Readings:
Sermon:
In our Old Testament and New Testament readings there is the underlying theme of waiting.
In the Old Testament, Samuel waits to be prompted by the Lord to anoint the right future King of Israel…David
In the New Testament, Jesus tells us that the kingdom grows like a mustard tree, slowly but strongly.
Often we can be in a hurry, meaning that waiting is a nuisance.
We are wired to want quick results, as technology progressing we lose that ability to wait, music can be downloaded in seconds, myself as a teenager would wait over an hour to download a music track. My parents as teenagers used to wait fingers poised over the ‘record’ button to record music from the radio to cassette. My grandparents as teenagers use to wait for the band to learn the latest song to play down the local social club.
Maybe this is partly to blame for the reason we want quick results without putting in the time to wait and be patience and we can be in such as hurry we forget to prepare properly.
Before I was a Mission Enabler at the Diocese of Worcester, I trained people to be lifeguards, at the start of each training session I would remind people that the training wasn’t just creating head knowledge but to cultivate a set of instinctive skills. When someone is drowning you don’t want a lifeguard to be thinking about what they should do, you want them to react, respond and save. A lot of training, preparation, patience goes into the 20 seconds of instinctive action.
A key tool that all of the Mission Enabler team use to establish a churches’ future vision or goals. From these goals of visions we can working backwards with manageable and achievable steps, it takes strategy, time and patience.
But to have a mustard tree that the birds of air can rest in, first must come the planting of seeds.
For the new king of Israel to replace Saul, first, David must be anointed.
To further the kingdom, we must prepare ourselves, plant seeds and invite the Holy Spirit to anoint the service we perform. We need His patience in the process of growth but also discernment of when to act.
Prayer:
Lord, help us to be patience in the waiting, but may your holy spirit prompt us into action. Amen
Questions:
- Where is God training you grow and keeping your patient?
- What might the Holy Spirit be prompting you to step into?