What's New!

The following article appeared in the November issue of the Wheatland Parish newsletter.

            I wrote earlier in this newsletter about how things are going to change, and how we need to be willing to make changes rather than having them made for us.  There are a couple of good changes that have been made within our parish since the last newsletter.

            First, our parish has a facebook page!  Just go to facebook.com/wheatlandparish.  You’ll find a lot of interesting things there.  You’ll find a thought for the day, a scripture of the day, and a music video of the day.  You’ll find links to the pastor’s blog.  You’ll find links to current articles about faith.  You’ll find announcements, birthdays, and anniversaries.  You can also write things on the facebook page:  questions, comments, insights, whatever you have.  It’s easy to do, and it’s free!

            Remember, when you go to the parish facebook page, to click on the “like” button.  That way, you won’t have to go to the parish page every time, unless you want to.  Anything posted on the parish page will appear in your regular news feed.

            Second, we now have video of our sermons!  The video is taken in Onida and is available on youtube.com.  An easier way to find it, though, is to go to the facebook page I talked about above, because we’ll put a link there.  Again, if you’ve “liked” our parish page, the link will show up in your news feed.  Now, if you can’t be in church, you can still see the Sunday sermon!  If you know someone else who can’t be in church, you can send the link to them so they can see it, too.

            None of this is meant to take the place of the communication methods we already have.  We will continue to publish the newsletter, we will continue to have announcements in the bulletin, and we will continue to discuss announcements in church.  We do not want anyone to feel left out.  The fact is, though, that we can do things through the facebook page that we cannot do in other ways.  Therefore, if you choose not to go to that page, you are going to miss out on some things.

            Technology is neither good nor bad.  Technology just is.  What makes it good or bad is the way we use it.  We’re working hard to try to use it for good, so that this parish can reach even more people and make even more disciples of Jesus Christ.

No Excuses

Below is the message in the Wheatland Parish from Sunday, November 6.  The scriptures are Malachi 3:6-12 and Mark 12:41-44.

            As we approach the end of our sermon series “what is the church”, we need to remember that the first thing we talked about is that the church is the people of God.  Because of that, when we talk about what the church is supposed to be, what we’re really talking about is what we, both as individuals and together, are supposed to do.  Today, we talk about something very important that the people of God do.  The people of God give.

           

As we start to talk about that, I want to mention how helpful it was to me to be able to sit in the congregation last week as Janet Madsen and Kelly Luken handled the service.  Not only did I have a lot less stress when I was gone for most of the week, but sitting where you do reminded me what it was like to be sitting where you do.  It strikes me that, if I was sitting where you are this morning, and I heard the pastor say that the people of God give, the first thing I’d think is “Oh, gosh, I hope he’s not going to start talking about tithing again.”

           

Now, maybe some of you already tithe, and if you do, that’s great.  If you are giving ten percent of your income to the church right now, I congratulate you and give you permission to check out of the sermon for a while.  I’ll let you know when it’s time to check back in.

The rest of you, though, are probably like I was.  The reason I’d have thought that is that I knew tithing was talked about in the Bible as something we’re supposed to do, but it was the last thing I wanted to do.  So, I got really good at coming up with excuses for why I should not have to tithe.  See if any of these excuses sound familiar to you.

           

First, I thought, well, you know, I may not tithe, but I give a lot of time to the church, so that should count, too.  That one sound familiar?  Now, I want to say that I know there are a lot of people here who do give a lot of time to the church, and I really appreciate that.  You know, I go to pastors’ meetings sometimes, and I hear some pastors—not all of them, but some—talk about how they can’t get their congregations to do anything.  I just kind of smile when I hear that, because I don’t have that problem.  We have great people here, and lots of you do a lot of things for the church.  I know that.

           

Still, that’s really not an excuse for not tithing.  It was not an excuse for me, either.  See, the last time I looked, there were twenty-four hours in a day.  One-tenth of that would two point four hours, or two hours and twenty-four minutes.  Now, I don’t know about you, but before I became a pastor, I very rarely gave two hours and twenty-four minutes of a day to the church.  I do now, but I get paid for it now, so that really does not count.

           

Even if we did give that much time to the church, though, it would still not be an excuse for not tithing.  Serving God was never meant to be a substitute for tithing.  Tithing is one of the ways we serve God.  We cannot find anything in the Bible that says if we serve God in other ways, we don’t have to tithe. We’re supposed to serve God in other ways in addition to our tithe, not as a substitute for it.

