While You're Away: Reflect

Welcome/Multisite Intro

Hey everyone! Glad you’re here with us this weekend! Hey: even though it’s the dog days of summer, we got a ton going on at all of our campuses across Iowa that I just want to make all of you aware of. This isn’t by any means a comprehensive list, but here are some quick highlights:

At our Independence Campus we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on our build out of that campus. We bought an event center when we launched back at Christmas of 2019, and it was basically a big box. Now we’ve got walls, and soon we’ll have carpet and a permanent stage. I know Pastor Matt and the rest of you guys in Indee have been living in dust and construction for what feels like forever… but: we’re excited for that to be ready to go this fall.

Grinnell—you guys took last weekend to move into your new forever home! You’ve still got a bunch that will be getting done here in the next couple of months… but wow, what a cool place to do ministry in Grinnell and Powesheik County! Grand Opening right when school starts back up… just awesome. Pastor Phil said you took everything from your old site to the new one—everything!—in an hour and 15 minutes. You moved a whole church in 75 minutes. Well done!

So praise God for those. And hey, here’s a few things to be praying for:

Grinnell, Cedar Falls, and New Hampton are all looking for key open staff positions. Some of them have been open for awhile; some of them came open just recently because of transitions. And most of us know this, especially if you’re trying to hire someone right now: it’s a weird, hard time to find people to work. I’ve never seen anything like it in my lifetime. But God is faithful. So be praying for that.

And let’s not forget Decorah. Here’s what to be praying for there:

We’re interviewing candidates for your first Campus Pastor… AND we’re doing some intentional developmental work to price out a potential location for your launch. Ok? So be praying for the CP and the building. Christmas Eve, baby. It’s gonna be awesome.

Osage and Fort Dodge… you’re fully staffed now, so count your lucky stars and don’t email me about not being mentioned. You’re fine. ;)

Series Intro

Oh… kay. Hey: last week, Pastor Kyle, our Fort Dodge Campus Pastor, kicked off a series that we’re going to be in for the month of July called “While You’re Away.” We’re really hitting the midpoint of the summer, believe it or not. I know my family has already fit one vacation in; you might have, too. And that’s really the idea behind the series: while we’re away this summer, in and out of town, wherever we’re at, there’s a few things that we can do to stay engaged in our relationship with God and connected to church.

So last week, Pastor Kyle talked about celebrating—and cut off party animal t-shirts as well. If you missed it, hop on our website this week and find out what I’m talking about. But celebration of any kind can actually be a thing we do with God if we’ve got a different perspective.

In fact, Pastor Kyle made an invitation last weekend to step across the faith line and start celebrating with Jesus… and: (5) people from our online campus took that step! Our Digital Pastor, Pastor Cody, is following up with each of them and connecting them with what they need next on their journey with God. So, praise God, and well done you guys.

Weekend Intro

This weekend we’re gonna take another step in our series as we talk about this:

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While you’re away, take time to reflect.

When you are mindful of God’s faithfulness in the past,

He can change your mind and heart in the present.

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That’s where we’re going this weekend. We’re talking about what it means to reflect—it’s being mindful of God’s faithfulness to you in the past so that your mind and heart are changed in the present.

Story: Grandma Tink’s Funeral

I had a chance to experience this first hand just recently. Like I already mentioned: we’ve taken some vacation time already. My wife and our (2) kids hopped in the car back on the 23rd of June. We were headed out to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, for an every-other-year family reunion with my wife’s side of the family. Colorado is a nice, central location for all of us to get to.

On the way out, while we’re sitting at a Subway in Brush, Colorado, about 90 minutes east of Denver, I got a call from my dad saying that his mom, my almost 97 year old grandma, had fallen and broken her arm.

Thank God she was ok; she lived in an assisted living facility and had a button she could push to get help, which she did. So that was the update.

The next day, however, I got a text from my mom saying that she wasn’t doing well. My dad had called after she was released from the hospital; but when she was transported back to her place, she stopped talking and started deteriorating.

And then just the next day, on the morning of June 25th, she passed away.

It’s weird to say that it was a surprise to lose a woman who was two weeks away from her 97th birthday… but it kinda was. I mean, she was driving all the way up to last year.

So we ended up shortening our trip to come back early because my grandma had stipulated that she wanted me to do her funeral, which I was honored and privileged to do.

I want to show you a picture, actually, from the committal service:

SHOW COMMITTAL SERVICE PICTURE

If you’ve ever been to a committal service, you’ll recognize the set up here: there’s the green astroturf on the ground, the blue felt chairs, and there’s my grandmother’s casket behind me.

Now, usually those blue chairs are reserved for those closest family members to the deceased—a spouse or kids, usually.

Well… what you’ll notice in this picture is a bunch of little people are sitting in those chairs, and some are standing around next to them.

Those little people are my grandmother’s great grandchildren. She got to meet all of them; they all got to meet her. 19 in total.

Here’s why we did that:

My grandmother taught Sunday School—a department, actually, K-3rd grades—for 37 years.

She led a team of volunteers every weekend on Sunday mornings to teach Kindergarten through 3rd graders about Jesus for 37 years.

She taught a 1st grader in the 1960’s who would grow up to marry one of her sons and become her daughter-in-law.

