encourage

Just Do The Next Thing

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Some years ago, when I was still working as an engineer, I used to listen to a Christian radio station in Cleveland, Ohio and would often hear a program hosted by Elizabeth Elliot. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that name, Elizabeth Elliot was the widow of a missionary, Jim Elliot, who was killed by Ecuadorian natives from the Huaorani tribe– also called the “Auca”, along with Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint in 1952. Their story spread around the world and was recorded by Elizabeth Elliot in a best selling book “Through Gates of Splendor” as well as subsequent movies and other books written by Elliot and others.

In any case, in a conversation with a caller on her radio show, Elizabeth Elliot noted that there were many times, particularly after she was widowed with small children, as well as other crises later in her life, that she would remember and recite to herself an old poem entitled, “Do The Next Thing.” On that show, on more than one occasion, I heard her recite it, at least in part, and remind her listeners that when life is hard, when we are struggling to understand how we can possibly move forward, her advice was simply to put one step in front of the other, and just “do the next thing.”

Although I didn’t need that particular wisdom on the day that I heard it, my brain filed it away somewhere. And, there have been several occasions since then that I found myself reciting parts of it to myself, looking up the entire poem online, or just reminding myself to just “do the next thing.”

It occurred to me today that some of you might not have heard it and during the turmoil caused by the Coronavirus, or for a host of other possible reasons, maybe you needed to hear it today. Here it is:

Do The Next Thing

From an old English parsonage down by the sea
There came in the twilight a message to me;
Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven,
Hath, it seems to me, teaching from Heaven.
And on through the doors the quiet words ring
Like a low inspiration: “DO THE NEXT THING.”
Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, and guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, do the next thing
Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all results, do the next thing.
Looking for Jesus, ever serener,
Working or suffering, be thy demeanor;
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance be thy psalm,
Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing.
Then, as He beckons thee, do the next thing.
– Elizabeth Elliot

Hang in there friends.

Whatever it is that you are facing, you will get through this.

Television pastor and writer Rev. Robert Schuller used to say,

“Tough times don’t last, tough people do. ”

I said it before, but I’m going to say it again anyway…

Whatever it is that you are facing, you will get through this.

Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and just…

Do the next thing.

God Bless.

____________________________________________________

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What is Your Charge Condition?

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runnin-on-empty-1532397In our house we have two places that we can find batteries.  New batteries, still in their packages, are in a box under our computer printer.  These are generally all pretty good except for a few cheap ones I got for free.  Used batteries, and all our rechargeable batteries, are in the basement on our “recharging table” that I built when all our kids each had a dozen toys that used batteries.  The charging table once had three different battery chargers where we could charge everything from triple ‘A’s to ‘D’ cells and 9V rechargeables.  And, just to be sure, we also have a battery tester that can measure the charge level in all of those sizes as well as in any button cell batteries that we might use in our bathroom scales, hearing aids, or whatever else.

And while this is obvious to anyone who has ever used batteries, the reason that we need a battery tester is that you can’t know a battery’s charge condition, that is, how much charge is on (or in) a particular battery without testing it.  But we humans aren’t all that different.  We put on a good face to the world, but we keep what’s inside hidden.  We might reveal our hearts to a few people who are closest to us, but we rarely talk about our emotional energy level, or our personal “charge condition.”  There are times, as parents, as laborers, and as human beings, that life simply takes a toll on us.  Times when we seem to just keep on giving, and the world keeps on taking our energy, until we feel as if we are running on empty and have nothing left to give.

Social Distancing isn’t helping.  While it’s possible that introverts may suffer less, extroverts gain energy through personal contact, from engaging in conversation, and from just being present with other people.  But the pandemic has stolen that from us.  If we’re lucky, we are still working, but we are working from home, or our employers have instituted policies that help us keep our distance from one another.  And while that might help to keep us safe from the Coronavirus, it drains us of the emotional energy that we need to survive and thrive.

If I need a battery from our charging table, I know that the batteries that are on the charger are good ones.  Current has been trickling into them so that when we need them, and their energy, they are ready.  But the batteries that have been sitting in a box, separated from the thing that fuels them, are anybody’s guess.  But they all look the same on the outside.  You can’t tell by looking at them.