           

So, that excuse was gone for me, so I moved on to the next one.  “Well, I may not tithe, but I give to other things besides the church, so that ought to count, too.”  That one sound familiar to anyone?  Now, again I’m sure there are a lot of people here who give to a lot of things besides the church.  That’s great.  I’m glad you do.  I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.  It’s a good thing.

           

Now, in my case, even adding the things I gave to did not get me very close to ten percent.  Maybe it does for you.  Even so, though, it still is not an excuse to get out of tithing.  Again, giving to other things is not a substitute for tithing.  We cannot find anything in the Bible that says we don’t have to give a tenth of our income to the church as long as we give to other things.  Even if those other things are good things, even if they’re ministry-type things, they are still not a substitute for tithing.  We’re supposed to give to other things in addition to our tithe, not as a substitute for it.

           

So, another of my excuses was gone.  Then, I thought of this one, and I really liked this one.  I thought, you know, tithing is really a legal thing, and since Jesus came, we’re under grace, not law.  Therefore, that Old Testament thing about tithing does not apply any more.

           

That sounds good, right?  We’ve even talked about that in the past, how we no longer have to follow those Old Testament laws.  In fact, Jesus even talked about these people who give a tenth of their income to the church but have no love in their hearts, and how that was the wrong way to go about it.  That must mean I don’t have to tithe, right?

           

Well, yes and no.  It’s true that tithing is not a golden ticket into heaven.  Giving ten percent or more to the church is not a guarantee of salvation, nor is giving less that ten percent a guarantee that we’ll be condemned.  Ten percent is a standard, that’s all.

           

Here’s the thing, though.  If we say Jesus saved us from being under the law and put us under love, then we have to ask what Jesus actually told us to do.  Jesus told us to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength.  In other words, Jesus said we should give it all.  That’s the point of the story we read in Mark about the poor widow giving everything she had.  Allowing us to give just ten percent is actually letting us off easy.

           

See, the reason we tithe is not because of legalism.  It’s because of what that tithe means.  When we tithe, we’re saying that we recognize that everything we have comes from God.  As it said in our psalm, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, as well as the hills themselves and everything else.  When we tithe, we’re also saying that we trust God.  We trust God enough that if we rely on God, God will take care of us.

           

When it came right down to it, that was where I was really stumbling on the whole tithing deal.  What I was really saying was that I knew I was supposed to tithe, I knew I should tithe, but I just did not trust God enough to tithe.  In fact, the thought of actually tithing scared me to death.  I thought, I’m having a hard time getting the bills paid just giving the amount I give now.  If I give ten percent to the church, I’ll never have enough to pay my bills.  I’d like to tithe, but I just cannot do it.

           

Maybe that’s where you are.  If so, I understand.  So, I’d like to suggest that you do what I did.  This is not my original idea.  It came from a former pastor of mine, who got it from another pastor, who got it from somewhere else.  It’s been around a long time.  The reason this idea has been around a long time is because it works.

           

I looked at what I was giving, and it was about two percent of my income.  That’s pretty close to the average of what United Methodists give nationally.  I looked at that, and increased it by one percentage point, to three percent.  I said, I’m going to do that for a year, and just see what happens.  If I still have enough to pay my bills, then I’ll think about increasing it some more.  If I don’t, I’ll drop back to where I was.

           

In other words, I was testing God.  Now, some of you are thinking that was pretty risky, because scripture says you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.  That’s true, but in this case, God made an exception.  In our reading from Malachi, God says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse…Test me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room to store it.”  In other words, when it comes to tithing, God specifically says it’s okay for us to test God and see what happens.

           

That’s what I did.  I gave at three percent for a year.  It was not always easy, but I did it, and at the end of the year, we had enough.  We did not have much excess, but we had enough.  So, the next year, I gave at four percent.  Again, we had enough.  Then I gave at five percent.  As you can see, it took several years before we got to the ten percent figure.  But each time we increased our giving, we found out that we still had enough.  We may not have a lot extra, but we always seem to have enough.  In other words, we tested God, and we found out that God passed the test.

           

So, that’s what I challenge you to do.  Test God.  Figure out what you’re giving to the church now, and increase it by one percentage point.  If you’re at one percent, increase it by two percent.  If you’re at two percent, like I was, increase it to three percent.  If you’re at three percent, increase it to four.  Do that for a year, and see what happens.  I’ll bet you’ll find out that you’ll still have enough.  I’ll bet that, if you test God, God will pass the test for you, just like God did for me.  God can be relied on.  God is worthy of our trust.

