Pastor's Monthly Message
Come and See!810 West Florida Ave, Melbourne, FL 32901
For What It’s Worth… Time
I find as I have aged…that time goes by much faster now! Of course, I had been warned about such space time anomalies by older-wiser folks when I was younger…and they, those sage people from my youth, were absolutely right! Time seems to accelerate with each year of age. Of course, I have developed a theory as to why each year seems to get shorter and shorter.
Our perception of time (say a year of time) is always relative to our previous experience (our age). When you were 5 years old and then you added another year…you added 20% of new life experience. 20% is significant! Now, when you are 50 years old and you add a year of life to that much larger number…you only add 2% of new life experience to yourself. That is a relatively much smaller percentage of new experience than was the 20% back at age 5. So…relatively speaking… time (each one year period of time) gets smaller and smaller than the ones before…thereby making each new year seem to pass by faster and faster as we get older.
I said all of this to say the following:
2024 went by fast and there were probably some important things which we could have done that we did not do. Further, 2025 is going to seem to go by even faster…because you (like me) are yet another year older. So…let’s start out this year strong with a high degree of intentionality. So, that we get some of those
important things done this year that we may not have gotten around to last year. The one thing I ask you to
put on your list for 2025 is to become a more inviting community. We already are very friendly and
welcoming in a whole lot of ways… but today I am specifically talking about inviting others in our larger
community to be our honored guest at Sunday morning worship. They may be neighbors, coworkers, social
friends, new acquaintances… I want you to invite them to come with you! And, with regards to how fast 2025 is likely to go by, I suggest that you go ahead and do it in February or March. Because, like 2024…December will come around really fast.
Friends, if we do better at inviting people to church with us, this will do three wonderful things. One, it will
communicate to others that we care about them and actually want them to be with us in worship. Everyone
has a need for acceptance and a simple invitation is a great way to express God’s love for them through our simple invitation. Two, we will be fulfilling what God has asked us to do in the Great Commission. This is also the way Jesus invited others into God’s family. Jesus said, to potential disciples… “Come and See”…Come follow me and find out what it is all about. And third, such invitations will grow our church family…which is not only wonderful for all of us – but it is what other people in our community actually need! Friends, I believe more people will come to our church…if we simply invite them.
Blessings,