Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

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

Sermon Series:
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
carson@gracechurchwi.org

Secretary Patti Hall
pattihall@gracechurchwi.org

PASTOR'S PENS 2007

Grace Church of Burlington January 14, 2007  “A Bible in the hand is worth two in the bookcase.” Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.  Oscar Wilde             No doubt you missed this on the news so I’ll bring you up to speed. Did you know that I am Time Magazine’s person of the year. There’s now an I in TIME, and guess what, it's ME. That’s right. But it’s not just me, all of us have been designated“Person of the Year”by Time. The editors basis of this silly choice is thatbecause of the Internet and the way folks are using it to “collaborate and change the world,” you and I...and everyone else in the world, are the person of the year. Now not wanting to disdain your accomplishments, I know that I don’t really feel like I’ve changed my world. I’m not quite sure that I’ve even made a dent it. So how could Time ever pick me?             Time has taken the self-absorbed spirit of our age to its logical conclusion. Everything is about me. It really is "all about me." It’s all about MY opinion on talk radio. It’s about MY page on YouTube or MySpace. It’s about ME when I blog and pontificate.             With just a little marketing muscle the editors of Time have turned our reflections back on ourselves and turned us into stars of our very own magazine. Meism is one of the greatest problems that we have in America. YouTube is a classic example. Why in the world would I think that the entire world would want the opportunity to see my pet gerbil do a somersault or what Halloween costume my kid wore this year? Yet, the ludicrous things that are recorded and then proliferated over the Web are unbelievable. It’s Meism run rampant.             Consider nearly any social issue on our contemporary plates from abortion to embryonic stem cell research. Nearly all of them find their roots in Meism.  Just last week one of our men was recently talking to me about dealing with a customer. The customer wanted his company to be at their beck and call, and he graciously had to point out that this customer was not their only customer. What was the customer’s problem? Meism.             This, though is much more serious than video clips of pet gerbils. As believers, the greater issue is that while we in the Church are commanded to be different, to not be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2), too often we are. More than we want to admit, we’re just as self-absorbed as a Christless world.             When I was a young person I was taught a valuable mental reminder of what it means to be a CHRISTian. “It means CHRIST is everything but I am nothing.” Even when we come to worship on Sundays, too often rather than focusing on our awesome God, we are thinking “What did I get out of this? What’s in it for me?” Our focus is not “Am I serving the Lord? but, “Am I being served?” Meism has contaminated us.             Most of our struggles find their roots in Meism. Why are we so easily angered?  What’s the source of our irritableness?  Why do we struggle with stress? Depression?  Criticalness? Complaining? Frequently, Meism has sunk its fangs into us. Even our resistance to surrendering to the Lord our time, talents and treasure is symptomatic of our succumbing to Meism.             So what’s the solution? It’s turning our eyes off of ourselves and our little worlds and get our eyes on our awesome God. That’s why it is so important that we commit to getting “Back to the Book.” God’s Word helps us get our eyes off of ourselves. The cure for Meism is an eternal, vertical perspective. Getting “Back to the Book” challenges us to live lives that count and have eternal significance. Apart from new life in Christ, apart from the transformation of the Spirit, each of us are our own selfish pigs (to quote Susan Schaeffer Macaulay).             It’s when we see our awesome, omnipotent God as Isaiah did (Isaiah 6) that we get off our eyes off our own itsy-bitsy worlds. It’s when we see that we are so sinful and unworthy, yet still so loved and sacrificed for with the gift of His own Son that we begin to replace self-absorbedness with gratitude and praise. And that gratitude motivates us to love and service. We love Him because He first loved us. And we want to serve Him and because of Him, serve others. Instead of getting, we want to give. As we surrender our Meism to Him, our lives begin to have His love, joy, peace, contentment, etc.             It’s amazing that as we look in His Word and allow His Spirit to mold us into Christ’s likeness that we find the satisfaction and fulfillment that those who have succumbed to Meism are looking for. They, though, are seeking to find it in and of themselves – Meism. They never will. The abundant, fulfilled life only comes from His Lordship...from surrender. The solution is that Jesus Christ must be Lord of the Year and the day and the hour and moment.             Time probably will never get it...but will we? Friend, let’s determine to get Back to the Book and let God’s living Word live through us by His Spirit!