And she taught that daughter in-law’s youngest son, her youngest grandson, in the 90’s.

And get this: her husband of 30 years died in 1982. She was a widow for almost 40 years. But she wasn’t gonna be all shut up in her house. She was gonna be on mission until the day her heavenly Father called her home.

*mind blown*

So that’s why we had all of those great grandkids down front. We sent all of their grandparents to the back. We sent their parents behind them. And then we set all of those 19 kids down there and taught them about Jesus for about 10 minutes.

Just like great Grandma Tink did for 37 years.

And let me tell you:

That was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve gotten to have as a pastor in those moments.

Not just because it was my grandma.

And not just because she was an incredible woman and woman of God.

But here’s why:

When I took time to reflect—when I took the time to be mindful of how faithful God was to my Grandma, how faithful she was to him, how generous she was to me and the hundreds of other kids she taught for those 37 years...

That changed me. God changed me.

And as powerful as that moment in the picture was… let me tell you this:

It wasn’t as powerful as those moments of reflection leading up to it.

Before this moment, at a cabin in Glenwood Springs, I reflected on what it was like walking into that Primary Department as a kindergartener for the first time. Everyone else was all nervous, but not me. My grandma was there.

Before this moment, at my seminary’s library out in Denver, I reflected on the film strips and flannel graphs and accordion doors that got pushed out for our classroom time.

Before this moment, I reflected on being in her house and mowing her lawn, building fires in the stove downstairs, picking apples in her backyard.

I reflected the stories she’d tell me of how God supernaturally cared for her in times of need.

And as I allowed each of those moments to come into my mind, God began to change my heart. I was reflecting on times with my Grandma when I was 6… or 16… or 26—and as I did, God was changing my 40-year old heart.

Exegesis: Psalm 42

And here’s the deal: you don’t have to be a pastor to do this. You don’t have to be in a perfect place spiritually or emotionally to do this. Reflection isn’t something reserved for the introverted monks or the conservative religious experts who have it mostly together.

Turn with me to Psalm 42. We’ll have the verses on the screen so that you can follow along as well.

But listen: you can do this. And you should do this. No matter where you’re at geographically, spiritually, emotionally… doesn’t matter.

Take a look at the first few verses the Psalmist penned here in Psalm 42:

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As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Psalm 42:1-3

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Every Psalm is an actual song, believe it or not. You’re reading someone’s song lyrics. I know it doesn’t look or sound like that on the screen here, but that’s what this is: a singer-songwriter putting their thoughts and feelings into words.

So where is this person at emotionally? Spiritually?

Horrible spot.

From the bottom up: they’re getting mocked by people for their belief in God. Where is he? I don’t see him. And you’re kind of a mess.

“My tears have been my food day and night.” All I’m doing is crying. Why?

Well… they’re spiritually dry—like they’re wandering in a desert. Thirsty for God, but can’t find him. Can’t meet him. Can’t seem to get to him.

Some commentators wonder if this was written by a Jewish person after they were taken into captivity and deported—which would make sense: geographically, spiritually, emotionally, physically distant from the place they called home and worshipped God.

That’s the spot they’re in.

But take a look at the next verse—verse 4:

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These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

Psalm 42:4

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So take a look at that phrase: these things I remember “as I pour out my soul.” This is where the Psalmist starts reflecting; being mindful of something that God did in the past.

As he pours out his soul—as he take account of everything that’s going on in the present… the sadness in his heart… the mocking… the thirst… the dryness… the distance he feels between him and God...

What does he do?

He brings to his mind memories of being close to God—of going to the temple; feeling his protection; the music and singing and feeling of a big group of people doing the same all worshiping God together.

Make sure you don’t miss what’s going on here. Don’t get it twisted.

This isn’t a picture of a Christian album cover or some sentimental Jesus meme on someone’s facebook page.

This isn’t footprints in the sand.

This guy pours out his soul. Brings out all of the junk that’s in there. Takes a real, honest look at his present reality.

And he doesn’t just try and look at the bright side. He doesn’t try and pretend things aren’t as bad as they seem. He doesn’t try and minimize his pain.

But instead, right there in that place, far away from where he would rather be, he reflects. He makes a deliberate decision to bring to his mind a past, real memory of God’s presence and faithfulness.

He reflects on how it felt.

He reflects on how it looked.

He reflects on how it sounded.

He’s mindful. It’s not just a fleeting thought. It’s something that he’s allowing himself—choosing to deliberately become fully present to.

And what happens as he does? What happens inside of him? What does God start to do?

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Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

Psalm 42:5, 6

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What happens as he’s mindful of God’s past faithfulness to him? In his present, God starts to give him the strength to hope again—to the point where he starts giving himself a little pep talk:

“Why are you so sad? Why are you so agitated? Put your hope in God again. All isn’t lost.”

So:

3 quick, practical tips on how to reflect. Because I know that some of us still are like… “eh.” Can’t be that easy. Can’t work like you’re saying it will. Won’t work that way for me.

Okay. But if you do try it, let me encourage you along these lines:

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If you reflect, remember:

1. It’s a choice.

It’s an act of the will. You have to deliberately decide to do it.

2. Take it slow.

It’s a walk down memory lane; not a sprint.

3. Do it with God.

Imagine him sitting next to you as you watch your memory together.

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Bridge to Communion