Category: Grace

Posted in Grace, Life

Happy birthday, Dad!

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Just got off the phone with my dad, who turned 86 today. He’s doing great, the snow’s all melted in Philadelphia, his crocuses are up and beautiful, and baseball season is just around the corner. Life is good.

The problem with living that long is that you outlive a lot of people. My mom’s already been gone for five years, he’s outlived all his brothers and sisters, many of his good friends from church and a lot of neighbors. He’s still got a good church family, a few of my cousins to keep an eye on him, and the Phillies who have been very worth watching these last few years.

My brother and I send him sermons and he really likes that. When you have a CD to listen to, you can go back and listen to the parts you didn’t understand the first time. He never got to hear me preach that much over the years, so this is something he really enjoys. Adam is taking his first preaching class at the seminary, so I’ll have him preach this summer, and then my dad can hear yet another generation in the pulpit. That will be cool. Not just because I can get a day off, but because I have a feeling Adam is going to be very good in the pulpit. That’s my unbiased, objective opinion, of course.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

It takes time

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It takes time. In my morning devotions I just began the gospel of Mark. Before this I was in Luke. What a contrast. While Luke takes his time getting through the birth of Christ and extensive teaching, Mark moves things along very quickly. In just three quick chapters of Mark, Jesus has attracted not only crowds of followers, but also plenty of opposition and they are already plotting to kill Jesus. After three chapters in Luke, Jesus is just getting warmed up for his public ministry.

In many ways, I think we come at the church and ministry from Mark’s perspective. We expect things to happen quickly. Whatever ideas, projects, and programs we implement, we look for quick results. This may not be true everywhere, but in my experience, it takes quite a while to see things develop in the church. In our own congregation it has taken many years to move from talking about missions to actually going and doing mission work. It’s taken many years to develop some of our music programs, community involvement, and teachers for classes.

So I’ve learned that you can’t force these things to happen. You can’t rush them. And all those months when it seemed like absolutely nothing was happening, something was happening. God was working to prepare his people for ministry. Note to self: when it seems like not much is happening, relax. There’s actually a whole lot going on.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Looking for my voice

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Looking for my voice. Today I barely croaked out the second sermon as the laryngitis I knew was coming mercilessly set in. As early as Friday I knew it would be a tough morning. I could feel a little soreness in my throat and I just had a feeling that Sunday morning would be a challenge. Saturday morning didn’t start out too badly, but as the day wore one my voice was strained and even though I drank gallons (at least it seemed like that much) of water, I knew Sunday would be a struggle. Sure enough, I woke up with a sandpapery voice that got a little better after a hot shower. I didn’t sing any songs and really took it easy the first service, but I wasn’t at 100%. Fortunately, this is the service we record and post online. Bible class wasn’t too bad, but at the beginning of our second worship service, I knew it would be tough. I did get through the second sermon, but had to ask one of my elders to finish up the end of the service for me.

About 18 years ago, I was singing with a choir in another church and developed a really serious case of laryngitis. Ever since that time, a cold or some pine pollen or any throat irritation can set it off. It’s kind of like my Achilles’ heel, which as you might imagine isn’t good for a preacher. It happens about two times a year, and there’s really not much I can do about it. I had a sermon I was really looking forward to preaching, too. And since I don’t write out my whole sermon but kind of put together a storyboard, I couldn’t just pass off to an elder.

To tell you the thuth, I don’t like being vessel of clay (2 Cor 4).  But these kind of days remind me I am, and that God just might be able to communicate through a guy who can only croak out a sermon.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

How strong do you have to be?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

About a week ago, I left early in the morning to meet someone at the hospital who was having surgery that day. As we sat down to talk and pray, she said, “I’m sorry for being such a wimp.” And I thought to myself, “Why do we feel like we must be strong all the time?” When you are about to have surgery and face some of the realities and unknowns of cancer, isn’t it OK to be scared, be weak, and cry? Of all times to feel vulnerable and mortal, this would seem to be one of the most appropriate.

Yet we don’t like to let on that we feel that way. It seems this is especially true of Christians. We’ve convinced ourselves that our faith means we will not be scared, we will not worry, and we will not feel weak. Even if we read numerous Psalms reminding us that God is our refuge and strength, we’d rather dig deep into our own resources rather than have to tap into his. It’s not easy to say that God is your strength and mean it, because it means you are weak, and probably a wimp, too. It’s OK to sing, “I am weak but he is strong” when you’re a kid, but not when you’re grown up.

The apostle Paul figured it out: “When I’m weak, then I’m strong.” Perhaps we need to learn how to be better wimps.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

A little more time

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Yesterday, I needed more time. More time to get things done, get to all the places I needed to be, and more time to spend with people. As the day began (my days typically begin at 5 am, feeding and walking the dog before my devotional time), I knew I’d never get everything done I needed to get done.

I dropped my neighbor off at the restaurant where we have our Thursday morning men’s bible class, went down to the hospital to pray with someone about to go in for surgery, headed back to the restaurant for the rest of the class, picked up my daughter after a doctor’s appointment and took her to school, and then got to church. After that I had two early afternoon appointments, some errands to run, another bible class to attend at night, supper to prepare in-between, and I really wanted to go over my sermon for Sunday. Yeah, one of those days. It’s not like that everyday, but it happens.