           

Now, those of you who already are tithing, I need you to check back into the sermon now.  Remember how I’ve been saying that nothing in scripture lets us substitute other things for tithing?  Well, there’s also nothing in scripture that says we have to stop at tithing.  Ten percent is not a ceiling we’re never allowed to go above.  Ten percent is a floor, not a ceiling.

           

Those of you who’ve gone to church for a while have probably heard this phrase:  “we will now give our tithes and our offerings.”  You know why it gets said that way?  Because our tithes are different from our offerings.  The tithe is the ten percent that we’re supposed to give.  Our offerings are the amount above ten percent that we give to show our gratitude to God for all God has done for us.

           

So, if you’re already tithing, that’s great, and I appreciate it, but don’t feel like you have to stop there.  Keep going.  Keep testing God.  God will keep passing the test.  God can be relied upon in all circumstances.  We can always trust God.

           

Again, I’m not saying we should tithe because God will send us to hell if we don’t.  I’m not even saying we should tithe because the church needs the money, although the church can certainly use it.  I’m saying we should tithe because it’s the best, most tangible way to show our trust in God.  It’s easy for us to say we have faith.  It’s easy for us to say that we rely on God.  When we tithe, though, we’re actually putting our money where our mouths are.

           

I understand that tithing is scary when we’ve never done it.  It took me several years to work up to it.  Sometimes, I still hesitate a little when I make out that check, wondering if the money is actually going to be there.  It always is, though.  God has never let me down yet.  God won’t let you down either.  Trust in God.  If you cannot put complete trust in God, just put a little trust in God.  See what happens.  God will pass the test.  God is worthy of our trust.

When Pastors Get Together

            As many of you know, I was recently at a meeting of pastors.  Now, if you’ve never been at a meeting of pastors, there’s something you need to understand.  You may think that, when pastors get together, they talk about the people in their congregations.  Let me reassure you that yes, that’s exactly what we do.

            That’s partly meant as a joke, but only partly.  We don’t spend the entire time talking about you, and we don’t reference you by name.  When pastors get together, though, we do spend a fair amount of time talking about, and in some cases complaining about, the people in our congregations.

            That’s not because we don’t love you.  It’s not even because we don’t like you.  It’s just that every job, even a job that we love, has some frustrations attached to it.  I’m sure yours does, too.  It’s just the way life is.

            We pastors are all too human in this regard.  Because of that, sometimes we just need to vent a little bit, to blow off a little steam.  It’s not because we don’t love our jobs; most of us do.  It’s not because we don’t love our people; most of us do that, too.  We simply need a place to unload our frustrations once in a while, just like you do. 

There are not very many places a pastor can do that.  We can’t go to the bar or the coffee shop and start talking about our frustrations, for obvious reasons.  Even if we develop close friendships within our town, we really cannot discuss the frustrations of our jobs.  We can discuss them with our spouses, and we do, but that’s not really fair to them, either.  So, what do we do?  We talk about them with each other.  We tell war stories.  Sometimes, we even exaggerate a little, because the point is just to get a few things off our chests.

The reason I’m telling you this is that when this happens, I always feel a little out of place.  I really don’t have any particular frustrations in my job.  I don’t have any war stories to tell.  Everywhere I’ve been a pastor, I’ve been blessed to serve with wonderful people.  The people of Wessington Springs are wonderful people.  The people of The ARK are wonderful people.  The people of the Wheatland Parish are wonderful people.  I wrote last time about all the blessings I’ve received in my life; this is another one.  Those parishioners I keep hearing about must be out there somewhere, but so far, I’ve never had one in my parish.

            So, basically, this is me saying thank you.  Thank you to all the wonderful people of Wessington Springs.  Thank you to all the wonderful people of The ARK.  Thank you to all of the wonderful people of the Wheatland Parish.  You continue to make my time in ministry a joy.  I hope I continue to feel out of place at those pastors meetings.  Maybe, instead of war stories, I can tell some peace stories, because ever since I’ve been a pastor, I’ve felt at peace.

It's A Wonderful Life

            As many of you know, I had my ordination interview before the conference Board of Ordained Ministry last week.  I can report to you that I was approved for ordination.  It is never wise to count unhatched chickens, but unless something unforeseen happens, I will be ordained at annual conference in Sioux Falls in June of 2012.

