Pastor Mike’s Garage September 15th, 2022
September 15, 2022
September 18th! Please join us and invite a friend.
*Pastor Mike’s Garage-Sept 15/2022*
The Queen is dead, long live the king! I do not pretend to know a lot about
the monarchy, its history, role, and significance. I did find the TV series
“The Crown” quite interesting when myself and my wife watched it over the
course of last winter. I remember being fascinated by the first words that
came out of the mouth of the person who left the room where King George,
who had just passed away, lay. “The King is dead, long live the queen!” I
wont lie to you, I’m not a very strong supporter of the monarchy, and have
trouble understanding and justifying its role, cost and importance in the
world today!
While I did very much admire Queen Elizabeth’s demeanor, elegance, and the
way she pointed to her faith in Jesus as the source of her hope and
strength, one thing that does sadden me a bit is how several commentators
have mentioned one of her greatest qualities was how she chose to remain
neutral on almost all controversial issues. I personally adhere to the
ancient adage “with great power comes great responsibility!” While I do not
always agree with the opinions of so many of the famous people who weigh in
on their thoughts on the issues that face us today, whether it be climate
change, socioeconomic issues, the pandemic, politics, or religion; I can
admire the fact that they are trying to use their sphere of influence to
make a change. While I’m not always sure they are as important or informed
as they think they are, at least they are standing up for something. It
would be far easier to take the millions they are getting for what ever
they are doing and party!
One thing I have found interesting in all of this recent hullabaloo, is how
King Charles keeps referring to when his mother pledged to serve her
country until the day she died and he now pledges that also. Hmm, does
no-one else notice that she pledged that when she was 21 years old, five
years before she even became queen, and seemingly did live a life of
servanthood to her country? I’m sorry, but that statement coming from
Charles would have lent a bit more credibility if it were given and lived
out a few decades ago, instead of now that he’s in his seventies and taking
the crown.
My mind goes back to when Princess Dianna was killed in a tragic car crash
after a night out on the town partying on Aug 31, 1997. It totally
dominated the news, myself and a friend stayed up all night to watch her
funeral live as it was televised in the middle of the night due to the time
change. It was less than a week later on Sept 5, 1997 that another famous
woman died in the slums of Calcutta, India, at the age of 87, after
spending a life living and serving among those with leprosy, namely Mother
Teresa. There was significantly less media coverage surrounding her
passing. I remember shortly after these events I was leading a C&C Sunday
school class focusing on servanthood. I was comparing these two ladies
lives and one of the people attending didn’t even know who Mother Teresa
was! Sadly, as I did a bit of research on all four of these public
“servants”, they all had or have ridiculous amounts of personal wealth,
with even Mother Teresa leaving behind an estimated 100 million dollars in
Vatican treasuries.
I will close with some passages on servanthood that come to mind. “Beware
of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by
them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
Thus when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be
praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing, so that you giving may be in secret. And your Father
who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:1-4 “And Jesus called them
to him and said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them, know their great ones exercise authority
over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great
among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must
be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”’ Mark 10:42-45 “Do
nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as
more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own
interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among
yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form
of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of
men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:3-8
Pastor Mike