"'Tis a Gift to be Simple"

Author: Mark Fenstermacher
January 29, 2021

Life seem too complicated? Yep, I think so, too. When I moved to Auburn, I needed help setting up my tv. (I remember a black and white tv with four channels and metal rabbit ears)  I'm making the transition from a PC to an Apple computer: nice machine but the progress is slow.

Sometimes, in complex and challenging times, we need simple. Sometimes, when it feels like we are in danger of getting lost, we need to be brought back to basics. Sometimes, when it seems like the things we counted on have been built on shifting sand, we need to find a solid foundation.

So we are beginning this year—in terms of our preaching and teaching ministry at First United Methodist Church of Auburn—simply.

The first three weeks of the year we talked about Another Road. We were reminded that to be followers of Jesus means to live out love, to be always turned towards grace, and to share with the world -in our words and deeds- the gifts of God we have discovered in Jesus of Nazareth.

You could fill several landfills with the vision statements, mission statements, strategic goals and objects, etc. generated by congregations in our country. I spoke to a dear friend and layperson today, and she told me how her congregation has one "visioning retreat" after another but nothing seems to change. Now, don't get me wrong: mission statements, vision documents and strategic goals/priorities can be powerful tools for the Spirit to use in bringing new life to a congregation. But sometimes as we generate reports and documents we end up making everything complicated.

So we started this year by taking a breath, and remembering that the non-negotiables in our life as a Jesus Community (ie. Church) are to love, to turn towards grace, and to share the Good News with a broken, beautiful and needy world.

Live Love. Turn towards Grace. Share Christ. If we forget these things, nothing much else we do really matters. 

And, on January 31st, we begin another short three-week series on the basics of living out the Wesleyan way of faith: Do Good; Do No Harm; Stay in Love with God.

There is often power in simplicity. There is often beauty in simplicity. 

As the old Shaker hymn tells us, it is a gift to be simple and it is a gift to be free. When we find ourselves in the valley of love and delight, we will "find ourselves in the place just right."

Love. Grace. Share.

 Do Good. Do No Harm. Stay in Love with God.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed;
to turn, turn, will be my delight.
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Your simple preacher,
Pastor Mark

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