            I started thinking about the rather unusual path I’ve taken to becoming an ordained minister.  I went to a very small church when I was growing up, so small that it did not have a youth group or, after a while, even a Sunday school.  After high school, I went to business school and then to law school.  I was a lawyer for the state of South Dakota for six and a half years, then was in private practice for fifteen years before starting seminary.  For two years, I was a full-time student, part-time lawyer, and part-time pastor.  Then, for another year, I was a full-time student and a full-time pastor.

            Along the way, I’ve had a lot of fun and gotten to do a lot of things that many people don’t get to do.  In no particular order, I’ve been a local public address announcer, a community theater actor, a singer, and a comedian.  I’ve conducted jury trials and argued in front of the South Dakota Supreme Court.  I’ve lived in several different places in South Dakota, and have met an incredible number of wonderful people.  Also, along the way, I met the most wonderful woman in the world, and am lucky enough to have had her as my wife for over twenty-two years.  I have been blessed in many ways and have led what could be considered a unique life.

            I’m not saying any of this to brag about myself.  Here’s my point:  you’ve led a unique life, too.  I don’t know who’s reading this or what you’ve done, but I’ll bet, if you think about it, that you’ve done a lot of things that many people don’t get to do, too.  I’ll bet you’ve met an incredible number of wonderful people, too.  I’ll bet that, if you really think about it, you’ve been blessed in many ways, too, along the way to your unique life.

            I read recently that soon there will be seven billion people living on planet earth.  Of course, there are billions of others who’ve lived on planet earth in the past.  Yet, no two of their lives have been exactly the same.

            That’s pretty incredible, when you stop and think about it.  It seems like it to me, anyway.  All those billions of people, and no two exactly alike.  God created each of those billions of people to be unique, and to live his or her unique life.  God is still doing that today.

            I’d encourage you to just take a minute today and look at your own life.  Think about the unique life you’ve led, and the wonderful people you’ve gotten to know.  Then say thanks to God for creating you to be unique, and for guiding you through your own unique life.

Jesus' Layaway Plan

What follows is the message given in the Wheatland Parish today.  I had the week off, so this message was written and presented by Janet Madsen and Kelly Luken.  Thanks to them for handling the service this morning.

Janet--How many apples do you have?

Kelly--I have a whole 5 gallon bucket full.  Do you want some? Apple pies, apple crisp, apple butter, apple sauce a whole lot of things you can make with apples.

            (Janet takes the bucket from Kelly)

What you want all of them. Ok, that is the last of my buckets of apples. Guess the guys down stairs won’t get any for the Harvest meal but I am sure they will understand—no apple pie for them.

In Adam Hamilton’s book ENOUGH is the story of pastor David Slage from Georgia. God has given us ten apples to represent our wealth or income.  God tells us that nine of these apples are ours to enjoy. We are to use some to care for ourselves and for our families, some to save for retirement, and some to give away to others.  But the tenth apple is holy to God. Giving this apple to God first, before we consume the other nice apples, is a way for us to express praise, love, obedience, faithfulness, worship, and devotion to God. This also serves to supply the resources for God’s purposes to be accomplished n the world through God’s Church. 

Then he notes that our lifestyles are such that for many of us nine apples are not enough anymore.  –How can I pay the bills and have all the stuff I want with just nine apples” So we decide the Lord will not mind if we take just a little bit of his apple. The Lord will understand, --Then Christmas comes and we don’t have enough money for all the presents we want to buy, so we take another bite out of God’s apple.

…Soon all that is left is the core. So we give the core to God and say, “ Here’s your portion, Lord.” God receives not our first fruits or our best gifts, but our leftovers.

I wonder if God must think, You would really bless me if you recognized that this apple is mine and give it to me freely --- not because someone made you feel guilty, but just because you love Me.

“Love came down at Christmas” # 242 is a song we sing at Christmas time. The second stanza is” Love was born at Christmas: star and angels gave the sign.”  # 500 “Spirit of God, descend upon my Heart” verse 1: Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; wean it from earth,; through all its pulses move; stoop to my weakness, mighty as thou art, and make me love thee as I ought to love.

In the Faith We Sing # 2095 is “Star Child”.  Verse 1: Star child, earth child, go between of God, love Child, Christ Child, heaven’s lightning rod.  This year, this year, let the day arrive when Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive!

Lovett H. Weems Jr. from the Lewis leadership has a Headline article  “Christmas Is not your Birthday” in which he states Mike Slaughter the author of the book reminded his congregations of that fact and then named the irony of Christians whose self indulgent holiday celebrations make a mockery of the One whose birthday we honor.  He challenged members to give as much for others as they spend on themselves.  John Wesley once said Christians are called to return money in excess of basic necessities to God “Through the poor.” Whom God “had appointed to receive it.”

