Before you head off into your weekend, here are three things I’ve read this week that have challenged me. Hope they are helpful to you. Have a great weekend!

#1

Morning does not belong to the individual, it belongs to the Church of the triune God, to the Christian family, to the community of believers.

Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer makes the case that for the community of believers to function as it was designed, it is imperative that the individuals that make up the community give each morning to devotional practices. In his case, Bonhoeffer would have suggested together time followed by personal devotions. What if the entirety of the big “C” Church took this as a challenge and began to do just that?

#2

Human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging.

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Ever wonder why you get blue when your schedule is not full of purposeful and dare I say difficult work? I am not suggesting that we don’t have times of rest! But I am in agreement with Cal Newport that the times in our lives we have been on our “A” game are the times that it has been demanded of us because of what we faced.

Balancing purposeful, challenging work with rest and even play is a lifelong pursuit for me. How is it going for you?

#3

At the same time, the pastor is even more attentive to the unapparent presence of God among the people of the congregation. One of the reasons that people need pastors is precisely because God is always present but usually not apparent. It takes a poet to find that presence beneath the layers of strategy for coping with the feeling of its absence.

The Pastor as Minor Poet by M. Craig Barnes

I wish I had this quote for last week’s sermon! Ugh…always a week later sometimes!

I’ll go farther than just pastors and say that anyone can be a witness pointing to God’s presence. We must simply train ourselves to look and believe that God is always going before us in each situation we enter into. Our jobs is to look intently and patiently enough to discover it and then point it out for others.