Showing Up

Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?—Matthew 26:40

I was thinking about a business quote I heard many years ago, “80 percent of success is just showing up.” I could not remember who said it first, but he/she must have been a very smart person. With a little research, I finally tracked down the quote’s originator, Woody Allen. As I read many of his other quotes, I began to wish someone else had said it first. Regardless of the source, there is a good spiritual lesson for each of us, “Show up.”

Whether it be as an employee, a parent, a student, a spouse, or a Christian, show up. Be there! As the fall season begins at Oakland, we are introducing a sermon and small group series entitled, “Rooted.” Roots are a good illustration for us as we often use the Oaktree and oak leaf as a logo. Folks will benefit most from the sermon series if they show up for Sunday morning worship and actually listen to and apply the sermon. The life groups will be beneficial only for those who sign up and then show up each week.

We are saved by grace. We cannot save ourselves, but growing as a follower of Jesus depends upon us showing up. Spiritual disciplines: prayer, a daily quiet time, worship attendance, sacrificially giving, telling our story, and serving are our responsibilities. God does what only God can do: save us, forgive us of our sins, and transform us into Jesus’ image. Then we must do what only we can do, show up! God will not do for us what we must do ourselves.

Jesus warned the Disciples in the Upper Room that they would all fall away from Him that night (Matthew 26:31). Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you” (vs. 35).  Jesus warned Peter to pray. Later in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to pray with Him. Upon returning and finding them sleeping, Jesus commented, “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour” (vs. 40)?

The secret to success in prayer is to keep praying. The key to standing up to temptation is to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit and pray. I can do only what I can do. I cannot make God answer prayer and bless me. Like the water that comes out of the shower in my bathroom. Plumbers, the water authority, and someone else makes that happen. But I can stand under the shower head when the water comes out. I can show up each day to be cleansed.

The same is true spiritually. I cannot transform my heart and soul from the weak and fallen person that I am into the child of God Jesus sees in me, but, I can show up in prayer, show up in worship, show up in reading God’s word, show up in giving, and show up in positioning myself under the shower head of God’s blessings.

Yes, much of the success of growing into the image and likeness of Jesus is showing up. If I do my part and show up where Jesus instructs me to be, then God through the Holy Spirit will do God’s part of transforming and using me each day. Where do you need to show up, today? Your walk with the Lord? At home, at work, or in a relationship? Showing up is 80 percent of success on our part. The rest may not be up to us, but we must show up to receive and to contribute.

Randy Bain is the Senior Pastor of Oakland UM Church at 1504 Bedford Street, Johnstown, PA 15902. You may reach him through the church website www.oaklandonline.org.

Rooted in Community

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.­­—Acts 2:42

A funny thing happened last summer along Route 219 south. My wife and I had noticed some wisteria growing wild along the highway. The bluish-purple flowers vining up the trees broadcast their presence from a distance. Once, we wanted to transplant some from our vacation spot in South Carolina but had no access to the property. The hill along 219 looked like public land, and the wisteria was more like a weed than a valuable plant so we came up with a plan.

We would pull along the side of 219. I would run up the hill to the wisteria while Darlene watched for oncoming cars and the police. I wasn’t doing anything wrong but still felt a little guilty. When I got to the plants, I noticed vines were everywhere. Every stem seemed rooted into the ground at several places and was connected to every other vine. No real root-ball existed.

As I looked down to the road, I was shocked to see a local police car stopped behind my car and the trooper talking to my wife. She said, “My husband is just up there digging some weeds.” Now, I’m not sure, but I don’t think one should use the word husband and weed in the same sentence when speaking to the police. He said we were fine. He was checking out a report of an unconscious person in a car around the exit. Whew!

I was able to get a few rooted plants back home but was never able to get the wisteria to grow. It grew so well when connected via runners, vines, and roots to the rest of the plants, but by itself, it did not thrive. It actually rotted, shriveled up, and died.

Acts 2:42-47 is the classic passage describing the early growth of the 1^st Century Church. After the Disciples’ first sermon on the Day of Pentecost when 3,000 persons came to faith in Jesus, the new believers grew into their new found faith by becoming rooted in community. Verse 42 tells us they met together for instruction, fellowship, eating, and prayers. Verse 46, tells us they continued “with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” They worshipped in large numbers at the Temple. They met in smaller groups in individual homes. They served and practiced sacrificial generosity by providing for the needs of those around them.

In my own life, the times when I grew the most and was most joyful, were when I was rooted deeply in community. When Jesus first became a reality in my life, I was part of a Bible Study group in my college dorm. When I left school and joined a local church, I also joined a cottage Bible study of youth and young adults that met from house to house. On my first appointment as a pastor, a group of young people met in our home (often way past my bedtime) for study, prayer, food, and games. One of the sustaining elements at seminary was the Friday night prayer group and Sunday School class we attended. During all of these times, we were rooted in community. We met, prayed, laughed, studied, cried, ate, and served together.

Many folks today choose a church by the style of worship and the quality or delivery of the preacher but miss the point that they will grow best and be most blessed when they are rooted in a community of believers in small groups where they can pray, serve, and give sacrificially together. Just like the wisteria plant. Christians grow and thrive when rooted in community. Where is your community of faith? How are you sinking your roots deeply?

Randy Bain is the Senior Pastor of Oakland UM Church at 1504 Bedford Street, Johnstown, PA 15902. You may reach him through the church website www.oaklandonline.org.