Rev. Peter C. de Vries, Ph.D. has served Old Union since November 1993.
To learn more about Rev. Dr. de Vries, go to FaceBook, Linked-In, or his blog.
FROM THE PASTOR
In high school I was a manager for the basketball team. I ran the game clock, kept track of the equipment, and helped out on the bench during away games. This role gave me the perfect opportunity to see what worked well for the team…and what didn’t.
North Star had some great basketball players in my day. Allen was a towering center, Ron was a powerful forward, Tony never missed a shot, and Mike did a great job as guard. With talent like this, you’d think that we’d never lose a game.
But we did. We lost a lot of games. And from my seat at the scorer’s table or bench, the main reason was simple to see. We didn’t have a basketball team on the court; we had five players out there. Each of them acted as though they were the only player out there facing the other team. At practice I saw them perfecting their passing skills, but somehow they seemed to forget all about in the game. Tony could be wide open to make a shot, Allen could have the key all to himself, but whoever had the ball never seemed to notice. They would try to drive to the basket or make an outside shot. All by themselves. And it almost never worked. Our coach (and the rest of us) could shout “Pass the ball!” till our throats hurt, but it didn’t make any difference.
It would be easy to write this off as an example of adolescent male pride, trying to do everything by themselves. But the reality is that all of us, no matter what gender or age we are, are at least a little bit like the North Star High School basketball team. When we face the challenges of life, and when we seek to be faithful to God’s call, we turn into solo acts.
Perhaps we have an over-inflated sense of ourselves: thinking that we can handle whatever comes our way. Or maybe we don’t really trust those around us: doubting that they will respond when we seek their help. Or it could be that we don’t really care that much about the task at hand: it’s not worth the bother of trying to work with others.
When God calls people, he always provides partners for the path in front of us. In the Bible, we read that Moses had Aaron, Elijah had Elisha, Jeremiah had Baruch, the disciples had each other, and Paul had Timothy and Silas. And today, he gives us the gift of the church: fellow believers to support us and to work with us in fulfilling God’s mission.
Like my high school basketball team, our congregation is blessed with incredibly gifted and talented people. And you are one of them. God has bestowed different gifts of grace upon all of his people. Here are three simple steps to help you avoid the fate of my old basketball teammates:
- Recognize or discover the gifts and abilities God has given to you. The question is not if you are gifted, but how you are gifted.
- Find a partner or a team of others to work with. If you have trouble doing so, tell me or another of our church leaders. The Lord’s not going to leave you all by yourself, and we’re not either.
- Be humble. Recognize and respect the gifts of others. They may not do things the way you would, because they are doing things according to the abilities God has given to them.
Peter
Old Union Presbyterian Church | 200 Union Church Road, Mars, PA 16046
724-538-8672 | OldUnionChurch@gmail.com
724-538-8672 | OldUnionChurch@gmail.com