Choices
Sue Kramer lost her mother after a prolonged illness that required much of Sue's time. Because of her mother's needs Sue had no choice but to limit her involvement in ministries of Covenant Church.
You must understand that Sue's love for children has been passionate through the years. With her husband, Donnie, and a houseful of boys, Sue has found time to work with children all ages into college, where two sons are.
Then came the discussion of what would or could be done with children for Christmas. To the plate stepped Tammy Sersen, who talked with Sue and said: "I have directed dramas. I can handle the drama, if you will do the music." An agreement was made.
Well, the Sunday before Christmas came. Toddlers to children aged 12 captured the hearts of two large congregations with drama and music. "Christmas is about Jesus," they made sure we understood.
Sue reflects upon the adventure as: "It was just what I needed. After losing Mother, I needed to involve myself in ministry. In a way it did not make any sense that I would immediately follow my loss with a serious commitment. But it has been so good for me."
Her decision was good for more than Sue herself. It was good for a whole church and community!
Choices. Every day we make choices. Every day we talk about things. We discuss feelings, opinions, ideas, weather, and news. In all of the talk we make decisions. In all the talk we choose whether to do or not to do. We choose, and in our choosing we choose not to. When we choose to do, we choose not to do other things. If I choose to live in Charlottesville, I choose NOT to live in other places. If I choose to keep the car I have, I choose NOT to trade it for another car.
If we make no choice, we choose to keep being, doing, and having what we have been and are.
Our lives are filled with choices. Many of these choices are made subconsciously. We choose to brush our teeth, and in doing so we choose toothpaste, toothbrush, which hand we use to pick them up, and which tooth we brush first. Most of this is subconscious. We choose what to do about foods with a little more conscious thought. We choose what we do about Jesus. We choose what we do about Sundays. We choose how we will observe Christmas.
We choose and with our choices we choose consequences. Good choices produce good consequences. Wrong choices produce negative consequences.
One of the problems is that we tend to choose based upon consequences we immediately desire. We eat what satisfies us, only to diet later. Diet means depriving ourselves of what we want, and we may have developed chronic health problems. When we choose based on life values, the future brings to us the best. God says so.
Godly choices produce God fruit. Godly choices produce everlasting rewards. This we must remember: Right is right. Wrong is wrong. Right produces right consequences. Wrong produces consequences we would rather not inherit.
Part of the challenge of Covenant Church is making choices. How do we bring the family together to fulfill Christ's mandate for us? How do we choose to make choices that will add souls to the Kingdom of God and develop disciples to fulfill the Great Commission?
We remember Sue. In a crisis time she chose a ministry task. We choose to commit ourselves to the work of the Lord. We choose to sacrifice for the glory of Christ and His Church. We choose to impact the lives of others with the glorious news of the gospel of Jesus.
One of our choices at Covenant Church is to have a Christmas Eve Service from 6-7 PM. It is our time of emphasizing that Christmas is about Christ. We wonderfully, joyfully, cheerfully, and heartily say: "Merry Christmas!"
With the New Year of 2009 we choose to alter our path in January and February with mid-week events. Teens and children will continue with their activities. Adults will experience "The Gap", a Wednesday night time of prayer, praise, and preaching. Time for all events on Wednesday will be changed to an earlier time of 6:30-7:45 PM.
As staff, Elders, Deacons and all leadership, we are choosing to consecrate our lives to Christ, to fast and pray, to work more strategically and efficiently. We choose what we believe to be God's will for us, for this time, for this place, and for His Church.
We have the right of choice. We choose. We choose to serve the Christ of Christmas. We choose to worship our Creator, Our God, Our Savior and Coming King!
Pastor Bare Matthew 1:21b You shall call His Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.