Madison Ave. Church of The Brethren

From the Pastor’s Desk

I’m convinced that many of us in small churches today wear ourselves out trying to do too much that really cannot be considered as ministry. While it is an absolute necessity that we maintain our buildings and care for our facilities, equipment and the like, in my opinion, we expend huge amounts of energy treading water. Too many people, taking their faith very seriously, are wearing themselves out trying to do too much while a number of folks who are less committed seem not to care about matters of faith. The end result is that the faithful are burning themselves out by simply doing too much and ignoring the counsel of Psalm 46 – that is to “be still and know” God and find our energy and purpose in God.

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From the Pastor’s Desk

Dr. John DeBrine hosts a daily radio show on WDAC (Lancaster) known as Songtime USA. In a recent broadcast, he made the following statement: “I was reading that in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, it takes two people an average of one month to lead someone to Christ. In America it takes about 95 people a whole year to lead someone to Christ and the thing that worries me is we are beginning to enter into an age in the life of the church here in America where the majority of people in the congregation have never led anyone to Christ.”

That’s a bit of a startling statement for us to ponder. For Brethren, who supposedly take the Great Commission seriously, it causes us to see declining membership in a different light.

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From the Pastor’s Desk

Ever watched a water bug? You know, those little bugs that skate across the top of the water? They are truly amazing. They have long legs that splay out, supporting the weight of the insect’s long skinny body. The bugs never get wet; they simply skate back and forth, constantly searching for whatever it is that they’re looking for! Water bugs don’t live in the water; they live on it. Their world is the shimmering, glassy surface. Beneath them are the depths – of which they likely have absolutely no awareness.

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The Lamplighter
August  2009

From the Pastor’s Desk
I seldom read the comics section of the Sunday paper though there was a time when it was one of my favorite parts. I still like the old “Peanuts” cartoons, though there are only reruns now that Mr. Shultz is gone. I do remember one very old “Dennis the Menace” cartoon in which Dennis was kneeling beside his bed beginning his bedtime prayer. This is how he started: “God, you might want to pull up a chair. I’ve been very busy today.”
I’m not real sure, but I suspect that more than a few of us have had days like that. Well, at least I have! Sometimes I wonder at the extent to which I must certainly try my maker’s patience and His willingness to forgive. More than one day, I confess, I have to agree with Paul’s summation of his daily activities where said in Romans: “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the veil I do not want to do; this I keep on doing. ……what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
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