And spiritually, we are fighting that same battle.  Because of the Coronavirus, and because of social distancing, we aren’t gathering, we aren’t worshipping together, and some of us aren’t even bothering to spend time on spiritual matters at all.  Without that weekly meeting, without those human interactions, it becomes all too easy to neglect our spiritual health altogether.

And as a result, our emotional and spiritual batteries are running down.  We increasingly feel drained, weak, and empty.  And in that condition, we won’t be ready to go when we, and our full strength, is needed.  When we feel drained and empty, we are less likely to stand up for the oppressed, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, to do the work of the church, or to be Jesus to the world around us.

We must fight back.

Once we pay attention to our charge condition, it becomes easier to make it a priority.  The batteries on our charging table only need a little trickle of current to be prepared.  But they need to be exposed to the current for the charger to do any good.  We need that exposure too.  We need to find ways to charge our emotional and spiritual cores.  We need to fight.  Do whatever works for you.  Arrange to call a friend for an hour one, two, or three days every week.  Plan a Zoom meeting with your family for no other reason than just to talk.  Open your Bible.  Attend Sunday school via Zoom.  Read a Psalm every morning, and one chapter of the Gospels in the evening, read a hymn, sing a song by yourself, watch a worship service on YouTube (even if it’s Tuesday).  Write notes to your friends and to people who you know are isolated and lonely. 

We are not alone.

We must fight together.

We will get through this, but if we neglect our spiritual and emotional “charge condition” we will continue to drain our batteries and run on empty.

Do it.

Pick up the phone.  Open your Bible. 

Do something.

Do whatever it takes to charge your emotional and spiritual batteries.

Because we cannot survive or thrive if we’re empty.

 

 

 

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Endurance

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If any of you have participated in sports, or even something as simple as casual walking, one thing that we all learn is that endurance cannot be purchased at the store.  We can buy good shoes, and sports equipment of all kinds, but the ability to play through an entire game, whether it is a walk in the park, or full contact football, or tennis, golf, soccer, or anything else, can only come from hard work.  If we say that there is a price for endurance, then that price can only be paid in sweat.  I have friends who, after major surgery, could barely walk across the room without stopping for rest.  But they persisted.  First it was a walk across the room, then to the end of the driveway, and then walking down the street one telephone pole at a time, until finally they were walking several miles every evening.  The same growth in endurance is seen in other sports in much the same way.  As strange as it sounds, just as we learn patience by being patient, we learn endurance, we train our bodies to endure, by repeatedly enduring. And, as difficult as it is for us to live through a global pandemic, we are learning to endure, and we learn endurance by enduring.  Granted, compared to the bread lines of the Great Depression, or ration cards and blackout drills of World War Two, the difficulties and hardships that we face may not be as great as those faced by other generations, but like it or not, great or small, these are ours. But as we stay at home, practice social distancing, and are separated from one another and from loved ones by doing so, as many of us suffer from unemployment caused by the shutdown, or by other byproducts of the pandemic, it is worthwhile for us to remember that the writers of scripture were no strangers to suffering and endurance.  In 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, Paul writes: 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you, patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. Let me pull a few bullet points from Paul’s words that apply to our current situation:
  • We worship the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort
  • God comforts us in all our trouble so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we have received from God.
  • We are distressed for the comfort of others. In this situation, we are fighting against our desire to be together so that we might not, unwittingly, pass this virus to others, family, and friends that we care about, and bring harm to them.
  • Paul says that they were distressed, and experienced trouble, beyond their ability to endure, but at the limits of their endurance, they learned that they could rely upon God rather than relying upon themselves.
It is the calling of the strong to protect the weak, and today we struggle against the pandemic by denying our desires to protect the weak and the vulnerable among us.  But our struggle is not without cost.  The cost of our endurance is being paid in sweat, in tears, and in great frustration. Proverbs 18:14 says, “The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” Please don’t allow your spirit to be crushed.  Pray that God might give you strength and endurance beyond your own.  Pray that we might learn to rely upon God rather than upon ourselves.  Encourage one another wherever, and whenever, possible.  Call, write, email, text, video chat, Zoom, or whatever it takes to stay connected and to encourage those around you who are struggling.  And please, please, don’t feel as if you must stoically struggle alone.  If you are struggling, don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Call me, call a friend, let someone know that you are struggling so that we can do whatever we can to help. And finally, because we are still the church, and our mission to do the work of Jesus Christ doesn’t stop for a pandemic, also remember Paul’s words from 2 Thessalonians 3:12-14. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. Hang in there.  Endure as long as you can.  Lean on God when your endurance ends.  Help one another.  Help the people around you. And never tire of doing good.   Blessings, Pastor John    
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Yes, I Can!

