Expect More!
How is your new year looking so far? Are you expecting much? We are not victims to our past. We are not destined to merely repeat last year, this year. We can choose a different, more hopeful future. Want to find out how 2018 can be different? Read on, and here’s a hint: Expect more.
They arrived at Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch. Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man’s eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up. “I see men. They look like walking trees.” So Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus. Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, “Don’t enter the village.” (Mark 8.22-26)
Someone shared a brochure they picked up at a church they had recently visited when out of town. (I really appreciate learning how other communities of faith communicate their mission and message, so keep sharing your experiences when you are away!)
The brochure is entitled, What to Expect During Your Visit. It was intended to be read by the first-time visitor and previewed what a normal, regular order of worship looked like, how the service would be conducted, the pastor’s theology, and a brief description of church groups. It sounded so complete. (Incidentally, it was not a Presbyterian church.)
I wondered though, how many people only experienced what that brochure described should be expected? As if that brochure was the bar to be met. Nothing more or less. We have produced our own Welcome to Cold Spring Church brochure and I am reviewing it with different eyes now.
We do want everyone, especially our first-time guests, to feel safe and not be caught off guard or made to feel uncomfortable. That is why I try to help aclimate guests during my Welcome each week as worship begins. But I wonder if our worship is too regimented, regular, and maybe a bit too predictable. It might be better if more surprises were experienced! That is, if worshippers expected MORE from God, and we experienced MORE in worship, wouldn’t we more likely be more energized as God’s creativity and wonder were released?!
The story above from the Gospel of Mark about the man who could not see tells what on the surface looks like a failed miracle of Jesus. But it actually tells the story of expectations being exceeded.
The man’s friends expected that Jesus would heal the condition of blindness. Imagine like in a post office you line up to see Jesus. Next. Next. And so on. Jesus will heal you. Next, please.
As if that was the man’s only need, the man’s vision circumstance, could Jesus possibly care about. But surprisingly, what we learn is that Jesus cared about the man’s entire life experience not just his vision challenges. Jesus took the man out of town, where otherwise-abled people gathered (those we thoughtlessly refer to as the disabled). Jesus wanted the man to experience something other than same old shame and rejection. Using his own saliva as a healing balm, Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes, asking him if he could see.
Yes!, the man exclaimed. The now-sighted man reported that he saw people upside down! Seeing upside down was better than not seeing at all, right? Maybe they should leave well enough alone. They expected that he would see after being with Jesus. Good enough, then! Maybe they should just go back to town with the little they got.
But thankfully, they waited, they managed to expect more. They recognized in that moment of increasing clarity that Jesus not only could, but would do much more than they at first imagined. At the Master’s Second Touch, all was well, and Jesus reminded him, there is no need to go back to that village begging! Jesus exceeded the expectations, and I believe, he wants to exceed ours, and our community’s expectations, as well.
What do we expect in our congregation’s worship and ministry? I suggest, not nearly enough! God’s transforming Spirit is urging us to go beyond incremental and incomplete blessings to receive the empowering Second Touch to be that real, new, community of Christ’s disciples. Come on! We have already found we can dream again. We have increased our energy. We have increased our financial giving. We have experienced healing and hope and I don;t think God is out of blessings. Do you?
Our 303 year old mission, should we fully embrace it, is to deliver spiritual and other resources through our community of faith to our community at large that transforms our neighbor’s lives in the name of Jesus Christ. What do you expect?!
In 2018, our leadership and caring teams, groups, teams, staff, and individuals just like you all have an opportunity to expect more of Christ and of each other. Imagine how our greater Cold Spring area neighbors could experience God is new ways, more relevant and effective ways? How could seniors be energized by hope? How can younger people grow and connect to serve and learn so that more and more people experience the abundant life like that man did, like Jesus continues to offer to us today?
During the past year you may be in a better place, but look carefully. You may see, but are “people walking upside down.”? Well, pay attention, because the Master’s Second Touch is on the way for a new, healthy, and abundant year. Get involved a bit more. Give a bit more. Engage a bit more. Serve a bit more.
Cold Spring Church: Energizing Spirits. Transforming Lives. Expecting More.
