Your Sabbatical Experience

TUES., NOV. 22, 1983, 5:45 AM
FARM, STUDY

Yes, o son, it is about time for Me to offer some comment to you on this sabbatical experience. I suggested and directed it, and you have carried it out reasonably well. Hence, the most important part of the process is your doing My will, whatever the “content” of the experience. I gave you a task to do… one that was not familiar to you nor to others. You embarked on it in faith and in confidence and with a positive viewpoint. In this important sense it has been successful.

The “little” church of which you have become a temporary part is, like virtually all churches, that combination of My sacred Body and a fallible human organization. Wyatt invokes My blessing upon a service (and, of course, I offer it), and yet not all accept this blessing and give themselves to Me. Understand that acceptance need not manifest itself in obvious, verbal Pentecostal type behavior. Acceptance can be quiet but it is always joyous. There is joy in prayer, in the hymn singing, in the Scripture, in the offering, and in the Word preached. There is attention, focused in joy, not scattered by the thoughts of earthly responsibilities.

Only I can truly tell how spirits are responding to the invitation that Wyatt offers in My Name. It is not your place to judge, but it is all right to observe. You see that there is joy evidenced, but also some inattention.

Hymn singing is an obviously important part of this worship service. In every congregation there will be a range of enthusiasm for this form of worship. In truth, a few do not sing well, and their avid participation would be an actual detriment to the worship of the whole. Yet more judge themselves to be poor singers than is actually true. Hence there is more concern for self and for performance than for giving of self in the worship in song. You know that one of the blessings of this experience, in this music context, is My servant Betsy. She has a gift, which she has developed well and offers with the zeal that I love. It is surprising that some can have her in view and yet not seem to enter into the spirit of the hymn, augmented by her obvious spirit in joyously providing the music.

You realize, as this experience nears its end, that you have not participated in “the little church” and in the hymn-sing. These are ongoing parts of this church’s life, and you must enter into each one of these at least once. You have joined in with many of the activities and have become a reasonable part of this congregation’s life in a fairly short time. This is what I have wanted in this experience; don’t fall short of what I desire.

As you consider this aspect of your life, how the Fall has been like and unlike the same season in your “home church”, you conclude, rightly, that it has been a generally comfortable time. Yet you also judge, again rightly, that it is yet another congregation in which you do not fit completely. Insights and knowledge that I have offered to you in these meditations have to be withheld or offered without credit to the Source. You wish for a congregation wherein there could be greater sharing, and you do not see such in existence.