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No, you can’t!
Yes, I can!


February 03, 2019*

By Pastor John Partridge

 

Jeremiah 1:4-10                     Luke 4:21-30             1 Corinthians 13:1-13

 

Have you ever been irritated when people tell you what can’t do? Or when they decide that you aren’t good enough to accomplish your goals?  You know what I mean.  You’ve heard phrases like, “You aren’t smart enough to do that.” Or, “You should set your sights a little lower.”  Or, “There’s no way that you can do all those things at the same time.”  Often, people are genuinely trying to helpful when they say discouraging things like these because they don’t want us to be disappointed if we fail.  But if we never try, then we’ve already failed, haven’t we?  Even worse, some of these messages come from inside of our own heads.

There’s an old saying that has often been used in the military as well as in business, “The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.”  -unknown

We don’t like being told that our dreams, our goals, or our aspirations are impossible.  But hearing these negative messages, whether they come from others or from inside of ourselves, can lead us in in one of two directions.  Either they motivate us to prove them wrong, or they cause us to give up before we even start.

On May 16th, 1946 the musical, Annie Get Your Gun, premiered on Broadway starring Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton.  In the play, there is a musical exchange between Annie Oakley and her romantic interest, sharpshooter, Frank Butler which results in the song, Anything You Can Do, by Irving Berlin.

Anything You Can Do – Irving Berlin

Anything you can do I can do better
I can do anything better than you
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
No, you can’t
Yes, I can! Yes, I can! Yes, I can!

So, what does any of this have to do with the Bible or with our church?

Simply put, when it comes to living a life the way that Jesus wants us to live it, we are constantly hearing, “No, you can’t” from others and from inside our own heads.  But that’s not the way it has to be.  We begin this morning listening to the voice of the prophet Jeremiah as he describes the conversation he had with God when God first called him to be his prophet.  (Jeremiah 1:4-10)

4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,
    before you were born, I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

God begins by saying, before your parents even met one another, I knew you.  Before I made you, created and crafted you, I knew everything about you.  When you were just a sperm and an egg, I knew who you were and what you would become.  And even then, I called you to be mine and to be my voice to the people, and to the nations, around you.  And Jeremiah, being somewhere between 12 and 20 years old, protests that he is too young and doesn’t have the skills to speak in public.  But God isn’t listening to any of that.  God commands Jeremiah to do it anyway and tells him, “Yes you can.”  Don’t be afraid of church people, or kings, or the strangers that he would encounter on his mission.  And we can hear that same voice as it echoes to us, “Yes, you can.”  Don’t be afraid that you won’t have the right words, or that you are too young.  Don’t be afraid of the mission field, or your coworkers, or your classmates.

God knew you before you were born and had already called you to follow him, work for him, and speak for him.  Maybe not to kings and nations, but to friends, neighbors, and others that might not ever meet Jesus any other way.

And if you’re still worried that people might not like your message, remember that even Jesus spoke to some tough crowds.  In Luke 4:21-30, we hear the story of when Jesus returns to preach in his own home town and in what was probably the synagogue that he grew up in.

