Pastor's Weekly Musing
Hey everyone!
In terms of caring for and managing our physical health, there are two primary ways to go about it: preventative and diagnostic.
Preventative care is what you do for your health when you're doing just fine: proactive steps taken to get stronger and stay healthy. Diagnostic care is what you do when you're sick, injured, or not well. You see a doctor, take medicine, rest, and generally go on the defensive to try to eventually get yourself out of bed.
Our spiritual lives can have similar categories as well. Preventative spiritual care is what I do on a daily basis, my disciplines like Bible reading, prayer, community, going to church, serving, etc. I engage in these habits and hopefully grow my faith and spiritual strength.
But life happens. Sometimes I get beat up, life goes sideways, and my spiritual life needs diagnostic care, where a problem needs treatment or healing. What can I do then, especially on the fly, before I can get to church, see a pastor, or get prayer from a friend?
Good news: the Psalms are basically filled with David walking himself through diagnostic spiritual care, active steps he takes to aid himself in healing and getting back on his feet.
We see a little picture of that in Psalm 42. David is feeling beaten up by life, attacked by enemies, on his own, and can't quite figure out how to shake it.
He asks himself in verse 11 -- "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?"
I love the honesty he has with himself. Seriously, have you ever stopped and truly asked yourself, "What's going on inside you right now?" Why am I so thrown off? What have I put my hopes in besides Jesus? What am I looking to in order to fill me, fulfill me, give me meaning or value? What am I giving my heart over to?
David analyzes himself, his own soul. Then, he turns the corner. He encourages himself -- "Put your hope in God."
David preaches to himself. He stops listening to himself and starts talking to himself. Rather than listening to his inner voices that are accusatory and condemning, he speaks to himself the truth of the goodness of God. He essentially says to himself, "ENOUGH. Soul, time for you to listen to me..."
He concludes by saying, "I will praise Him, my Savior and my God."
He doesn't say, "I DO praise Him." That would be denial. He doesn't say, "I'll NEVER praise Him." That would be despondency.
He says, "I WILL praise Him," which is calling himself outward and upward.
When life puts you in a place where you need to diagnostically treat your spiritual life, God has given us tools to aid us in doing exactly that: honest self-examination, preaching to ourselves, and calling ourselves upward.
You got this!
In terms of caring for and managing our physical health, there are two primary ways to go about it: preventative and diagnostic.
Preventative care is what you do for your health when you're doing just fine: proactive steps taken to get stronger and stay healthy. Diagnostic care is what you do when you're sick, injured, or not well. You see a doctor, take medicine, rest, and generally go on the defensive to try to eventually get yourself out of bed.
Our spiritual lives can have similar categories as well. Preventative spiritual care is what I do on a daily basis, my disciplines like Bible reading, prayer, community, going to church, serving, etc. I engage in these habits and hopefully grow my faith and spiritual strength.
But life happens. Sometimes I get beat up, life goes sideways, and my spiritual life needs diagnostic care, where a problem needs treatment or healing. What can I do then, especially on the fly, before I can get to church, see a pastor, or get prayer from a friend?
Good news: the Psalms are basically filled with David walking himself through diagnostic spiritual care, active steps he takes to aid himself in healing and getting back on his feet.
We see a little picture of that in Psalm 42. David is feeling beaten up by life, attacked by enemies, on his own, and can't quite figure out how to shake it.
He asks himself in verse 11 -- "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?"
I love the honesty he has with himself. Seriously, have you ever stopped and truly asked yourself, "What's going on inside you right now?" Why am I so thrown off? What have I put my hopes in besides Jesus? What am I looking to in order to fill me, fulfill me, give me meaning or value? What am I giving my heart over to?
David analyzes himself, his own soul. Then, he turns the corner. He encourages himself -- "Put your hope in God."
David preaches to himself. He stops listening to himself and starts talking to himself. Rather than listening to his inner voices that are accusatory and condemning, he speaks to himself the truth of the goodness of God. He essentially says to himself, "ENOUGH. Soul, time for you to listen to me..."
He concludes by saying, "I will praise Him, my Savior and my God."
He doesn't say, "I DO praise Him." That would be denial. He doesn't say, "I'll NEVER praise Him." That would be despondency.
He says, "I WILL praise Him," which is calling himself outward and upward.
When life puts you in a place where you need to diagnostically treat your spiritual life, God has given us tools to aid us in doing exactly that: honest self-examination, preaching to ourselves, and calling ourselves upward.
You got this!
_________________________________________________
Tuesday evening we started our Rooted Groups, and it was AWESOME. 150 people showed up and connected, laughed, cried, snacked, and had generally an amazing time.
Then, last night, MYG showed up and dominated another Wednesday Night. They're on fire for the Lord.
So much life! I love this church!
BY THE WAY...
The Youth Group will be starting their own youth version of Rooted on Wednesday, March 29! And it's a shorter version, so it ends the same week as the adults. Awesome, right? No need to register; more info coming!
Then, last night, MYG showed up and dominated another Wednesday Night. They're on fire for the Lord.
So much life! I love this church!
BY THE WAY...
The Youth Group will be starting their own youth version of Rooted on Wednesday, March 29! And it's a shorter version, so it ends the same week as the adults. Awesome, right? No need to register; more info coming!
_________________________________________________
Sunday, March 5: Meet the Pastors
Are you interested in becoming a member at Meadows? Join Portia and me this Sunday, March 5 at 1:00 PM in the Great Room in the Kid's Building. This is your opportunity to meet the Meadows Pastoral Team, hear about the heart and vision of Meadows, learn about connection and serving opportunities, and become a member if you choose. Childcare is available for ages 0-5th grade.
Are you interested in becoming a member at Meadows? Join Portia and me this Sunday, March 5 at 1:00 PM in the Great Room in the Kid's Building. This is your opportunity to meet the Meadows Pastoral Team, hear about the heart and vision of Meadows, learn about connection and serving opportunities, and become a member if you choose. Childcare is available for ages 0-5th grade.
_________________________________________________
This Sunday, we'll continue our series, This is Us.
We've been looking at the challenges we're currently facing in today's cultural moment, and thinking and dreaming of ways we want to counter-form against the way of the world. This Sunday, we'll look at a sneaky challenge that can often go under the radar with so many other loud and noisy issues but is just as pervasive and corrosive to our souls.
The challenge I'm talking about is how our identity can often be found in what we do, our job, our status, our education, our work. In a hyper-performative culture, how can we work with a theology behind it? How can we engage in our daily lives with meaning and purpose, regardless of the season of life we're in or how "productive" or "successful" the world might define us as?
Join us this Sunday for Part 9 - A Community of Contribution.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the walkway!
Pastor Ron
We've been looking at the challenges we're currently facing in today's cultural moment, and thinking and dreaming of ways we want to counter-form against the way of the world. This Sunday, we'll look at a sneaky challenge that can often go under the radar with so many other loud and noisy issues but is just as pervasive and corrosive to our souls.
The challenge I'm talking about is how our identity can often be found in what we do, our job, our status, our education, our work. In a hyper-performative culture, how can we work with a theology behind it? How can we engage in our daily lives with meaning and purpose, regardless of the season of life we're in or how "productive" or "successful" the world might define us as?
Join us this Sunday for Part 9 - A Community of Contribution.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the walkway!
Pastor Ron
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