It is Friday morning and I have not been out of the village of Pandora since Sunday and in fact have not driven our car or van since Sunday. The furthest I have been away from home or church office this week is the Pandora post office. I am not sure that is bad or good but it is unusual to not sit behind the wheel of a car for this long of a time. I will be driving to Findlay after finishing this blog so I will not have made it a whole week.
One of the main reasons for not going anywhere this week was that this was the week of the big snow and ice. Actually it wasn’t as bad for us as anticipated by weather forecasters and certainly not as bad as many parts of the country. The snow that was mixed with sleet and freezing rain was certainly difficult to clean off our sidewalks and driveway. Now we are waiting for the next accumulating snow to come sometime next week. Hopefully it will not materialize.
As the storm was being forecast and anticipated, it is interesting to reflect on how glued I was to the local TV news which was all about the winter storm and how I was constantly checking my computer for weather updates. What was it that created in me a desire for any information I could get on the storm? I could not change the path of the storm or diminish its effects in any way. Maybe the storm is fascinating because it shows a power that none of us can do anything about. Certainly we cannot control the weather. We can only wait for it and respond to it. (Sorry about the rambling, disconnected thoughts on the weather this week.)
This month, I am preaching on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. John R W Stott the great English Bible expositor says this classic sermon, the so called “Manifesto of Christ” appears to be the best-known and the least obeyed teaching of Jesus.
As we study this familiar text of Scripture once more, my hope is that we will not just look for interesting new insights but that it can be a transforming passage for us as individuals and as a congregation. Me we as Myron Augsburger wrote come to the Scripture ready to obey it and allow it to change our lives.
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