Connecting with God

If there is one thread that binds mankind together, it is a thread of loneliness that is born from our alienation from God because of our sin. Our sinful nature makes it difficult to hear from God. Further complicating the issue is the culture of busyness that we have created for ourselves. We have bought the idea that the more productive we are, the more worthwhile we are. When we inevitably carry this over into the realm of our spiritual beings, then our faith is reduced to religion. Our relationship with God is replaced with ideas or, at best, replaced by ideals.

What can we do to avoid this trapdoor? Always first, ask God’s help in every undertaking, especially when it has to do with your own spiritual life. Be honest about your sinfulness, your obsessions and compulsions, those things and people with whom you are secretly peeved--another way of saying those for whom you harbor some resentment. Focus on the part of Jesus’ prayer that so many of us pray every Sunday: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us” (ecumenical version of the Lord’s Prayer. We are asking God to forgive us in the same manner in which we are forgiving others). Stay with it until you are able to hear God’s answer. I do not mean that God always solves everything immediately. Maybe you might have to consciously live with some issues for days or even weeks. In some cases it is good to seek spiritual direction from someone God sends your way. However, let God direct you toward what is necessary in all these matters. This places you in the position of a proper relationship with God. Second, look upon others from a position of relationship. Count them as valuable to God. Pray for their welfare. Especially do this concerning people you are "on the outs" with. This takes us away from our natural and sinful tendencies to use people as “self-objects.” Praying for others helps us to move away from living in a relationship with them in the mode of “but what have you done for me lately?” We often use others to fill the place of God in our lives. When we place others in the position of being our primary relationship, we soon drain them dry from our neediness. Only God’s Holy Spirit can fill these deep places.

I would love to hear your response, your experience. If you want to post it as a response here, then you also share it with others.

Difficult Times

Difficult Times

It is an old saying: “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.” We as Christians know all too well. It is extraordinarily difficult to follow Christ.

These have been difficult days for Kershaw Presbyterian Church. Death took a beloved sister, Pam McKeown, from our midst. It is a terrible loss for Pam's family and for our community of faith. In the face of death, there is often a part of us that is like the disciple, Thomas, a part of us that feels bewildered and lost. Jesus was talking about His own work of going to prepare a place for us in heaven so that he would come again and receive us to himself. Not only that, the way there is already known to them and us, so don’t worry. Thomas said, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, so how do we know the way?” The question for us, then, is how do we recognize heaven as touching my world at this moment; how can we say that eternity has crashed the barriers of time, and how is the Kingdom of God present in this dark old world?

While Jesus has won the war, the Enemy continues to wage battle right up until he is finally stopped. Satan’s forces of evil are trying to cause as much destruction as possible because Satan so hates God. And death is the last enemy to be conquered.
That’s the essence of the matter. Meanwhile, is the Kingdom visible in this old world? Pam, her husband, her father, mother, and others have touched lives as they have faced the enemies of Satan’s forces and death. The lives of nurses at the hospital were changed because of Pam’s Christian conviction and the influence of her spirit. One of my own sons told me about the massive influence of Pam, her husband Jim, her daughter Sara Helen, and her father Dr. Mac and her mother Sue. Sue pointed out to me that they refused to let Satan have a victory in Pam’s death. And Dr. Mac continues to pray for God to now complete the good work which is begun in my son (“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” Philippians 1:6 NAS95). Can you imagine how it is for me as a father to see my prayers answered before my very eyes?

Death has inflicted its wounds upon the McKeown and McDow families and our congregation. So, how has heaven and earth met in our congregation? How has eternity penetrated time? How is Scripture being fulfilled? We have seen, for instance, the beginnings of the fulfillment of God’s promises: “For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"” (1Co 15:53-55 NAS95).

God Moves at the Strangest Times—in a Meeting

What a retreat our session had on October 21-22 at Bethelwoods Camp and Conference Center!  Our new elders for 2006 are Graceann Jones (re-elected for another 3 year term), Scott Croxton, Gene Baker, and Doug Graves.  God is up to something!  

Our discussion of dreams and goals took a surprising twist with a unique idea.  The session (board of elders) is going to keep a journal of our community life together and a prayer journal.  We do not want to miss what God is doing--which means that the session sees that God is up to something!  We are waiting expectantly.  Isn’t this a wonderful lead-in to Advent.  Advent is a time for waiting for Emmanuel (God with us)—2,000 years later.    
  

