Do Not Pass Go! Straight To Sad
Good morning to the Berean Church of Rohnert Park! I am sorry I am personally unable to say these usual words of salutation from the Berean pulpit. I explained my absence in last week’s article, and if all went as expected, the wedding is over and a new family begun. Otherwise, I am probably in a deep counselling session wiping away someone’s tears or beating the life out of them. No need to burden you with this since my premonitions are not really that good.
I always feel a sense of deep gratitude for you who continue without me. Perhaps I overestimate my value to the church, nevertheless I am happy that duty coincides with desire. You can do this without me, but I have no desire you should. As I get older, I realize sooner than later this will be our reality. Pastoring the church is an everyday learning experience. It is a test to see if I believe relinquishing personal control will not matter because it meshes with the Lord’s control. If I step outside that box, it is best I am not here.
Perhaps you wonder how I start well and then become melancholic. It is both physical and spiritual, which for me may be in the wrong order. Physically, the longer I sit looking at the computer screen, the sicker I become. I wrote this on the first day at the computer after receiving a prescription change in my glasses. It was dizzying like an amusement park ride. There was nothing at all amusing and you may feel dizzy reading this. Neither is it an excuse for a change in mental focus that you should need to bear. Rather, I will place the blame on the spiritual. As I wrote, a wandering thought came into my head. I recently read Joseph’s oath imposed on his brothers at his death: “And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” I have read these verses countless times. This time they had their impact as I sat staring at them. There are multiple reasons for Joseph’s request, but why are they so important to me? And why is it important now and not so much at the other multiple visitations to the same text?
The scriptures tell us to read and meditate. Our meditations do not need to come in high doses immediately upon laying our Bibles down. At what seems to be the oddest times, we recall scripture. This is when they have their highest value because it means scripture is then ruling our lives. What does a promise to carry up ancient bones mean to us? It means we have not forgotten God’s promises and that we laid a solid foundation that still supports. Thus, if I am gone, carry-up my bones. It is another way of quoting the apostle Paul: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Whew! Nearly four hundred years is a long time to remember me. Look at the pictures of pastors on the wall in Buerer Hall. Who was number 3? Less than sixty years and not a single bone remains. Even the picture refreshes no one’s memory. I believe you can guess the reason being melancholic is not so unusual after all.
Pastor V. Mark Smith