As I kept reading  the Newsletter I found the article by Melvin Amerson titled Christmas giving for Christ.  In it he states: Soon the seasons of Advent and Christmas will be with us, and we will be inundated with commercials and product advertisements on television, radio, and the internet. Consumerism at times overshadows the focus of the season.  Many believers exchange gifts with co-workers, friends, and family, yet fail to present the season’s honoree – Jesus Christ—with a special gift fit for a king.

In Melvin’s article he mentions the fact that because of the economic downturn, some financial practices from a by-gone era are returning.  Examples are the :layaway plans” that require purchases to make regular payments without taking possession of the merchandise until the price is paid in full.  Layaway plans help us distinguish between needs and wants. Plus they teach lifelong lessons on patience, diligence, and self-control. There is also the “Christmas Club Account”. These were non-interest-bearing accounts that allowed savers to set aside money each pay period for the sole purpose of purchasing Christmas gifts. Both of practices were popular prior to the credit card era.

Could or would we like to establish a church-wide layaway plan for a special ministry gift that will honor Christ. The Gettysburg Sunday School has chosen animals from the Heifer International project for there offerings, Colored envelopes have  been places at the back of the church if you would like to add to that layaway plan. Onida and Agar what would you like to do? Are there other ideas we as a church could designate layaway funds. Melvin Amersons  articles states that “ The resource raised should be used to expand or enhance ministry and bless others.  Since Christmas is about the celebration of the birth of Christ, these opportunities to “give to the King’ will help members take their focus off the commercialism of Christmas and refocus on the birth of Christ.

Excerpts from an article from Bible Money matters:----the author tells us:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Growing up poor, I remember times when my parents just didn’t have enough money to buy Christmas presents for us.  They almost always seemed to work things out in the end, but there were times things just didn’t come together.  One advantage they had was Wal-Mart’s layaway program – come in and find what you want, pay a little for it now and  come back and pay the rest later, at which time you can pick up your item.

………………………………….one Christmas I remember picking out the presents and our parents putting down the 1^st payment ---- but then my mom and step dad never went back to pay the rest.  They never gathered enough money to pay the full sum.

The Spirit of God never has this conclusion.  The Spirit is the first fruits of our final inheritance…. The down payment of our final redemption.  The promise by the Father (Acts 1:4-5) is the Spirit if God’s layaway plan for creation. The Spirit is the church’s evidence that God will cash in on His promise. The Spirit is the promise of the Father, that all our temptations and sufferings do not have the final say.

In Ephesians 1:13, Paul speaks of redemption being sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  The Spirit, is the evidence that we are authentically owned by God.  This seal marks us “ until the day of redemption.”  The Spirit is the evidence that God protects us and will finally redeem us.

Our wonderful message of hope.  God is not like my parents. He does not lack the resources to go back and finally redeem his purchase.  The promise of full and final redemption is made known by the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Unknown

Note--this was supposed to be published Thursday.  The reason it wasn't is that I forgot to schedule it before I left for Storm Mountain camp on Tuesday.  I decided to publish it anyway because, well, I went to the trouble of writing it, and it's my blog.

            By the time you read this, I should have a pretty good idea about whether I’ll be ordained in June or not.  Yesterday, I met with the Board of Ordained Ministry, which then voted as to whether to recommend me for ordination.  If they said yes there will still be more things I have to do, but barring unforeseen circumstances, their approval will mean that I will be ordained in June.

            The meeting yesterday was at Storm Mountain camp, and was/will be followed by three days of training meetings with others who, like me, are probationary elders.  This means they have been commissioned as pastors, but have not yet been ordained.  The Dakotas Conference requires at least three years between commissioning and ordination.  For me, those three years will be done in June.

            The thing is that, since I did not know whether I’d have time to write anything at Storm Mountain, I’m writing this before I leave.  As I write this, I don’t know whether I was approved at yesterday’s meeting or not, because that yesterday hasn’t happened yet.

            I have no reason to think I won’t be approved.  It would seem like, if the board had doubts about my fitness for ordination, I would have heard about them by now.  Still, I was a lawyer long enough to know that nothing is final until the papers are all signed and filed.

