Pastor’s Point:          (Corner) Stone Soup

As “Papa” to eight grandkids, I’ve rediscovered the joy of a great story. I am well aware that these little rugrats’ efforts to get Debby and me to read them not one, but several, stories before their bedtime is more of a devious ploy to stay up longer than to be enthralled with our skills in oral interpretation. Still, I find it one of my current challenges to be on the lookout for new material, hoping that someday soon they’ll discover the profound lessons to be learned in a good ‘yarn.’

As I sat out in the congregation Sunday, not as a leader but as a participant, one of my favorite childhood stories came to mind: “Stone Soup.” And I quickly thought of two things: 1) I need to add this to the little “nose-miners” bedtime repertoire, and 2) it actually has something to say about corporate worship. For those of you unfamiliar with this little gem, here it is:

There once was a traveler who came to a small village, tired and weary from his long journey. The traveler did not have anything to eat and hoped that a friendly villager would be able to feed him. He came to the first house and knocked on the door. He asked the woman who answered if she could spare just a small bit of food as he had traveled a long journey and was very hungry. The woman replied, “I’m sorry I have nothing to give you. I can barely feed my own family.”

So the traveler went to another door and asked again. The answer was the same: “I have nothing to give you.” He went from door to door and each time was turned away. Undaunted, the traveler went to the village square, took a large tin cooking pot, filled it with water, started a fire and dropped a stone in the pot. As he boiled the water, a passing villager stopped and asked him what he was doing. The traveler replied, “I’m making stone soup. Would you like to join me?” The villager said yes, and he asked if carrots were good in stone soup. “Sure,” said the traveler. The villager went home and returned with carrots from his garden to add to the boiling water. Soon, another curious villager came by and was invited to join them. She went home and returned with some potatoes. A young boy passed by and soon joined the group, bringing his mother and dinner plates from their home.

In time, a crowd gathered with everyone offering their own favorite ingredient: mushrooms, onions, salt, black pepper, acorn, squash. Everyone wanted to be part of the creation. Finally, the traveler removed the stone and declared, “The stone soup is ready!” And the whole community joined in a feast where there was none before.

To point one, I thought the kids would enjoy the kind of “magic” that takes place when plain water “turns into” soup! And kids like stories about cooperation. And if they’re anything like me, they also like to hear about food. If you don’t believe that, talk to the creators of VeggieTales. Finally, there is a great before and after quality to this illustration: Apart from each other—living in isolation, so to speak, everyone struggled with a sense of poverty and want. But when they decided to work together and pool their collective resources, a banquet awaited them. 

                                                                                                                                                 As to my second point about public worship, here’s what I observed. As I looked down on the congregation last Sunday (not condescendingly-I took in the service from the tech balcony), I was struck by how many of the “worshipers” seemed disconnected from each other. You get the sense in Scriptures that God intends for His people to accomplish something collectively and connected-ly (not a word) in corporate worship that is impossible anywhere else. There should be a sense of synergy in our corporate praise, and that the whole should be greater than the sum of its parts. By observation at least, many in attendance were not engaged at all—not singing, looking around, easily distracted, appearing to be alone in a crowded room, so to speak. I realized how challenging it is for us up-fronters to help engage such a diverse and potentially disconnected lot.

But like the “magic” that took place in Stone Soup, I believe we in the local church, can begin to “taste and see that the Lord is good” when we come to worship seeking to contribute what we have to the mix. What is that, you ask? Our life experience, our faith, our spiritual gifts, our honesty, our sense of need. But we must acknowledge that at its core, worship is a giving. In the process, we get many things, but only in proportion to our desire to contribute to God and one another. David says in Psalm 116:

What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

The One we come to worship, who calls us to enjoy the collective “soup” of His goodness, is no mere stone. The apostle Peter reminds us:

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Stone soup, anyone? 

                                                                                                                                         tad

Pastor’s Point: 1 Corinthians 12 Reimagined (submitted by Chris Schliesman)

Dear Choir Members,

I want to write to you about the special abilities that the Holy Spirit gives to each of you, for I don't want any misunderstanding about them.

You will remember that before you became choir members, you stayed at home during choir practice (watching TV). Not one of you was singing a single note. But now you are a meeting people who claim to sing messages from the Spirit of God. How can you know whether they are singing for God or whether they are fakes? Here is the test: no one singing by the power of the Spirit of God can curse Jesus, and no one can sing, "Jesus is Lord," and really mean it, unless the Holy Spirit is helping him.

Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are His. The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire choir.

To some the Spirit gives the ability to sing soprano; others may be especially good at second or alto, and this is His gift from the same Spirit. To some He gives a special solo talent, and to others the power to harmonize. He gives powers for singing tenor, and to others the power to sing bass. He gives someone else the power to select and direct our music - that it is really the Spirit of God who is singing. Still another person is able to operate our sound system, while others are given the gift of playing musical instruments. It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives us all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have.

The choir has many parts, but the many parts make up only one choir when they are all put together. So it is with the "choir" of Christ. Each of us is part of the one choir of Christ. Some of us are sopranos or seconds, some are altos, some are tenors and some are bass. But the Holy Spirit has fitted us all together into one choir. We have been chosen into Christ's choir by the one Spirit, and have all been given the same Holy Spirit.

Yes, the choir has many parts, not just one part. If the alto says, "I am not a part of the choir because I am not a soloist," that does not make her any less a part of the choir. And what would you think if you heard a youth say, "I am not a part of the choir because the choir loft is running out of room?" Would that make him any less a part of the choir? Suppose the whole choir was a director, then who would sing? Or if the whole choir just sang, who would play the instruments?

But that isn't the way God made us. He has many parts for the choir and has put each part just where He wants it. What a strange thing it would be if it only had one part! So He has made many parts, but still there is one choir.

The alto can never say to the soprano, "I don't need you." The choir can never say to the director, "I don't need you." And some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. If one part suffers, all parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. Now here is what I'm trying to say: all of you together are one choir of Christ and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.

Sincerely,

Paul