Are You Experiencing Growing Pains?
Good Morning,
With Jesus, the job can get done instantaneously and without Jesus it can be a long hard slog. This is especially important when activities are increasing and more people are involved. It is important in the storms of life and while we are waiting for God’s provision. The whole shipboard experience can be good or it can be bad. After all, the very nature of today’s topic tends to be uncomfortable especially in our labor in the choppy seas of relationships. Are You Experiencing Growing Pains?
Scripture: Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts 6:1-7 (NRSV)
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
John 6:16-21 (NRSV)
Message: Again, today we pull from the Catholic lectionary reading for the day. And so, in multiple ways the world is watching. And what is immediately evident is the reality that in times of conflict, the early church as well as our ministry and relationships today will go through some growing pains. We have two options- let the conflict overwhelm us, fall on our collective behinds, and the world will move on or we can press on for God and those who are watching. Always remember, some of us will plant seeds, others will water the plants, but it is God that brings the growth. Now some will complain and others will be angry about growing. Some will serve despite the suffering. Now there is a saying that goes, “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.” But this is not always true. Some things are emotional and can impact you for a very long time. And that is why you need Jesus. You see, the universal church has also experienced growing pains over the centuries since the beginning of Pentecost. And maybe that is why there are so many denominations. The thing is that we are to suffer through the growing. Why? Because really it is the only way. The world is made up of individual human beings, each with their own ideas of how to go about doing things. It’s not that the ideas are necessarily right or wrong or even one being better than another. They’re just different. And then, there is the difficulty of communication. Such is the good news and bad news of growing pains. The early church had them and so will we. Unfortunately, the problem is that we can take things for granted. We can get distracted. To solve the problem the early church selected leaders to focus on the challenges of growth and the assignments to be made. Unfortunately, sometimes people were not matched with an assignment to their liking. Too often if disagreements continue division and splits can result. Today’s passage from Acts is a great example of how to make it through the growing pains. Interestingly it is not unlike sailing a ship…with a Captain and crew each assigned to a task.
Pray leaders make good course decisions. Pray that we grow together. Pray people are drawn to Christ in the process. Pray we properly evaluate our progress. Pray we follow God’s lead. Pray we become a priesthood of believers. Pray as the body of believers, we gather together to do the work assigned to us. Pray we never grow tired of Jesus being our Captain. Pray He keeps us off the rocks and reefs. Pray we sail in the love of God’s creation knowing that everyone and everything has been made by God. Pray we trust God to protect us and get us to our destination. Pray we believe that no boat is too small for God to watch over. Pray we realize that no boat is safe when we are running away from God. Pray when Jesus calls we leave everything behind. Pray we realize that Jesus can always provide more than enough. Pray we realize that God’s message is made possible by people who travel to other shores. Pray we believe that God’s power can prevail even when the ships sink.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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