Below is the article I wrote for our church's upcoming newsletter. My goal for the coming year is to encourage members to explore their spiritual gifts, to trust in the gifts God has given them for serving the church and also that we might deepen our relationship with the trinity. There are many things going on around here, particularly with the demolition of the property next door to the church and the installation of a much needed parkinglot. My intention is to create a postitive atmosphere that has this small rural church saying, "We are able to do big things!"
Remember the heart-warming children’s book, The Little Engine That Could? In the story a long train must be pulled over a high mountain peak. Several large engines are asked to pull the train but they all refuse. When the request is passed on to a small engine, she agrees to try! The little engine successfully tows the train over the mountain, all the while repeating the motto, “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can.”
Of course the lesson for us is that we can do anything we set our mind to, we simply have to try. The little engine could have said, “No I am too small, I will never make it.” But instead she put herself out there and committed to trying to achieve what seemed impossible.
How often do we convince ourselves that we are not worthy of the task God sets before us? The lectionary texts over the next few weeks follow the life of Moses. When God speaks to Moses through the burning bush he has all sorts of excuses for God! “Who am I, Moses asks, that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Surely God has dialed the wrong number! Moses fears that the people will not believe him, what if they think he is crazy! God does not allow Moses to escape from his mission but rather reminds him that Moses will not be alone, God will be with him. Finally, Moses argues that he has never been eloquent, slow of speech and tongue. God counters this excuse saying he will provide the words for Moses to speak. Moses begs the Lord to choose someone else but God refuses. Moses is the one God has chosen; an ordinary man for an extraordinary task. It is time for Moses to become The Little Engine that will lead his people from Egypt and into the Promised Land. Moses needs that mantra, “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can!” Moses needs to trust that he is able to accomplish his calling because God is working through him!
We are not so unlike Moses, finding excuses to keep us from answering God’s call in our lives. If the Lord God can work through a man with a stutter surely he can work through you! If God can call to the pulpit a petite blond who looks more like an adolescent than a preacher, there is no telling what God can do with you!
Paul talks about the varieties of gifts that each of us are given, that we as many members make up the one body of Christ. In the weeks and months to come I want us to consider what those gifts are that we have and how we can use them to do God’s work in the world. Those individual gifts that we have, fused together in the context of the congregation are what make this church strong! My prayer is that we will begin to see ourselves as the little engine that could, pulling ourselves over whatever mountains stand before us saying, “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can!” Knowing full well that just as God promised Moses to be with him, God promises to be present with us too.
