Yesterday I met with three other pastors to discuss some of the issues facing our world and the church today. How do we find the place to be united and strong?  One of the pastors spoke about being sent to a church that was very broken and divided.  At the end of his time there, someone said, “You brought us back to be a place of joy and love.  We found our sense of mission.”  The picture of the church….what the church is supposed to be….suddenly came before my eyes and into my heart, and I just had to smile in that moment!

In that very same moment I felt affirmed in my own ministry.  I recalled a church I served as pastor where there were struggles and days that were not easy.  I remembered that at the end of my time there, a woman who had been a charter member in 1977, stopped me in the hallway and said, “You brought us back to be the place of joy and love we were in the beginning.” They could now move forward in their mission.  Well, what happened in both these churches was the power of the Holy Spirit at work to bring the love and joy of Christ.  That IS the picture of the church. I could only give thanks and be grateful for what God had done!

The cross you see above sits on the counter in my kitchen to remind me that my true strength is in the Joy of the Lord.  The picture with the Romans scripture is a drawing I did which we put on the bulletin cover my last Sunday with that church.  I wanted it to be something of myself as a gift for the church.  Then a staff member showed me the bulletin of the first worship of that church in 1977.  I was struck by the similarity of expression in the two drawings.  For me, they said it all for that church and for any church….”The Joy of the Lord is our Strength”!

Thoughts for you today….Where is your joy?…..Where is your strength?

nk