Rolling Those Stones Away

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” (Mark 16:6)

Dear Friends in Christ,

This passage from Mark’s Gospel is a small part of the complete resurrection narrative available to us. I include it here to encourage you to pick up your Bible and read all of the accounts we have in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20. I promise that your efforts will be rewarded with some of the most exciting passages in the New Testament.

There is another reason why I draw our attention to this narrative. Not only does it give us a wonderful picture of the glory of the resurrection, it also gives us a profound statement about the power God has to take care of whatever problems we may encounter. As the women were walking to Jesus’ tomb that morning, they asked one another, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb.” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. (Mark 16:3-4) For me, this is one of the most important messages we can take away from the Easter story. No matter how big the obstacle we face may be, God has the power to move it out of our way; that’s the power of the Risen Christ!

Each one of us has faced, is facing, or will face something in life that seems insurmountable; a problem so difficult that we can’t imagine how we are going to get through it. We get discouraged and frustrated; we worry and feel our blood pressure rise; stress-filled days and sleepless nights become all too common. “Who will roll the stone away?” Jesus promises that he can handle whatever challenges we face in life – IF we will only lay our burdens at his feet. I hear you saying, “But that’s just so hard to do!” You’re right – it is hard for us to let God be in charge of our life.

As you may know, I haven’t always been in ministry; I had another life before – a life filled with many twists and turns; frustrations and discouragements; lots of stress and sleeplessness. There were times when no memory of church was strong enough to break through to me. There were problems no prayer could solve. The stone was so big and heavy that rolling it away was not an option; I would simply remain behind it forever entombed. Praise God, I was wrong! Grace is a wonderful thing – it moves those heavy stones out of our way. Is it really that simple, you ask? That’s up to you.

This is where the hard part kicks in. When we turn our lives over to God we have to really trust him to handle things for us. We can’t turn a problem over today and then take it back tomorrow. We can’t ask God to help us and then get impatient when things don’t move as fast as we want. Faith is all about trust. Faith means trusting in things we often can’t see or understand. It means believing that God has the power to be in charge of our lives. It means believing the Gospel and trusting the promises of Jesus Christ. It means trusting that God’s Word isn’t just for people two thousand years ago – it’s a living, breathing document that still speaks to us today and continues to be true in spite of changing cultures and circumstances. Faith is all about trust and trust is all about patience. God’s timing is almost never the same as our timing and we must be prepared to wait. The thing is – if we truly trust in God’s plan the waiting isn’t so bad. There is peace in knowing that my way is being guided by Jesus and that I don’t have to trust in my own feeble attempts to fix things. What a relief!

I pray that we will all come to understand more fully that Jesus Christ will roll away any stone that gets in our way. I know it’s not easy to give up control of our lives, but I also know that Jesus does a much better job than we do – if we’ll let him. Christ is risen, alleluia! He is alive and waiting for us to turn over our lives to his loving control. Take the easy road – Let God be in charge.

Shalom!
Pastor Don

Paul's Prayer

“I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” (Ephesians 1:15-16, NRSV)

Whew! We’ve made it through moving – though the unpacking isn’t quite finished yet. We’ve enjoyed two wonderful Sundays in worship with you and are beginning to settle in a bit. It’s been great to begin to get to know you and learn more and more about our church in Sand Springs. You have made us feel so welcome and I am really excited about what lies ahead for us as we journey forward in ministry together. This journey began with much prayer and continues to rely on all our prayers.

In his letter to the Ephesians Paul reminds us of how important prayer is and it highlights one of the foundational concepts of our Wesleyan tradition. Prayer is used to give thanks to God and to lift one another up into God’s care. Prayer helps us to grow spiritually and it strengthens our mission to the world around us. The depth and strength of our prayer life is a direct indication of the health of our congregation. I believe that our prayers are the fuel that fires the church’s engines and allows us to continue to do ministry. If we do not have a strong prayer life as a church it will not matter how much money we have or how many buildings we build, the church will die without prayer. The good news is that this church is already doing some really great things in the prayer arena.

As we are looking to the future I am asking you to redouble your prayer efforts on behalf of our church. Firstly, we should pray that everything we do, every decision we make is focused on God’s will for the church and on what God has planned for us. Nothing we do will succeed if it is not within God’s will and done for God’s glory. Secondly, we should pray for discernment in knowing what God has planned for each one of us as members of this congregation. Everyone in this church has something wonderful to contribute to our mission and ministry. Finances, creativity, talent, time, and your presence here are just a few of the ways that you contribute to the life of our church. Let God lead you into the fulfillment of your whole potential as a follower of Jesus Christ. Finally, pray that your pastor will be led by the Holy Spirit to guide our church forward. I covet your prayers every day and I draw strength from knowing that you are lifting me up into God’s care.

Over the next few weeks you will continue to hear more about our prayer ministry and how we are working to involve more people in this important mission. Prayerfully consider how you might get involved. Keep us all in prayer as we look to new ways to develop our prayer life.

Listen as Paul continues his letter to the Ephesians: “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.” (Ephesians 1:17-19, NRSV)

Shalom,
Pastor Don Tabberer