Beloved,
Tomorrow at 3:00am I depart for presbytery (i.e, the assembly of the elders of the regional church). Don’t worry! I’ll have my thermos full of piping-hot bulletproof coffee.
The anticipation of less-than-optimal sleep, the eight-plus-hour drive, and the deep and difficult matters to be deliberated have caused me to grapple afresh with my creaturely limitations this week.
First, my energy is limited. I’m already preparing myself for the 2:30am alarm bell tomorrow, and after sitting on my rear in meetings and travel for three days straight, I’m sure to get back home late Saturday night completely spent. But when I wake up tomorrow in a haze of tiredness, God will be wide awake and won’t need a caffeine boost. When I collapse in bed on Saturday night at the end of it all, God still won’t be the least bit weary.
Second, my presence is limited. This is the furthest presbytery meeting we’ve ever had. Depending upon Atlanta traffic, it is estimated to take between 8-9 hours. Every minute of the drive is a reminder of my spatial finitude. I can only be in one place at a time. But the God who is in Chattanooga right now will be at the presbytery meeting in Wilmington, NC, and He won’t have to travel to get there.
Third, my knowledge is limited. Reading through theology exams, sermons, judicial complaints, plans for splitting the presbytery, and a whole host of other documents is a reminder of how little I know and understand. There is so much information that I find it difficult to adequately process it all in order to be equipped to make informed decisions marked by wisdom. But God knows it all perfectly, being ignorant of nothing and learning nothing, and He knows the best way forward in each instance as the God of perfect wisdom.
In God’s abundant kindness, presbytery is reminding me that I am a finite creature of the dust, not the infinite Creator of grace and glory. God is all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing, and all-wise. I am not. In a strange way, I love that reality. There is something wondrously freeing about not being God! That is especially so when you consider the fact that God delights to display His infinite strength through finite human weakness.
May He do that through the weak men gathering this week to do the business of His church. Please pray for us toward that end.
I greatly look forward to being with you on Sunday, D.V.!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Nick