Letter from the Elders
August 13th, 2023
Dear Church,
Many of you have been good and faithful workers in this church for years. Your work serving in so many areas is so appreciated. Thank you.
I remember when I was young my mother handed my brother a glass and said, “Taste this”. He did. Then he choked and spit it out saying, “This milk is spoiled”. She said, “I thought so too.”
We have been going through the letters to the churches in Revelations and we might think we are glad we are not like those churches or glad we are not doing what those churches are doing.
But who are WE? What are WE doing?
The church in Laodicea gets a letter saying: I want to spew you out of my mouth. It’s because of your contentment with your faith in your wealth and what you can do on your own. But God wants them to change, to listen, be restored. And isn’t that just like God? (Dave’s Revised Un-Authorized Paraphrased Version.)
But … Who are we? We have been known as a church that:
• Exists to reach out to college students
• Took care of people after the tornado
• Studies through the Bible frequently
• Sends missionaries out all over the world
• And other things.
That's how we have been known. Who are we right now?
For years I was known (there is that word “was”) for walking around the church talking to and shaking hands with as many people as I could every Sunday. With people distancing because of Covid and
some of my physical limitations, I no longer do it. That lack of that contact with you just cut the feet right out from under me.
When I look out over the congregation I think: how are we doing at taking care of each other? GOD asked us to love HIM and to love each other. Big Commands. How well are we doing that? Have we become complacent with our efforts?
Most of us sit in the same spot each Sunday. Do you know the people around you? Could you love them? We could start there. Would you, TODAY, before you leave, find out who they are?
It made it hard, during Covid, to take care of each other when we weren’t even allowed to be around each other. How are we doing now, now that it is getting better? Are we still in that mode of “don’t get close, don’t touch”? I hope we can get beyond all that. You don’t know what the next big thing is going to be and, with GOD’s help, we need to be able to love each other through it.
As for me, I feel I am doing a terrible job. It’s like I am in my own little pocket, trying to feel better so I can help somebody else someday. I don’t think God wants my excuses.
So how are you doing?
When people would say they appreciated what I did working with people, I used to ask them to do what I did. They said they were too bashful, or wouldn’t know what to say. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) God uses you as you are. You limit you.
Bottom line is: We all have things we are able to, can, must do for the church to be the church. We are not on hold until we get a lead minister. I am sure God has plans for that. A lead minister, elders, or other leaders do not make College Heights what it is. You do. So what are you doing? If you are not each doing the work individually, then we, the few, can not do the work for the many.
So here's the thing. I don’t think we can sit back and say, “ We were this”. It must be, “We are this”. It is: what are we doing now and what are we doing to continue GOD’s work?
Every day I have to take stock and say how am I going to love GOD, my wife and other people. Who am I going to be today? Don’t rest on what we have done. Be God’s people today.
We don't want to be that sour milk that He spits out. We want to be that which satisfies His thirst for people who love and obey HIM. I want God to smack His lips and say, “Well done, well done good and faithful, flavorful servants.” :)
God bless and guide us as we look forward to doing His good work.
Love,
Dave
