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Pastor’s Paragraphs: September 22, 2017

For these twenty-three years I have had the privilege of writing some words to you each week in THE MESSENGER.  Often they were words of information and encouragement about what was happening in our church or our work together as Baptists.  I have loved writing words of commendation about ministers and members who have helped us move forward in ministry.  Sometimes these words spoke to burdens we shared over needs in our world, especially in times of disaster or other troubles.

This week I just want to offer a word of THANKS.  Thank you Eastern Hills Church family for the distinct privilege of allowing me to be your Pastor for these years.  You welcomed me not only into the office of Pastor, but into your hearts and lives.  You have been my extended family and you let me be part of yours.   No pastor could have been more blessed than I have been in his church.  Thank you for being kind and helpful.  Thank you for being forgiving when something wasn’t done well.  Thank you for encouragement and care for my family all through these years.

No Pastor serves without the support and partnership with others.  I have been blessed with wonderful staff through the years.  They are too numerous to mention each by name here.  But you know the vast work our ministers do.  Any success we have had has largely been through their gifts of ministry and tireless efforts.  Likewise, all of us are indebted to the fine Ministry Assistants in the office.  They have been a joy to work with.  They are often the unsung heroes of church work.  Finally, I would mention the constant service of someone who has been with us virtually from the beginning of my ministry here.  I am so grateful for what Chad Royal has meant to our church through his work preparing our building for multitudes of meetings and worship each week.

So to my dear friends in the church and outstanding ministers and other servants who have walked this journey through all the different stages with me, I simply offer to all of you these two words, THANK YOU!

I hope each of you can join us Sunday for a very meaningful time of worship as I share the final message from the book of Philippians.

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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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