Let’s not settle for a new year, but an expect more year. I can’t wait to see what emerges…
Pastor Kevin
We all need to be informed and aware of fraudulent criminal methods that threaten to make us victims. Local police departments have received many complaints over the last two weeks from citizens and local businesses pertaining to a phone scam. The scam works like this:
- Caller identifies themselves as a representative of Atlantic City Electric.
- Caller tells the victim that they are behind on their bill and payment is needed within 24 hours or their power will be shut off.
- The victim is instructed to go to Rite Aid or CVS and purchase a “Money Pak” and is provided a return number to call back.
- Once the Money Pak is purchased, the victim is asked to call back and read the number off the Money Pak and the scam is completed.
It is very important to know that on some of these calls the in-coming number on the caller ID is showing up as Atlantic City Electric. The Electric Company does not request payment in this way. The perpetrators are preying on the victim’s fear that their utility service will be shut off during the recent inclement weather. Before you send any money over the phone, you should always call the appropriate number listed for your utility company or contact the police to report the suspicious incident.
If you have been a victim of this type of scam or have information about the incident please contact your local police department.
The Clerk’s Corner by Rob Riehl, Clerk of Session
Now that the customary exchange of Christmas gifts has passed, we have decided which gifts received are worthy of our keeping, which gifts can be “temporarily” put aside, and which are “unwanted” that can be given away — be given a “new life”: perhaps re-gifted to a friend or relative, donated to a charity, or become a “prize” in a fund-raiser raffle! Of the gifts we choose to keep, we select which ones should hold a prominent place of display and which will be kept in a place of easy access. Of the gifts we put aside, we determine which will be put in the attic or basement for “the short term” – and the remainder stored off-site for “the long term”. Those gifts we placed “out of sight” can come back to haunt us: what were we thinking? Why did we hold on to these unused gifts for so many years? What do we do with them now? Whether you received just one, a few, or many gifts, each gift calls you to make an assessment and a resolution. What will you do with each gift?
As Christians, we believe that God has blessed us in many ways with His many gifts; among these are the gift of life itself and the opportunity for eternal life with Him. We are especially reminded at Christmas that our Creator Father God gave humanity the gift of His Son Jesus Christ so that we can know Him personally and intimately – to be in continual communion with Him. This is the greatest gift to be offered to us, freely given and undeserved, out of eternal love for us created in His image! Once we realize the incomprehensible magnitude of this gift, we are confronted with the assessment question: what do I do now?
In a recent meeting of our Men’s Ministry group, we speculated on the one question that Father God might ask of us at Judgment Day. The one proposed question that stayed with me is this: “What have you done with the gift of my Son?” Truly a sobering question and one that compels me to assess my relationship with God. Where have I placed this gift of God in my life? Have I put this gift aside and neglected it? Or have I embraced, honored, and treasured this gift? Have I shared this gift of His Son with others? The secular-atheist world has rejected it, marginalized it, and strives to dispose of it; let not any one of us be found on that side of the assessment!
With the new calendar year upon us, the secular world suggests that we make “New Year’s Resolutions” such as a new diet or weight-loss program, learning another language or skill. As believers in God, let us consider a resolution that really matters — one that truly creates a new life with eternal consequences: resolve to not only know more about God, but get to know Him personally and intimately. Once you have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord, you will abandon everything inferior. So open this gift! Eagerly embrace the gift your heart has been seeking — the unique plan God has called you to become and to accomplish in this life; this is your divine purpose and mission. Do not put this gift aside or store it hidden away — and then forgotten! What other gift could enable and empower you to become greater than your perceived self-image, to become more Christ-like, and then partner with your heavenly Father in furthering the restoration of His will “on earth as it is in heaven”!
There is a local church “reminder” sign (which I drive by everyday) whose message reads: “Be a mirror. Reflect the glory of God in everything you do.” For those of us who are aligned with Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we are reflecting the greatest gift bestowed upon humankind by the Father. This truly is “the gift that keeps on giving” — of ourselves, our talents, and our resources to the greater honor and glory of God. All we need do is willingly accept God’s gracious gift and be thankful for His mercy, grace, and love. No greater gift can be received — and then given! 2 Corinthians 5:17; Psalm 34:8; Luke 12:18; Corinthians 13:12
Mr. Rob Riehl, ruling elder