Thoughts From Our Sabbatical Interim

I hope you are enjoying our time of GOING DEEPER in 1 John.

John tells us that one by-product of living in the light is shared fellowship. Perhaps we might reverse this truth. Any pursuit of spirituality that fractures the community, that cultivate a religious elitism, must surely be a faith lived in darkness.

A well-known pastor from Florida once said that there was nothing wrong with his congregation that a couple of funerals could not fix. I might have thought that a time or two, but I would never have said it!

Every pastor can think of people who have too much time on their hands and too much of the church on their minds. They are obsessed with the church and make it their personal business to straighten everything out from table linens to the pastoral staff.       I have often wondered what personal needs were being met by people who seemed to want their nose in everything. Did they enjoy the tension they created? Did they have any perspective about their harshly destructive behaviors? One constant characterizes their presence: Rarely did they exhibit a deeply pious, Christlike demeanor. Instead, they were often inflexible, angry, manipulative, and coercive. And they would never guess that their behavior had this effect.

1 John calls us to love and to be reconciled. I pray that during this season of Sabbatical, that God will work in all our hearts. That it will be a time to grow, forgive, and love. Thank you, church, for gifting our pastor with a sabbatical. It is needed. For only he and his wife and Jesus, know ultimately and intimately, all they deal with. But I have an idea. And this time of rest will breathe new life into them for another long season of ministry.

Your “Sabbatical Interim,”
Todd Decker