To be in your presence

By nature I am an activist. I may tell people that" who we are is more important to God than what we do" but I don't always practice what I preach. I am always thinking about the next thing I should be doing,the next call I should make, the next sermon or script I should write,the next email I should send,the next idea, or the next meeting I should have.
I think it was Oswald Chambers who said " Don't let love for the work of God or even love for the word of God replace love for God Himself"
I need to heed those words and therefore appreciated this article Has mission become our idol?
I will try and learn from it!

The quote from Vanier which I spotted in the comments on the article is also worthy of contemplation

“The more we become people of action and responsibility in our community, the more we must become people of contemplation. If we do not nurture our deep emotional life in prayer hidden in God, if we do not spend time in silence and if we do not know how to take time from the presence of our brothers and sisters, we risk becoming embittered. It is only to the extent that we nurture our own hearts that we can keep interior freedom. People who are hyperactive, fleeing from their deep selves and their wound, become tyrannical and their exercise of responsibility only creates conflict.” Vanier, Community and Commitment."

To be in His presence

When people outside church ask what I do? and I tell them that I am a church leader ,a fair amount still say "What a great job you only work one day a week"! I smile weakly, and try to give the impression I have never heard that joke before.

Perhaps it is just because I am getting older,but even by recent standards this has seemed an incredibly busy year. I suspect that is a combination of a demanding building project , the need to plan for future ministry and raise finance, and perhaps a slightly higher number of pastoral issues.

I am conscious too how hard others in the church are also working,in many cases at the same time as holding down demanding jobs, or looking after busy families .I thank God for these fellow workers and for their commitment to building The Kingdom

I love what I do .I love working with the people I work with.I always have, and I hope and think I always will.I am so grateful for the encourager's who have walked with me down the years and still do.

However I am an activist by nature if there is a visit to do ,a meeting to hold or an email to write my temptation is to get on with it

The danger with this is that even in prayer my mind drifts to things that need to be done, or phone calls that need to be made.

How I need to learn to Be Still in God's presence. How I need to learn  again that God's work needs to be done in God's strength and not my own.Like many people Hymns and worship songs really keep my mind focussed on Jesus and enable me to examine my heart and soul.

I love this one which sums up what I believe God is calling His people to do

The lines "Keep us from just singing,move us into action" are especially powerful and for me at least act as a reminder that God calls us to be in His presence but He also sends us out to a needy world

Worship and Mission belong together!

As the song puts it fill us up and send us out