New Journey

Update: Just sent out this email last week.

Dear ST Marks Family,

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that I will be leaving my employ with St Mark’s Church on March 5, 2023.  The Global Methodist Church has appointed me as the new pastor of Selma Christ Church in Selma, Indiana. The distance and responsibilities of this new charge make it impossible for me to continue fulfilling the responsibilities for which I was hired here at St Mark’s.

It has been a privilege and an honor to partner in ministry with you. I have learned a lot and appreciate you taking me and my family into yours. I pray that our time here has been as much a blessing for you as it has been for us. We have walked through a lot this past year, we have ended up in a place we never expected, or at least not in the timeframe we imagined, and now God is moving again. I look forward to doing ministry with you in the future, not as the associate pastor but as the pastor of another Global Methodist Church moving forward into the work God has called us into. I’m reminded of the words God gave the children of Israel through Jerimiah “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (29:11 NLT).

May God continue to bless you.  

Sincerely, 

Rev. Charles Wesley Areson

Infection

 

The Infection

Ephesians 4:25-2725 “So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”

I remember when I was growing up my mother would tell us not to mess with a cut that she had cleaned up and put a band-aid on. She would say something like, “If you keep messing with that you’ll get it infected.” Since we lived in the days of antibiotics and had never heard of anyone dying of infection it really wasn’t a great deterrent.

On growing up, I learned that infection was one of the greatest causes of death in the days before antibiotics. In fact, I read somewhere that infection often killed more soldiers than in battle. Often it wasn’t the wound that killed it was the infection that came in later. I talked once to a retired army nurse who remembered the miracle it was to get penicillin.

So what does this have to do with the scripture I quoted? I believe often it isn’t the instance of anger that flares up when something happens, but it is the infection of unforgiveness that is the real problem. This is why Paul says don’t stay angry and deal with it quickly (before the sun goes down). Scripture and science say that holding on to unforgiveness is bad for you. So, let it go. Don’t keep messing with it (bringing it up) because if you do the infection will set in and the infection of unforgiveness will bring death if you aren’t careful. 

 

Crazy Month but...

 It has been a crazy month and it's just started. Now, I look back and see that I haven't posted my blog on Monday as I have set it as my policy. I could tell myself that it shouldn't matter after all it's not like I have a bunch of followers (actually last time I looked it was only 1). If I was sick or my family was going through a huge emergency and we were all sitting in the hospital, I would agree. That isn't the case. Yes, it's been crazy, and yes there are a lot of things I can't post about right now, but I could have set aside the time to write something. I had the ideas. 

I don't have a valid excuse. But WHY? Why write?

For me, this is supposed to be a way to keep a rhythm of writing and ideas in my life. It is like doing a morning walk or an afternoon devotional. The one time might not change me but all of them together make me better. It's one of those "important but not urgent" things which all time management people tell you make all the difference. 

So what do I do? Get up and get on the ball...thus the four-day late blog post. 

Sorry to my one follower and to my future self, I need to do better. I will. 

Obey God--Do...Nothing! What?

 The LORD then gave these instructions to Moses: 13“Tell the people of Israel: ‘Be careful to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you from generation to generation. It is given so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. You must keep the Sabbath day, for it is a holy day for you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the LORD. Anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death. The people of Israel must keep the Sabbath day by observing it from generation to generation. This is a covenant obligation for all time. It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.’” Exodus 31:13-17

When I consider these words I don't want you to focus on God calling for capital punishment for breaking the Sabbath, but on the idea that God says there are times when the holiest and most obedient thing you can do is nothing.

I find it interesting that when people work all the time and wear themselves out they say they are, "Working like the Devil." As Christians, this isn't our role model. I'm not saying we should shut everything down on Sunday or Saturday, but I do wonder if we should be taking a sabbath. Jesus did call it God's gift. 

Think about it.   

Photo by Sébastien Lavalaye on Unsplash

I don't have to!

 “However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭16‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I'm in a group that is reading through the Bible and one member pointed out that there are always people who think the rules don't apply to them. I agree there are always those people but the truth is we all at some time are "those people." It may not apply to some things, but there are certain things in all of our lives where we too believe the rules don't apply to us. However, when it comes to the things of God, when we disobey eventually everything will go bad, everything will spoil and stink. 

We may get angry at others when they do their version of disobedience but we need to ask ourselves, where are we failing. We need to ask ourselves in reference to Jesus' command (Matthew 7:5), "Where is our log/sin?"

Photo by Anita Jankovic on Unsplash

Joseph, wrongly interpreted?

