A Letter from Doug Ferguson on the 40th Anniversary of Grace Presbyterian Church

Dear Friend,
It has been an amazing forty years and God has accomplished so much more than I suspect Dan Baker and Marvin Williams and elders like Weldon Smith and Frank Tucker ever imagined when the congregations of Second Presbyterian and St. Mathews joined together forty years ago. Some of us have been a part of that history - and all of us are grateful for what God has done.

At times we arrive at these moments and the temptation is to look back on the past as the "glory days." It seems to happen even more when the future seems so uncertain - maybe because of a tough economy or health concerns or relationship challenges. We start to imagine that things were better when... We remember the "good ol' days when we were younger and more athletic and had hair..." On Family Guy Lois and Peter Griffen sing "what ever happened to the way things used to be..." Those of you who have no idea who Lois and Peter Griffin are, might remember Archie and Edith Bunker singing "Those were the days..."

Especially when the future seems uncertain and the past looks so good we start to wonder if the future is going to be better than the past.

Have you ever found yourself thinking about that? Is my future going to be better than the past? Is the future for my family, our nation, this church, the world going to be better than the past? In a sense here's the question:

• Do we live longing for the way things were, or
• Do we live with hope that things are going to be even better than they are today or ever were in the past?

Jesus had a pretty strong answer to that question. When He was first starting out His public ministry He'd told a guy named Nathaniel to hold on - he was going to see greater things than he'd ever seen before. Later in the midst of His ministry as Jesus was healing the sick He told the religious leaders (who didn't like Him very much) that these healings were nothing - just hold on and He would show them even greater works than these. Jesus wasn't afraid to believe that the future was going to be even greater than the past. In fact He believed that so strongly that He told His disciples:

Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son John 14: 12, 13

When you put that in the context of His ministry it's as if Jesus is saying:

Listen, healing the sick, feeding the crowds, walking on water and raising the dead - those were great thing - but don't get tempted to look back and imagine that those were the glory days. Just hold on. You haven't seen anything yet. Because I am going to the Father on your behalf, YOU are going to be things so much greater.

The future is going to be better than the past.

That's what Jesus believes. And so do I. I also believe that we may find ourselves living into those greater things in ways that we don't expect. That's one of the lessons we discover in the Old Testament story of Gideon.

Israel is under the control of a neighboring bully - Midian. I suspect that people spent a lot of time thinking about the good ol' days before Midian took over. So God raises up an unlikely hero to rescue Israel a man named Gideon and God give's Gideon a mission - drive the bullies out of town. So Gideon gathers together an army - 32,000 soldiers ready to fight. But God doesn't want Israel to boast so He says:

"Send anyone who's afraid home." 22,000 leave.

Gideon must be thinking: "OK we are down 31% in numbers but those left are fearless and committed and ready for some action. We can still do this!"

But again God interrupts and says: "Not yet."

Then follows this odd selection process involving how we drink water from a stream. 9,700 kneel down and scoop water in their hands. 300 lap the water like a dog. The 300 make the cut.

Now the 32,000 is down to 300. If you do the math that's a 99% decrease. Not exactly a conventional strategy for accomplishing greater things. But with God's help and a crazy plan involving torches and clay pots, the 300 proceed to smash the Midian camp to pieces and Israel is delivered.

Now flash forward a few thousand years. Today God has called us - just as He called Gideon - and He's given us a mission - to help our neighbors - families and individuals - to take next steps toward Jesus so that they might know Him and know His love and discover the life He offers.

I can't promise you exactly what that is going to look like. As Gideon reminds us God's plans and ways are often unconventional. But I can promise that we will faithfully and humbly seek to follow Jesus' command to love the Lord our God with all that we have and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. I am confident in His promise that if we will get these things right the rest will fall into place.

Some of you have heard me share that my mom's favorite phrase was "better days are coming." She used it all the time to encourage us or inspire us or motivate us. Mom was right: Better days are coming. The future IS going to be better than the past - Jesus believes it and I believe Him. If you believe that too I'd invite you to join together to discover the greater things He has in store for us.

God didn't bring us through 40 years so that we sit back and rest and remember how good life used to be. He has brought us here and strategically placed us right at the heart of Houston. God has provided us with facilities and people and resources and passions so that we might be used to continue building His kingdom at Westhemier and the Tollway and then to reach across Houston and to the very ends of the world.

God has assembled a church at Grace for a bold and exciting future. This is the church that Jesus is calling to do even greater things aw we love our neighbors into the future that Jesus longs for them to know. So here's the question:

Will you love the Lord our God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and will you love your neighbors as you love yourself?

If you will, then hold on - because Jesus says you haven't seen anything yet. I can't wait to see what happens next!

To the glory of God!

Doug Ferguson, Senior Pastor