Relationship with God--A Pastor's Personal Moment

October 3, 2005

I went into the sanctuary today to make time for relationship with God. I do not mean for “prayer” (which too often means the Santa Claus list of our wants). I mean for relationship with our Lord. Relationship with someone means that I am interested in them with undivided attention; it means that I listen to them and respond from my being—physical, emotional, and spiritual (in other words, my body language indicates interest and my heart as the emotional and spiritual part of me turns toward another).
During this time of relationship, I realized that it had been far too long since I had had the courage to stop my busyness to come into relationship with God. Just seeing the physical, emotional, and spiritual pain of others is often overwhelming. However, to let it bubble to the surface before God is to admit that there is evil in this world, much of which will not be finally defeated until the day the Lord comes back. However, there is another overwhelming reality that deep down I knew that I would experience. Far under the surface, I knew that I wasn’t the only one in pain over these issues. As I said, in relationships, we pay attention to others. I must have known in my busyness that if I stopped for true relationship with God, not only would I have to face my own pain, but I would also share in some of the God’s pain. We most often think of God sharing our pain, making our burden lighter. It is too easy to want the benefits of the cross without coming to the foot of the cross and taking a long look and experiencing the stabbing pain of what Jesus has done for us.
I experienced two realities in this time of relationship with our Lord. One was the communion of the saints. I longed with the saints of all ages for the reconciliation of all creation with God, for heaven and earth to be fully one, for the new heaven and the new earth where there will be no more pain or death. This realization has its own special pain. The second reality I faced is my thinking about the place of feelings in reality. I have often said that feelings are not necessarily accurate preceptors of reality; that feelings probably reveal more about me than they do reality. In other words, Feelings probably reveal how I am experiencing life rather than how life “really is.” I still believe that. However, when I give my full attention to someone, I do experience physical, emotional, and spiritual responses. These involve emotions. What is the balance concerning limits on distrust when it comes to feelings? I realized that I at least partially process and do trust feelings and thoughts when I encounter others. They are natural responses. Why do I so distrust them when it comes to encountering God, fearful that too much is left to the “imagination?” Why am I fearful of my imagination when from childhood it has been a source of spiritual giving, receiving, and strength? Perhaps we realize that evil often communicates with us through thoughts, feelings, and our imagination and we have to admit we are often unsure whether God is telling us to do something or the forces of evil are acting upon us—or that sin that dwells within us often influences us. How do we sort through all this? There are no easy answers. We simply sing our way through—using the words of that great hymn: “Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but Thou art mighty, guide with Thy powerful hand. Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven, feed me now and evermore.”

Reflections about Church Activities

September 22, 2005
The Men of the Church met last night for a good meeting. Bob Moss (Associate Executive of our presbytery) led us in a final run on spiritual gifts in which he pointed us to using our spiritual gifts wherever we are—are home, work, play, as well as the Community of Faith. I helped us use our worksheets to have an idea of our corporate spiritual strengths. I was impressed by how God has gifted our men—and they are gifts of spiritual leadership. How God loves those fellows! I can’t wait to see the next phase into which God is leading us. And I do not think that we have to do a whole lot of cajoling to get folks to join in our efforts. I see God working in our men and I think that God is going to invite others through our men. The only question for each one of us is, “Am I allowing myself to be an instrument of God so our Lord will invite others through me?”

Notes from the Pastor's Life

What gives me peace? What gives me focus?
St. Paul encourages the young pastor Timothy to "rekindle the gift of God that is within you." This makes we wonder if Timothy was distracted by the many demands of being a pastor. I know for myself that I have meetings scheduled for which I must prepare and lead, two session (board of elders) retreats for us to discern and decide where God wants us to go and/or how to invest ourselves and our congregation, visits to the hospitals in different cities this week, elderly folk that I care about to see that I have missed and who have been in my heart and thoughts, a meeting of a major council of our presbytery (that involves a long drive) as well as follow-up council responsibilities after this meeting, a short term responsibility of the presbytery that happens to fall at this time, a 135th anniversary celebration of a former pastorate in Tennessee, two Men of the Church meetings for which I have responsibility or total leadership of the meeting (one in each congregation). I almost fear to look at next week's or next month's schedule. I wonder if St. Paul saw many pressing matters on Timothy's plate that would distract him from his first love--devotion to the risen Lord Jesus. I notice that I haven't even listed preaching in this list of things to do. How can the preacher have anything to say if he/she is distracted by so many other demands on time that compete for first place? Someone has asked, "Just how thin can you stretch yourself before you just aren't 'there' anymore?" Unavailable to God and to others.
I think that one of the times I as pastor must be available, be "there," is when I preach. If my preaching is just fulfilling one more responsibility, then the "light is on, but nobody's at home." I must reserve the leisure time to be devoted to Jesus Christ so that I have something to say on Sunday morning, a word that I have heard from Him.
I continue to wonder about the contingent situation that St. Paul was addressing to Pastor Timothy. What was going on with him? "I urge you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you."

The Kershaw Presbyterian Church Blog

Welcome to the Church Blog. This blog will be maintained by the Pastor of our church, Dr. Eugen Bach. Or as we know him, Buddy. The Blog will be a way to read about day to day happening in the church and what the life of a small rural church in South Carolina is like.

It is our hope that you will come join us for services on Sunday, here in Kershaw, SC.

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