Here’s the cool part. I got all that done and had some time left over. It is as if my day had more than 24 hours in it! How did I do that? I guess I could share my secrets in my next best-selling book. But to tell you the truth, I’m not sure I have the answer, other than to give God credit for a day that seemed a little longer than usual.

Now it could be that I overestimated how long some of my tasks would take. Traffic wasn’t too bad, the line at the store wasn’t too long, and I knew the guard at one gated community, so entrance was fast and easy. So I had two chunks of time to go over my sermon, was able to make a few phone calls, didn’t have to rush through dinner with my wife, and had a few bonus conversations with people along the way.

I believe that just as God provides other resources, like wealth and abilities, he can provide some time, too. This should be a surprise, because he did it for both Joshua and Hezekiah in the Old Testament. I never expect it to happen to me, and it doesn’t happen every day, but when it does, it’s pretty cool. Thanks, Lord.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

The fifth one is on us

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A few weeks ago, I met someone who didn’t attend church much, but came to worship with us one Sunday. I’m not sure how, but we got talking about the punch cards he carried in his wallet from various places he liked to eat. You know, where you get it punched every time you come in, and then when you have a certain number of punches, you get something free.

For some strange reason, I thought, “I can do that.” I made him a “frequent worshiper” card for our church. “Attend four worship services, and the fifth mass is on us!” I laminated it, punched out one of the church logos for the Sunday he was here, and sent it with the usual letter thanking him for worshiping with us. I haven’t seen or heard from him yet, but I hope he found it as amusing as I did.

Afterwards I got to thinking, “What would it mean for worship to be ‘on us’?” I mean, we give freely because of all God has freely given us. I guess it could mean you didn’t have to put an offering in that week. Or maybe you could get something from the plate when it was passed around. Although I wouldn’t recommend it. Our ushers are pretty tough.

Actually, this isn’t such a unique idea. We have churches in our community that have given out gas and coffee gift cards to first time visitors. Some will take you out for ice cream if you bring a friend to youth group. My idea was meant to be taken lightly, but hopefully it will help strengthen the connection with this individual.

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

People of influence

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Tomorrow, as the first part of a stewardship emphasis at our church, I’ll be talking about the influence we have in this world. My sermon is based on Matthew 5:13-16, where Jesus says we are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.”

One way to look at this is to see how influential Jesus says we are in this world, making as much difference as salt and light make when something is bland or dark. (If you’d prefer to think of salt as a preservative, that works, too. We make as much difference as salt and light when things are rotting and dark.) Anyway, I think we sometimes forget how influential we are as Christians. Feeling outnumbered by other faiths and atheists and agnostics, the temptation is retreat into our own worlds or let ourselves be influenced by others.

Whether we like it or not, God shakes us out of the saltshaker and puts us into the workplace, the marketplace, the schools, and our communities. There, whether we realize it or not, we bring some of Jesus with us. By that, I mean we bring what we’ve received from him, things like forgiveness, love, humility, patience, etc. And that is the stuff that salts, brightens, and changes the world. Wrap your mind (heart, soul, and strength) around that, and you might even do it intentionally, realizing what a difference God makes through you.

We are anything but ordinary, bland, and dull in this world. We’re salt and light.


Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

Thanks, God

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I just listened to a message on my answering machine from someone we’ve been praying for who needed some tests done. Pretty serious stuff and a little bit of anxiety. Well, the news was good and the voice on the machine sounded suitably relieved! You’ve got to love a message like that.

Just that moment of joy and the chance to thank God for His care also made me realize that I don’t get to find out what happens to a lot of people for whom we pray. Our petitions for help and healing far outweigh our prayers of thanks and praise.

That’s one of the reasons I keep a list of prayers in the back of my daily devotional journal. That way, I can go back and remember what I prayed for a week or months ago. I would say nine times out of ten, something has happened in that situation, and I become aware of God’s response to a prayer. Without that list, I’d forget, wouldn’t think about the response, and would miss out on seeing God at work in our lives. It’s definitely a faith-building experience when your petitions are replaced by thanks and praise rather than just more petitions.

I do this when I teach prayer in confirmation class, too. We post our prayers on a bulletin board and revisit them each week to see what’s happened. I am just as amazed as the students at all the answers. Of course, not every issue is resolved. Some things remain in our ongoing prayers, but that’s OK, too. Our persistent prayers remind us of our dependence on God and his grace, and build our endurance, character, and hope.

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

Premature Ephiphany thoughts

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Even though Epiphany isn’t technically until Wednesday, we’ll be celebrating it in worship tomorrow. I’ve never been at a church where the worshipers were willing to get together on the actual day of Epiphany, so we usually observe it the first Sunday in January.

It seems like everyone likes Epiphany. Perhaps that’s because the account of the wise men coming to worship Jesus with their gifts is such a familiar story. Few are aware of the significance of the day, but they like it anyway, because who doesn’t like presents?

The actual arrival of the wise men would have been a very strange occurrence for Mary, Joseph and Jesus, Christmas-crashers, as it were. Gentiles in the house? Well, they brought gifts…

Most of us Gentiles tend to forget we’re Gentiles and what an amazing truth it is that the Gospel is for us, whether we bring gifts or not.

And lest we forget, Matthew’s gospel does not tell us where they came from, other than the “east.” He does not mention how many wise men there were. Or that they rode camels. Or that they brought a drummer boy along with them.