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Pastor’s Paragraphs: August 11, 2017

You will note inside the list of names to be considered in Deacon Nomination.  On Sunday morning you will have the privilege of placing up to ten names in nomination for the coming three-year term of service on our Deacon Council.  Following a time of assessment and consideration by the candidates, a slate on names will be brought back to the church for election in early September.  I urge you to read carefully both the information about Deacon service in our church as well as Scripture passages associated with Deacons.  It is clear the Bible points to Christian men of the highest character and spiritual discipline.  This year in particular, you will be nominating men who will work with the next Pastor.  I trust that you will consider the Deacon Nomination process this year with the utmost care and prayer.

You will also find information this week about the upcoming Sunday School year and other special ministry opportunities.  Of all the Sundays you don’t want to miss with your children and youth is promotion Sunday.  It is an exciting time for them to meet new teachers and make new friends.  It is also a good time to invite neighbor children who do not attend church to come with your family.  As I have said, virtually every one of us knows people who do not attend church anywhere.  Statistics tell us that about half or more of these would at least come one time if given a personal invitation.  We have outstanding teachers in all these age groups.

Wednesday evenings are always special with both music and missions.  Please see the enclosed announcement and plan to be present next Wednesday evening for the big Kick-off Event from 5:45 to 7:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary.  This will be a family event so don’t plan just to drop children off.  A very special program is planned.  There will be no Bible Study and Prayer Meeting next Wednesday night in lieu of this special event.

I encourage you to read the information about Serve Day on September 9.  Sometimes people say we need to do more outside the church walls.  This is a chance for many of us to make a difference for Christ by meeting needs on that Saturday morning.  Listen for more information in a special announcement Sunday morning.

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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