 

When we are introduced to Joseph in Genesis 37, we see a young man who I believe we too often picture in light of our own experiences and through the lens of children’s stories. However, the facts can be seen in more than one light. Here are the facts:

1. Joseph was 17

2. Joseph told his father how his brothers did something or things bad

3. Jacob loved his son more than the others (not Joseph’s fault by the way)

4. Jacob gave Joseph a special coat and he wore it (possible a sign Joseph would be Jacob’s firstborn heir)

5. Joseph’s brothers hated him (because of Jacob’s actions)

6. Joseph had two strange dreams he shared

7. Jacob sent Joseph out to check on his brothers and he went as told.  

8. Joseph’s brothers except Rueben wanted to kill Joseph

9. Joseph’s brothers except Rueben sold Joseph into slavery

These facts don’t make Joseph a hero, villain, brat, or saint. It is how we interpret them. I originally saw Joseph at this time on his life as a brat. However, someone once pointed out that nowhere in scripture is Joseph condemned for doing anything wrong. The person also pointed out that Joseph was in one way a picture of Christ in that Joseph pointed out the evil, was loved by His Father, promised to be the leader/ chosen one, and through suffering brought deliverance to Israel. This challenge caused me to see Joseph in a new light. 

Instead of the spoiled brat tattling on his brothers and lording over them what if there is a different story?

Joseph was new in the family business and at person risk blew the whistle on his brothers who were doing something horribly wrong which could have destroyed the business and his father’s reputation. Joseph was given the coat of may colors and wore it not as a sign of privilege but to show his father he appreciated the trust His father was showing in him. The brothers who were scoundrels hated the Joseph because he was living the way they knew they were supposed to.  Joseph shared dreams he instead knowing that dreams could be prophetic and was asking, “Could this really be true?” Jacob hearing this prophetic dream was upset. Jacob was the patriarch and master of the family so hearing God was going to demote him was upsetting. Jacob yelled at Joseph to remember his place. Joseph knowing his brothers were out to get him went to check on them in the middle in nowhere because his father sent him, even though he knew it was dangerous. Rueben the one person who had blown it in the past wanted to do right by his dad and rescue Joseph but was thwarted. 

This is a far different story then the spoiled brat story, but do have any reason to believe this version isn’t true other than our own desire to hold on to what we have thought or perhaps because we find ourselves like Joseph’s brothers sinful and jealous? 

Something to consider… 

Lean on Them

 

The song says, "Lean on me..." but the question I have to wonder is who do we lean on? Or maybe I should ask are we leaning on anyone? Most pastors and church leaders would say, "I'm leaning on Jesus," but verbally or mentally say, "I don't trust in people." 

Let's be honest for most of us as church leaders we have had people fail us. The natural thing to do is to give people control but like the guy teaching me in driving school forty years ago keep a brake on his side of the car. The idea of leaning on them is of course out of the question because "I'm the leader., The buck stops here., I have to answer for what happened." These may be true but it isn't the way we see Jesus doing it. He sent out his disciples and he leaned on them. He trusted them to prepare the donkey, prepare the upper room and many more things that aren't mentioned in scripture. He trusted them to stay awake and pray with him. Yes, they failed miserably on that one but God sent angels when men failed. So, are we trusting that God might send help if people fail, or are we creating a backup plan?

All of this musing comes from reviewing Bob Russell's book, After 50 Years of Ministry, 7 things I'd do differently and 7 things I'd do the same.  One chapter was titled,  I would build a team of highly qualified leaders and lean on them (Bob seems to like long titles in this book). I didn't reread the entire chapter as I was just doing a review of the lessons I learned before when I read it, and it struck a cord. Are we training and are we leaning? As pastors, we often do a good job on training but I'm not sure we do a great job on leaning. 

Let's be honest if we do and something goes wrong we catch the heat. I was practicing this in a church once and had a retired pastor inform me that I needed to do it myself. Yes in that instance the people had issues but if I had taken his advice I would have had to spend a lot of time and energy learning this area of work and then a lot of time doing it. It would have said to the people who were supposed to be in charge they weren't trusted or really needed. I did that once and ended up losing that person from doing anything. This time I took the criticism and didn't back down. The people in question never did rise to the level I would have liked but then again I was able to focus on work that was in the long run more important. The retired pastor and I still disagree on this, but as I reread Bob's book I see that the principle of training and trusting does work. It isn't a pie-in-the-sky ideal. Will things go wrong? Yes, but it's worth the effort. Besides, it does seem to be the example of Jesus and last I read He is the one we ought to be following.

Pastor Sam and I are trying to do this. We aren't always successful and there have been issues, but if we are going to be all God wants we have to let go, empower others, and lean on them. Will there be problems? You better believe it! In fact, I promise it. However, when the church is everyone doing the job that God has called and gifted them to do, it is a beautiful thing. Think about it this way, if I were a foot in the body of Christ I might be able to prepare your food, but it would be awkward, uncomfortable, and maybe a little disgusting. Will a hand do it better? Yes, will a hand always be perfect? No, but eventually the foot will fail if it keeps trying. So let's give grace to those taking on new roles, correct when needed, love at all times, and trust that God will supply when men fail. 

Photo by Milan Popovic on Unsplash