Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2006

Grace Church of Burlington January 29, 2006   “Blessed are the flexible!!”                                            Okay, so it’s not one of the eight beatitudes or part of the Sermon the Mount, but it’s still true. Since God is truth and since all truth is God’s truth, it has some validity. Someone put it this way, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.” But it’s so easy to become inflexible, isn’t it? Especially as Christians, we find ourselves falling into the trap of rigidity and inflexibility. Then, we live in a world where morals, standards and values are as loose as bubble gum on asphalt in the middle of August.             Frequently, Christians overreact to the wishy-washiness of contemporary  culture by becoming rigid. The key is learning to be inflexible about what Scripture teaches us to be inflexible about, yet learning to be very flexible about what we can be flexible about. Too often many of us become rigid about the wrong thing. At Grace Church we really work at being unbending on the right things but flexible on those things that are non-essential. It comes down to having Biblical discernment on the difference between the non-negotiables and the non-essentials.             Let me just thank you for your discernment and flexibility last Sunday. With all of our planning and preparation, the worship service just did not go as planned. Scripture clearly teaches that we are to strive to glorify God in all that we do (1 Corinthians 10:31). Obviously, that means that we are to plan and prepare. (Some Christians groups have misinterpreted being Spirit led, to being unprepared.) Serving the Lord, then, means that we strive for excellence.    But sometimes with all of our preparation, things still fall apart. I was so thankful last week for your graciousness and Christlike spirit!  And I particularly appreciated our worship team. It’s difficult to be in the “spotlight” when things are not going well but they did a phenomenal job!  Their commitment, preparation and desire for excellence week after week is a model for all of us!             Then, Mark Rodman and Neal Dowding made certain that things were remedied by second service. What a blessing their dedication is!!             At Grace, we always want to seek to do our best and please our Lord! But sometimes things just happen. They don’t go as planned. They get beyond our control. And we have a choice. We can either become frustrated and angry, or just calmly realize that it is beyond our control. And it is such a blessing to serve a church family that knows how to tell the difference and is so supportive and encouraging even when things don’t exactly go as they should!!  It’s truly a blessing to be your pastor!!