Welcome to MPC Connected! With our church family separated, we will be communicating with you throughout the week in a more intentional way, including emails from Max and Jeff, opportunities to serve others, and more. Enjoy!
Dear Church Family,
As we enter into another week of uncertainty, I thought I would share something with you that has been a great help to me. Many years ago Glenn Parkinson, my former pastor, gave me a set of six little wooden blocks, exactly like the set that I had seen sitting on his desk, assembled in a "pyramid" shape. He explained to me that he used those blocks for the purposes of Christian meditation. Scripture instructs us to meditate (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-2; Psalm 77:11-12; Psalm 119:23), and Christian meditation is very different from eastern meditation in that, instead of being designed to empty the mind, it is designed to fill the mind with the truths of God.
He explained to me that each of his blocks represented a biblical truth: Block 1 - God is Sovereign; Block 2 - God is Personal; Block 3 - God is Good; Block 4 - I am ruined; Block 5 - I am redeemed; Block 6 - I am God's instrument. Whenever he felt himself beginning to go down a "rabbit hole" of despair because of hardship, he would knock the blocks over and begin stacking them back up, focusing on each truth while doing so. He gave me a set as a gift and I began to do the same. What I found was that, depending on what I was dealing with, sometimes I needed to work my way through the entire set. But oftentimes, I found I only needed the first block (God is Sovereign) to help set my mind correctly. Why? Because I found that I had crowded God out of my mind and that the truth had been obscured by the problem at hand.
At some point in our life, we learn a particular truth about God (i.e. God is Sovereign) and it gets filed away in the "S" box somewhere in the back our mind. Somewhere along the road of our life, we get slammed by a trial (i.e. Coronavirus) and it moves front and center, crowding out the filing cabinet of truths we learned in Sunday school. What we need is to dig that truth out, get it on the table, and lay that trial (Coronavirus), like a transparency (kids, ask your parents), on top of the biblical truth (God is Sovereign), which now becomes the background for the trial we face. Put it this way: Your mind is going to be filled with something, so why not fill it with the truths of God's Word to help you put whatever you're dealing with in its proper context? As another pastor I know used to say, "Begin with Jesus on the throne, and work your way back from that starting point until you get to the trial your facing."
I know that there is so much confusion and uncertainty regarding this virus, the economy, and the future of our country and our world, but Jesus is on the throne of the universe, even now. Meditate upon that, or any of the other magnificent truths found in the Bible. I would be more grounded in them myself if I hadn't lost my set of wooden blocks in the move from Maryland to Pennsylvania. I guess it's finally time I get some new ones. ;)
I know this is a difficult time, my dear brothers and sisters. Know that we love you so very much and are praying for you every day, as we wait upon our Lord to bring this to his desired end.
In Christ,
Max
P.S. - To help churches that cannot gather for worship, Ligonier Ministries has made their entire catalog of teaching series free to use until the end of June, including the Ligonier Conference that just ended. I think you will find many of the messages in their catalog to be helpful during this time. You can watch them yourself, form a study with others in the church, or do a study at home with your family. I can't recommend these resources more highly.
Though we are separated during this unique season, we want you to know we are available. We will be doing our best to stay in touch in many ways, but if you need prayer or just need someone to talk to, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. You can always send a prayer request to Donna (mpcadminteam@gmail.com). You can also email or call Max or Jeff or any of our elders. Max's email is mbenfer@meadowcroftchurch.org and his phone # is 484-886-7726. Jeff's email is jeff@meadowcroftchurch.org and his phone number is 540-818-6215.