Psalm 145:8-9,13 - The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and
rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. The
Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving towards all he has made. (NIV)
I am an interim pastor. My job is to go into a church and help to prepare it for
a new "settled" pastor. Looking at the goals of the church is part of this. Our
"Thinking-Big Day", as I call it, took place on a recent Sunday after a church
luncheon. Little did any of us expect the amazing display of God's grace that
followed.
As our meeting started, one of the parishioners said that he had something to
say. He told us the following story.
He had awakened at 3:30 a.m. the previous Friday morning with a very heavy
heart. He felt very anxious. He was most preoccupied all Friday ... he couldn't
get away from this feeling. He came to realize that this church (meaning the
people) really had to "move on" if they were going to develop valid goals.
Finally, Saturday evening, he was led to write a parable, which told of two
farmers who lived side by side. They raised different crops. They each had a
horse, and when they helped each other, using the horses as a team, they did
very well. Then something happened, and they had a falling out. The next year,
working by themselves, each had a terrible year. The moral of the tale was that
they needed to work together.
The man told us this story, and said that this was symbolic of their church, and
that if they were really going to "move on", they needed to rid themselves of
the feelings, misunderstandings, and hurt pride that had emerged in the previous
year and which had brought this church family to its knees. He then said that he
would start by accepting responsibility for his part of the problem because he
loved this church and wanted it to "move on".
He reviewed some of the painful things that had happened and accepted his role
in it. His courage was truly remarkable as he bared his pain and asked for
forgiveness. It was as if a dam had been opened. Others got up and accepted
responsibility for their actions and asked for forgiveness. People ended by
hugging, sharing, laughing, and crying. All were holding hands as we prayed
together and sang, "Blest Be The Tie That Binds".
I have never seen anything like this before. It was beautiful, exciting, and
transforming. It was a real turning point for this church. It surely was God's
amazing grace in action. What a marvelous "moving day"!
Prayer: Holy and gracious One, Your ways continue to astound us and to move us
to do things that we never could do on our own. May we all be open to the
proddings of Your Holy Spirit, so that we, too, may move on in our lifelong
journey, home to You. In Christ's name. Amen.
Patricia Glore glorepp@aol.com Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts, USA
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