Pastor Tim Mauch at Hess Street Mission – Sunday November 18, 2012
God
And They Worshipped Him
The Answer
Hidden among the voices, is the answer to my prayer.
But like the wind around me, I ‘m not really sure.
I believe there is a purpose, a reason for my life.
Someday I’m sure I’ll know it, at least I hope I’m right.
I’ve got a plan, a book to write, some people I should see.
I think I’ll sit, and rest awhile, and see what’s on T.V..
I feel a gentle tugging, at my heart as I sit here.
There’s a business opportunity, a mission to explore,
an old broken relationship ready to restore.
Hidden among the voices is the answer to my prayer,
but like the wind around me, it is easy to ignore.
Come And See
The Christmas season is an irony that pays tribute to the very essence of the God of the ages. Here this season of dying and decay masks to all, but the true seeker, the very pinnacle of hope. An enslaved people are presented not just a deliverer, but a transformer, a life giver, an eternal sustainer. Presented and heralded, yet unseen in the obscurity of the misery and drudgery of taxation and poverty. A truth that continues through all time and space. Lost to the political power brokers of the day is the arrival of Him to whom the stones cry out, the peasant king embraced by the nature He created. A few startled shepherds called to come and see this thing. Announced by an enthusiastic angel visitation that will forever speak to many of folklore and question the judgment of sane and stable men. A journey in the night to go and see and task this life another sleepless night. What God is this, that hinges His mystery in the efforts of a few simple humans? And yet, to go is the call of the ages, as if to rule some great empire for a thousand ages. What is this call, that stands before, that challenges every natural and fleshly desire?
Come and see!
Still Dreaming
Many of us have dreams that are unfulfilled, visions that are unrealized. Not that we planned it that way. It’s just that life got in the way.
In the idealism of our youth we envisioned changing the world. We were going to make a difference. We had this music within us waiting to be expressed. We were going to write that great novel opening the minds and hearts of everyone to the possibilities that existed. Our social agenda was going to usher in a new era of hope and equality. Our entrepreneurial skills and ideas were going to be the bench mark for modern business and industry. But it didn’t happen.
It wasn’t that the ideas weren’t good enough or that we didn’t have the skills and abilities. It’s just that talking about it and dreaming about it aren’t enough. Sooner or later you have to launch out on that unpredictable and intangible journey of believing. To watch the dreams be born into reality and see them unfold before our eyes. To let go of the “for sure” and to stand with the intangible, the “what if” and believe. To believe in the vision and the source of the vision, He who knows all and has our best interest at heart.
For many of us, however, the importance of our dream was lost in a sea of things that demanded our attention, our time, our effort. Not later, but now! And the vision lay abandoned and neglected. Replaced by grocery shopping and alarm clocks. And so the vision was relegated to next week, next month, next year. Pushed off to some more convenient, more prosperous time down the road called, “never”. Oh, we didn’t call it that. We called it amusing things like, “after we’re established” , “after we raise the kids” , “when things get easier” and “when we retire”. Smoke screens for “phoney baloney” believing, designed to numb the memory of a path not travelled, an adventure not lived.
And yet, it isn’t too late! There is a calling, faint, as if off in the distance. Gently wooing us back to that which we were created for. To live out that dream. To really live not just exist. To create with the Creator and to believe that He has called us to something extraordinary. A life of dreams and passion and excitement. The abundant life.
1 For The Road 