Pastors Corner

Maturing

In my daily devotional I came across this quote from James Finely, who authored a book titled Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, a reflection on the writings of Thomas Merton. Finely writes: “Merton once told me to quit trying so hard in prayer. He said: “How does an apple ripen? It just sits in the sun.” A small green apple cannot ripen in one night by tightening all its muscles, squinting its eyes and tightening its jaw in order to find itself the next morning miraculously large, red, and juicy beside its green counterparts. Like the birth of a baby or the opening of a rose, the birth of the true self takes place in God’s time. We must wait for God, we must be awake, we must trust in his hidden action within us.

I love the image constructed by Finely in my mind’s eye of the tiny green apple squinting and straining to become big and

juicy and ripe.  But to no avail – maturity takes time. And so it is with spiritual maturity. To be the kind of person God wants us to be spiritually, it takes time. We cannot, by squinting our eyes, tensing our muscles, become the spiritual giant of a Thomas Merton. It takes time, plenty of time of praying and reflecting; of listening and obeying; of allowing the word of God to have an impact on who we are and the way we act.

In February on Youth Sunday, I had the opportunity to visit all of our Sunday school classes. I don’t know what took me so long but after four years I thought it was time. What I found were little green apples with wide-eyed enthusiasm, learning how to become the person God created each one of them to be. As I made my way from primary to adult, I could clearly see that there was progress being made, and it made my heart smile and I was thankful that this was my church and their church and God’s church.
As we progress through this season of Lent I hope you are opening yourself up to the Spirit of God at work in your life. May we all keep hanging and maturing, patiently waiting for God to work in our lives, steadily growing into the person God created us to be.

Blessings,
Pastor Pat

Our Worship at a Glance

Sunday, March 4, Second Sunday in Lent –
Holy Communion at both services. Sermon text: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Sunday, March 11, Third Sunday in Lent –
Girl Scout Sunday. Sermon text: Psalm 19

Sunday, March 18, Fourth Sunday in Lent –
New Member Sunday. Sermon text: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Sunday, March 25, Fifth Sunday in Lent –
Sermon text: Jeremiah 31:31-34