            Because of that, as I write this, I’m a little nervous about the meeting.  I have nothing in my experience to compare it to.  I went through a somewhat similar process when I was commissioned, but it was not this extensive.  I went through a lot of things as a lawyer, too, but nothing really like this.  As a lawyer, I could study and do research and be prepared.  Here, there’s nothing to really prepare.  I’m going into an unknown situation.

            That’s the main thing that always scares us, isn’t it?  The unknown.  That’s why what we’re really scared of, sometimes, is the future.  We’re not scared about the past, because the past is over and done with.  We’re scared about the future.  We’re scared about what’s going to happen, because it’s unknown.  We don’t know what’s going to happen in the years to come.  Sometimes, we don’t know what’s going to come in the next few months.  Sometimes, we don’t even know what’s going to happen in the next five minutes.

            When you think about it, that’s why death scares us:  it’s an unknown.  Even as Christians, death can be scary.  We say we believe in eternal life, and we say we believe we’re going to heaven, but what does that mean, really?  Can a human ever actually grasp the concept of eternity?  Can we even picture heaven with any feeling of accuracy?  We can’t.  That’s why death can be really scary to us, even when we believe in Christ.

            Death is not a complete unknown, though.  We know a few things.  We know that, whatever death holds, Jesus already went through it.  Not only did he go through it, he conquered it.  He did not just conquer it for himself, he conquered it for us, too.  Jesus told us he was going to prepare a place for us, and that when the time was right, he would come and take us to him.  So we know, whatever death holds, it will take us to the Son, and the Son, in turn, will take us to the Father.  That means that, whatever death holds, it must ultimately be good.

            There’s one other thing about unknowns, too.  For God, they don’t exist.  There is no such thing as an unknown to God, because God exists outside of time.  Lots of things are unknown to us.  Nothing is unknown to God.

            Because of that, we don’t need to fear the unknown.  Whatever the future holds, God is already in it, and God has already worked everything out for the good.  That does not mean we won’t ever have hard times; we almost certainly will.  Still, we know that, even in those hard times, God is in control, and God always wins in the end.

            By the time you read this, I’ll know whether I’ve been approved for ordination.  As I’m writing it, though, God already knows.  That’s pretty comforting.

Truth and Trust

            My favorite TV show is a British made science fiction program called “Doctor Who”.  The show has run in Britain for many, many years.  The main character is called “the Doctor”, and he’s a time lord.  This means he can travel anywhere in space and time.  It also means that he doesn’t die, he simply “regenerates”, which has allowed several different actors to play the Doctor over the years.  The show is available on many public broadcasting stations (although, regrettably, not the ones in South Dakota) and is also available on BBC America.

            The Doctor always has one or two people with him who are not time lords, but are simply ordinary people.  This means that, as they travel to different worlds and battle different monsters, the people traveling with the Doctor often have no idea what’s going on unless the Doctor explains it to them.  Sometimes he does, but often he doesn’t.  He rarely outright lies to them, but he often tells them far less than the whole truth.

            In an episode I saw recently, the Doctor and his friend Amy were in trouble, as they usually are.  The Doctor turned to his friend and said quietly, “Amy, I need you to trust me.”  Amy responded by saying, “But you don’t always tell me the truth.”  To which the Doctor replied, “If I always told you the truth, I wouldn’t need you to trust me.”

            While it’s not a perfect analogy, it struck me that our relationship with God is a little like that.  As we go through life, we often have no idea what’s going on.  We’d like God to tell us.  Sometimes God does, but often, God doesn’t.  God does not outright lie to us, of course, but God generally does not reveal the whole truth to us, either.

            There are any number of things I’d like to know.  Some of them are silly:  “Who’s going to win the Super Bowl?”  “Will Susan Lucci be in the online version of All My Children?”  Some of them are personal:  “How long will we be in the Wheatland Parish?”  “How long will my parents stay in relatively good health?”  Some of them have to do with the world:  “Will the economy recover soon?”  “Will more people live in freedom?”  Some of them, of course, have to do with the eternal:  “What’s heaven really like?”  “What is life really all about?”

            So many questions, and of course so many more that we could ask.  We’d like God to give us the answers, but God usually does not do that.  Instead, God turns to us and quietly says, “You need to trust me.”  We respond, “But you don’t tell us all of the truth.”  To which God says, “If I told you all of the truth, you wouldn’t need to trust me.”

            God does not tell us all of the truth, probably because we couldn’t understand the whole truth if it was told to us.  God is, however, always worthy of our trust.  If we simply trust God, even when we’re in trouble, God will be there for us.  God is watching over us, and ultimately, God is always in control.