Ensign: A Sermon Of Wood

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3




AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 30 August 2013
 

Once every summer, the congregation at our church meets for an outdoor service at Minot's Scandinavian Heritage Park. It's an awesome place, and perhaps its standout feature – although I'm sure the Danes, Swedes, Finns, and Icelanders would have some words with me – is a reconstruction of a Norwegian church building known as the Gol Stave (I believe pronounced goal stahv) Church. The original just celebrated its eight hundredth birthday, and as our church service finished there in Minot we went into the reconstructed one to receive communion which my son Jeffrey said he would climb (if I let him) and after service – oh, there was a potluck afterward, a dedication plaque caught my attention. It says in part:

as you look upward

as Dr. Myron Peterson

so often did

may this structure

with its ascending roofs

be for you

a sermon in wood

You don't have to be a pastor to give a sermon – in fact, sometimes I think that's a hindrance. Not everyone is equipped to get behind a pulpit and speak to a congregation or teach a Sunday school class or sing alleluias, but we're all equipped to do something, at least one or two somethings. Some people, several somethings. What matters with these gifts of the Holy Spirit – more detailed in 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Timothy 4 – as well as physical gifts (witness Jesus' parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30) is that you use them. Not use them to build yourself up but rather to build others – for a Christian, this is asking yourself “what would Jesus do”, a pithy expression today yes because it's overused, but it just makes sense to do something you know how to do for something greater than yourself. 
 

Woodworking is not my thing. Nor are some – heck, almost all – things that involve physical construction and building, I will admit that. But I make connections, I can impart information and apply something that I've learned to help others and I don't need a degree or a superpower to have a talent (oh, our modern English word “talent” for ability comes from the parable) for that. Or seeing a bigger pattern than maybe eludes most people around you, but you can come and see how something fits into something else. I don't need the “book learnin'” to do some of what I believe God has called me to do, but I have to be willing to apply and pass on what I have learned and can do.
 

So do we all, whether our sermons are of wood or words.

David             

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!

We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.

 

Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.


Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.