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Beginning a New Year in Nursing Home Ministry

/ pastorpete51 / 10 Comments 
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance 
the race marked out for us, Hebrews 12:1 NIV

As we enter a New Year of nursing home ministry, filled with opportunities; challenges and unseen difficulties; I am tempted to sit down, draw up plans and set personal goals. The problem with that line of thinking is that it offers a temporary sense of peace while leaving out the most important thing, which is prayer. Prayer is like the way runners wait with both patience and hope for the starting gun to begin their race. As we spend time in prayer, God focuses our mind on His plans and purposes for the race that He has designed for us to run. He holds in His hands Heaven’ s starting gun, and it is He who will record our time at the finish line. He will be the judge of what matters because He is He is our life coach! So, let’s listen to His voice and wait eagerly for Him and remember that everything we do, say, or give begins with Him. We must go to Nursing Home, not just to make us feel better about ourselves, but to carry the message of the Hope of Jesus. He cares about the people who push their walkers or wheel through the halls, and He is sending us to be their neighbors. We each have different abilities, personalities, and weaknesses that God wants to use. He has better plans for how to reach people than we do. He has new and more creative ideas than we could ever come up with on our own. What we need to do is to wait for Him and listen for His starting gun. It is almost time for the race to begin. He promises that we will run without becoming weary if we wait for Him, and walk with Him, God assures us that He will light the path all through the year ahead.

The Value of Pennies

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And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. Mark 12:42-43 ESV

Last year after we finished our Christmas caroling at a nursing home, we began to pass out large print Christmas devotional books as our gift to the residents. Most of them lit up with smiles and thanked us for the books as our volunteers handed them out. But as they got to the back of the room, one lady gently reached out and slipped three one-dollar bills into their hand. Despite urging her that she didn’t need to pay for our gift, the woman insisted, “No please take it! I want to give something!”

In that dear lady I suddenly saw the widow in today’s verse. She showed us that the longing to give is a basic desire of every Christian heart. Though some of us, have had that desire dampened by people who have taken unfair advantage of us, Jesus never mentioned anything about how well the two little coins the widow contributed, were spent. What made her gift precious was the love that she gave it with. None of the rich guys who went ahead of her had impressed Jesus. But the small sacrifice that that woman eagerly gave was a treasure to Him. Her two pennies and our lady’s three dollars remind us that whether we offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh or just two pennies, God sees more than pennies. He is watching our hearts today!

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The Most Important Person in the Room

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” 
Luke 10:40-42

This well-loved passage has many of us chuckling, as we consider ourselves a bit more like a Martha than a Mary. But our fondness for the story may cause us to miss the reason Luke included it. He alone could have recalled from firsthand experience as he accompanied Paul, how a life of service could be thrown off track by busyness. Martha was in many ways a lot like Paul. She loved Jesus with all her heart and didn’t care what anyone else thought about her faith. Remember it was Martha who invited Jesus over in the first place. Yet somewhere in the middle of her determination to serve Jesus, Martha began to lose focus. With her house filled with disciples, servants and even a few curious neighbors, she forgot that the whole occasion was supposed to be about Jesus. In the midst of our serving, sometimes you and I, like Martha, also forget who the most important person in the house is!

There are other times we get caught in the “service trap”, because of the expectations of others. As Pastor Rick Warren once famously said, “God loves you, and everyone else has a wonderful plan for your life!” We mean to take time for prayer and reading God’s word, but the phone rings, a text message grabs our attention, or we decide to check our Facebook page, just one more time. Little by little our day is eaten away by distractions, and the Holy Spirit’s voice is drowned out by the banging of our own pots and pans. With our hours consumed by serving, it is easy to miss out on taking time for the only one who really knows what we should do.

Last of all, while Martha asked for Jesus to pay attention to her needs and feelings, Mary just sat at HIs feet, with her eyes on Him. When we allow our serving to overwhelm us, we may elicit sympathy from others or even cause them to jump in to give us a hand, but we lose our chance to point to Jesus. But when, like Mary we give our complete attention to Him, then we can begin again to draw others to look to Him, because He is the most important person in the room!