Where do you feel God's Pleasure?

You might have heard this classic quote from Eric Liddell, the early 20th Century Scottish Olympic runner and missionary, who was depicted in the movie Chariots of Fire: “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.” But have you ever heard someone say, “When I run 150 dishes through the Hobart industrial sanitizer in the church kitchen, I feel God’s pleasure”? Probably not. But maybe you should! In fact, I have tons of fond memories of the hours and hours spent getting soaked in the dish pit over my years at Miracle Ranch Christian camp in Washington state. And many of those memories were because of the joys of serving alongside friends and fellow Christians so that campers could enjoy their next meal.

Granted, there are some areas of serving in the church (and elsewhere) that are not inherently joyful (and are actually quite challenging and monotonous) that we do out of a sense of gratitude for God, family ownership of our church, and, frankly, because somebody’s got to do it! And we should be willing to serve in those areas when needed.

But what if using our God-given gifts, experiences, and passions for the good of others, both inside and outside the church, gave us the kind of joy that Eric Liddell felt while running? This is exactly what’s envisioned in the book of Ephesians. We were created by God for good works (Eph 2:10), given unique gifts of grace by Jesus when he gave us his Spirit (Eph 4:7-8), given leaders to equip us to use our gifts (Eph 4:11-12), and turned loose to use those gifts for building up the church (Eph 4:16).

A small group of us (myself, Debbie Bukovietski, Dawn Lundell, Susan Guerra, Joy Jurries, and Matt & Zandria Hull) have been part of a new cohort called Room on Our Pew, aimed at further enfolding children with disabilities into the life and worship of the church. This past week, we reflected on an article from Dan Vander Plaats that seeks to help us move beyond simply caring for people with disabilities in our midst in a one-sided way, but recognizing them as co-laborers with real gifts to offer in the church. More on that in the coming months.

So if we all are created to use our gifts for the good of our neighbor, the glory of God, and our own joy, then let’s continue to find ways to do that in the church and beyond! That’s one of the reasons we created this Get Involved Form. While the 80/20 rule in churches is generally true (80% of the serving is done by 20% of the people), finding more help to avoid burnout isn’t our primary motivation. We want everyone to feel the joy of using their unique gifts in community!