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January 2005
Counting the Days & Making the Days Count
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January 2005
Counting the Days & Making the Days Count
Welcome to 2005! Not only does 2005 sound unreal but also it looks strange as well. Four digits are familiar; however, to see that we are five years further into the twenty-first century just doesn't seem possible. Of course, all of this is strange only to those of us who are of a certain age. The younger ones among us see nothing odd about this at all; and the truth is, they are right! Four digits with two zeroes, a two at the front and a five at the end really isn't that big a deal. Calculating time is something we humans developed to help us reckon with chronology and to allow us put things into a kind of order. It makes no difference to the rising or setting of the sun whether it is December 31st or January 1st.
Yet, there is value to us in telling time. Time gives us a measure or standard by which we can control some of the commotion of life. It gives us a way to plan and order our lives. Can you imagine living without a way of distinguishing one day from another or one hour from the other? Life would be chaos. We need ways to count our days.
We also need ways to make our days count. Little can be done about the passage of time but we have much to do about how time passes. What we give our time to is much more important than how much time we are given. A clock or calendar can help us schedule but it does not tell us what to schedule. We place on our calendars those things that are our priorities. Some may wish to argue with me about that, but I think it is true. For example: We place medical appointments on our schedule because our health is important; we note birthdays, anniversaries, school schedules, parties and other events because they are things we wish to do. Whether by necessity or desire we place things on our calendar that are important or urgent to us; we make them a priority. Our schedule is an attempt to make our days count.
To count your days and to more effectively make your days count, I want to ask you do something very important with your time. I want you make worship and service to others the highest priority. Everyone reading this has some connection to Central. Most of you are members; some of you are regular worshipers here who are not yet members. Each of you is very importantÉmore important than you will ever know. Over the past three years some of you who are members have not attended any worship service here. Others have attended very irregularly. Your faithful presence in worship would benefit you greatly, and it would have a tremendously positive impact upon everyone at Central. Who knows but what your presence and your voice are exactly what someone else needs in order to understand how greatly God loves them? A worship opportunity unattended and voices not lifted in song, prayer and praise, is not just an absence, it is a loss to the entire worship community. Never underestimate the power of your presence and the wonderful ways God can touch others through you.
Let me tell you the story of two people who have limitations and yet are faithful in worship. One is very hard of hearing, almost deaf. Yet they attend worship because they want to be in the presence of God and share in the fellowship of those gathered for worship. The cynic would say it is a waste of time for the deaf to be in a service with no way to hear. I would tell you their being there is not only a beautiful worship expression but it is an illustration of the communal nature of worship. We who can hear are that person's ears. We listen not only for ourselves but also for those who cannot hear. We, by grace, supply what is missing from their ability. The other person on my mind is someone who cannot sing. Medical problems render them unable to give vocal expression to their worship. When we sing, we sing not only for ourselves but, because we are a body bound together in Christ, we sing for those unable to sing. Worship is not just something we do for ourselves, it is what we do as a body.
Add greatly to your life and the lives of others by faithfully attending worship. We do count our days and we do make decisions that make our days count. May the God of all love and grace make the days of this New Year meaningful and joyful to each of you.
Grace and Peace,
David