21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”

24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

As Jesus reads scripture in the synagogue in his home town, the people are amazed, not because of the power that flows behind the words, but simply because they knew his father, and had watched him grow up.  Rather than being impressed, they are incredulous.  They wonder how this guy can speak so well when he, and his father, were just simple, uneducated, poor, working people.  And from that, Jesus anticipates their next question.  Jesus knows that their next question will be to demand that he perform a miracle for them just as he had in other towns.  The thought that dwells on their minds is, “We don’t believe that a poor laborer can ever become anyone of importance.  If this guy is all that great, prove it.”  And even before they can ask the question out loud, Jesus simply says, “No.”  And, as if to add insult to injury, Jesus reminds them about prophets of the ancient world who performed miracles for foreigners, but not for anyone in Israel.

While the people doubt Jesus and seem to say, “No, you can’t,” Jesus, while clearly refusing to perform a miracle in front of them, Jesus is just as clearly saying, “Yes, I can.”

And the people Jesus grew up with tried to throw Jesus off a cliff.

This story should teach us several things.  First, it should remind us that the message of Jesus Christ is a radical message.  Not everyone wants to hear it, and having heard it, not everyone is going to like it.  The people of our churches, and the people of our culture, often think of Jesus as this mellow, likeable, easy-going teacher, but the truth is that his message was so radical that even the people he grew up with tried to kill him.  Second, Luke is clear that we don’t choose when or where God does his work.  It isn’t up to us to demand that God perform miracles when we want them.  God is God and we are not.  God chooses whom he will heal, and whom he will not.  God chooses, who walks in the door of our churches, and God chooses which of our friends might have a receptive heart to accept the message that we share with them.  It isn’t, and never has been, up to us.  Third, we need to remember that if the message of Jesus was rejected even when it was preached by Jesus, then we shouldn’t be surprised if some of the people who hear us share that message reject it as well.  Remember that while the farmer is expected to plant seeds, he doesn’t get to choose which seeds grow.

And after all these lessons, Paul has a few things to say to us also, this time not so much about doing the work of the church, but what kind of people we should be while we do it.  In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul writes these words (1 Corinthians 13:1-13):

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I am convinced that in writing these words, Paul is addressing the same sort of people in the church that we still see regularly today, and he is plainly telling them to knock it off.  You know who I’m talking about because you’ve surely met some, or at least seen them on television.  These are the people who somehow manage to make the message of Jesus into something that sounds hateful, hurtful, unloving, restrictive, rule-based, exclusive, and everything that Jesus preached and fought against.  And in answer to these people, Paul preaches a message of love.  No matter what great gifts God may have given to us, they are useless and pointless if we don’t make love a higher priority.  Love must be one of our highest priorities because, at the end of the day, Paul says, only three things are truly enduring, faith, hope, and love.

We live in a world that seems determined to shout us down and tell us that we aren’t good enough, that we aren’t smart enough, or educated enough, or pretty enough, or handsome enough, or rich enough, or powerful enough, or famous enough, or some other thing.  We’ve heard those negative messages so many times that we’ve internalized them, and we hear their echoes coming from inside of our own heads and our shattered self-confidence.  And together they are shouting “No, you can’t.”

But, if we listen, we can hear the voice of God quietly proclaiming to a young Jeremiah, to Jesus, to Paul, and to his followers everywhere, “Yes, you can.”

In scripture, over and over again, God promises that he will equip us for the mission that he has given to us.  When God called Jeremiah to speak, he promised that he would have the words to speak.  God said, “You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.”  But that doesn’t mean that everyone who hears our message is going to like it or is going to respond the way we hope that they will.  After all, the people that Jesus grew up with tried to throw him off a cliff.  But regardless of their reaction, we are commanded to share our message with them anyway.  As the followers of Jesus Christ, we are called and commanded, to go out into our world and share the good news of the gospel message.  We are called to plant seeds.  We have no idea which seeds will grow, but like every farmer, we must trust that God will use some of those seeds to bring about a great harvest of souls.

Know that God has sent us into our community and into the world to share the message of God’s rescue.

There’s no need to preach at people.  Simply plant seeds of faith, hope and love.

And as you hear the voices in our culture shouting, “No, you can’t,” have courage in knowing that God will give you everything that you need to do what he has sent you to do.

And sing your answer back to the world, “Yes, I can. Yes, I can. Yes, I can.”

 

 

 

 

 

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.