A MUSING FROM PASTOR STEVE for February 24, 2009

The following was reported on a church sign: “With all the risks that some people take, they should take out eternal fire insurance as soon as possible.”

SUNDAY MORNING
A lot of folks were missing on Sunday morning. The women’s retreat, small group retreats, sickness and family gatherings kept many from gathering in our sanctuary. There were almost as many visitors as church folks present. I hope you take time to greet our visitors and the new folks who have been attending. We don’t have official hospitality assignments, but any of us could invite folks to dinner.

Brett E and crew did a great job leading in worship. It was nice to have Collin at the drums; we need to get the young folks using their talents for the Lord. I didn’t know that Bret D could play the piano.

I hope everyone wasn’t too bored with the slides from the 1967 church fire. I talked about a positive church fire and how we all need to “fan into flame” our God given gifts (2 Tim 2:6). I’m thankful for each of you and the God given gifts you use in your life and in the church.

PRAYER CONCERNS
In addition to the concerns listed in our bulletin, we can lift up Jen Umble’s surgery on Tuesday (today) in Dayton, OH. We can thank God that Danny Miller walked away from a terrible auto accident on Friday (his car was totaled). Morgan Umble leaves Costa Rica and returns to St. Croix on Friday. The sharing time is an important part of our worship.

LENT
We’re not particularly a liturgical church, but I did recognize that lent starts on Wednesday. The children helped me plant an amaryllis bulb (thanks Mildred!). We’ll watch it grow during lent and be challenged to grow spiritually as Easter approaches. This Sunday we can be challenged to have our faith grow through re-commitment to the Lord.

BIBLE QUIZZING
The Quizzers had a challenging evening at Forest Hills. It’s great to see so many going to cheer them on (even if it’s mostly parents who will take them home afterwards). Next Sunday they are at Akron Mennonite. Jeff, Rhonda and Erin are doing a great job with the kids.

WE HAVE A BUSY WEEK COMING UP! There are many opportunities for fellowship and spiritual renewal.

Friday Night we’ll have a great time and fellowship with the Youth Sports Dinner and Auction. Call RuthAnn with your reservations if you haven’t already done so. This should be a lot of fun!

Saturday night the Birdsong Family will have a Youth Oriented Concert. They’ll be in the schools during the week and hopefully we’ll have a good crowd. The concert begins at 6:30 pm. Invite your friends and neighbors.

Sunday morning I’m looking forward to the Sunday School elective. Thanks to Gwen for facilitating this class; they’ll meet in the sanctuary. After that the Birdsong Family will lead us in worship. This is another great opportunity to invite friends and neighbors. The Gospel message will be presented. Ken is doing a great job coordinating these things. I think we still need rooms for the Birdsongs for Sunday evening.

There is no Sunday evening service – a number of difficulties led to this decision. We’ll have House of His Creation at another time.

Tuesday is Xtreme Worship. Dave Klingensmith, associate pastor at Sandy Hill, will speak. It should be a challenging evening. Nolan & Nori and crew are doing a great job with this.

Wednesday is Church Family Night. The Evangelism & Service Commission have a fun and challenging evening planned. There will be a Church Family Feud that will include all ages.

The morning of Friday, March 6 we will gather in the fellowship hall for World Day of Prayer. Sarah Mechler, missionary to Mongolia, is our speaker. The announcement says it’s for the women, but I don’t think they will turn the guys away.

We can only be renewed as a church if we meet together. I encourage you to bring your friends and participate in as much as you can.

PENNY POWER
Bud Eby’s Sunday School Class is collecting pennies for Penny Power. There are two large bottles in the foyer for your pennies. These will be taken to the MCC Relief Sale in Harrisburg in April. I’m thankful that Bud’s class has taken on this project.

TEL HAI
On Monday the Leadership Team met with folks from Tel Hai Retirement Community: Joe Swarts (CEO), Tim Herr (Chaplain) and our own Matt King (board member). Maple Grove was key in starting the Tel Hai ministry, but our relationship has changed over the years. We talked about ways we can work together in ministry.

LEADERSHIP LISTENING MEETINGS
I often say this is not the pastor’s church or the elder’s church, it is the church of all of us. We held our third listening meeting with Erin’s SS class this week. Each group brings a unique perspective – Maple Grove is a wonderfully diverse congregation, with lots of ideas, hopes and dreams. I’m also finding out that we also have a lot of talent that is not being used for the Lord. Please pray for the leadership team as we continue to seek the Lord’s direction for our congregation. This week we will meet with Bill’s class. We need to “fan into flame” our faith for a useful fire that is not a destructive burn, but provides energy for ministry for the Kingdom of God.

Here’s the full text of the poem/essay I quoted parts of on Sunday.

“Prayer for an Arsonist” by Martha Kauffman

Dear Lord, we thank Thee for fire: its warmth, its beauty, and usefulness when kept in its place. But we can’t understand what pleasure anyone can get from lighting a building dedicated for worshiping Thee. Maybe we don’t need to know why. Help us to say “Thy will be done.”

Lord, be with the arsonist today. Let him meditate on the dangers encountered by the firemen. Or let him feel the agony of a fireman overcome by smoke. May he in some way see the needy who will not get the quilts and sewing circle materials. Let him think of the amount of time, money, and inconvenience involved before the building can be used again.

Most of all, let him see himself. He, too, is Thy child. Does he not know that he was born to bring honor to Thy name?

Did none of us show him the importance of serving Thee? Forgive us if we are at fault. Just as men worked to clean the debris, so let our hearts be cleansed.

May the fire of Thy Spirit burn within us, so that our love and prayers will go out to others, even to the arsonist who lit the match. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen!

(This was written after seeing a clean-up crew working at Maple Grove Church a few weeks after the December 9, 1967 fire.)

Thank you for your prayers and for all each of you does for our Lord as part of our Maple Grove family. St. John of the Cross wrote, “The soul that is alone … is like the burning coal that is alone, it will grow colder rather than hotter.” I thank the Lord that I can be a part of the Maple Grove Church fire!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Steve Crane

Ben Franklin is credited as saying this at the signing of the Declaration of Independence: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hand separately.” There’s some truth to that for the church as well.