that you have taken time to complete similar
forms like this the past few years.
In
the next few minutes, we are going to have the opportunity to indicate what
ministries we are serving in now and what new area ministries we are interested
in serving for this coming year. And since this is a lot of information at one
time, I’d like to walk us through this as we fill it out.
At
the top, please put your name and contact information. That’s important.
Sometimes, we receive these forms but there’s no name at the top so don’t
forget that first step.
And then you’ll notice the many ministries in and through our church.
There are two columns that you can check. The first column has the letter “n”
which stands for “now.” Check this box for any ministry that you are serving in
presently. The second column has the letter “i” which stands for “interested.”
Check this box whenever you see a ministry that interests you where God might
be calling you to serve.
Now, let’s begin looking at the categories that group the ministries:
And as we walk through the categories, go ahead and check the “N” column for
any ministries which you are presenting serving. And also check the “I” column
for any ministries that you have an interest in serving.
The first ministry area is Administration. These involve our
administrative committees.
The second ministry area is Caring Ministries. These range from
bereavement support to helping with our blood pressure ministry.
The third ministry area is Children’s Disciples. Lots of opportunities
there. And I should say that if you check that you’re interested in being a
teacher or a helper, we provide the teaching materials for you to use so you’re
not on your own. You’ll have a lot of support if you help in any of these
ministries.
The fourth ministry category at the top of the next column of your form
is Craftmanship/Creativity. And there is a long list of particular skills that
we often need throughout the year.
The fifth ministry area is at the bottom there. Discipleship.
If
you turn the page over, the next category is Fellowship/Recreation. Let us know
if you’re serving or interested in any of those ministries.
The next category is Hospitality. This is a ministry area that we really
we want to give some additional focus here in our church. You’ll notice that
the Crossing Guard ministry is new this year because we have many youth who
have to cross Wheeling street to get to Rising House just across the street for
our Sunday School programs that are held there.
The next ministry category is Outreach. We have a very active local and
global outreach ministry.
Service is the next ministry category ranging from assembling mailings
all the way to helping with our Wednesday night dinners at Crossroads.
At
the top of the other column is the worship and music category and there are
many ways to be part of our worship and music life here at First Church.
And then you’ll see the Youth ministry category which includes all kinds
of ways to support our youth ministry.
We
also saved some room for you to indicate any ministries you would like to do
that are not listed on this form.
We’re going to give you some more time to look these over. When you’ve
completed your form, we are invited to place our completed commitment form in
one of the covenant baskets nearest you. There are baskets down front here and
there are baskets up in the balcony.
I
think we’re ready. May God bless you during this sacred time of commitment.
No comments:
Post a Comment