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