"animated with earnest zeal" - Rector's Rambling for November 26, 2017

First, I want to thank everyone who pitched in to help on Thanksgiving, with the pancake breakfast and donut/hot chocolate sales, as well as the many people who welcomed guests and showed them around our beautiful  building.

St. John’s is an amazing place, with amazing people!  When I give tours of the building during the week, I get to see the our place through their eyes.  They walk in and you hear them gasp, and look around in awe.  Before long someone in the group says, “I have driven by this place a thousand times and I never imagined how beautiful this is!”  And as I give them a synopsis of our remarkable history, I always make a point of telling them that as wonderful as the building is, and amazing as our history is, even more amazing and beautiful is what God is doing here now, and more beautiful are the people who are members here!

On Thanksgiving we welcome hundreds of people into our midst.  Our big challenge is to find ways to reach out to the multitude of people who live near us, work near us, and pass by on their way to the stadiums, arena, and theatres, to come in to pray, worship, and join us for both religious and social events so that we can build relationships which open opportunities to share Jesus with them.

In our prayer for St. John’s we ask God to “Enlighten our minds, subdue our wills, purify our hearts, and so penetrate us with Thy Spirit, and fill us with Thy love that we may go forth animated with earnest zeal for Thy glory; and may Thy living Word so dwell within our hearts that we may speak with that resistless energy of love which shall melt the hearts of sinners to the love of Thee.”  This is the formula we need to embrace in order not only to become holier, but to do so in order to draw people to Jesus.  If we are working on growing in grace, we will be motivated to reach out to others and share Jesus’ love.

The building is a wonderful attraction,  a wonderful inspiration to lead us to holiness, and a great location for ministry.  Let us step up to our responsibilities to use it for God’s Glory!