February 26th, 2025
The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
More than a Hat
Albert I. Raizman told a true story on page 34 of the January of 2005 issue of Readers Digest about an incident that took place at a certain university. This university had a policy that if the professor was 10 minutes late for class...it was cancelled. But one day a professor put his hat on his desk and then went to the faculty room. He apparently lost track of time and when he arrived back at the class he was 10 minutes late and found it room empty. He was furious.
When the class next met, he informed his students “When my hat is here, I’m here!”
His class learned their lesson well. The following day, the professor arrived at 9 a.m. and he was met by the sight of 25 hats on the desks – but no students.
A lady came by the church building one day all in a huff. I had never seen her in the building in the several years I had ministered here and never saw her again in a service beyond her dying day. She was angry because she had been told that a piece of furniture she had donated in memory of her late husband had been removed. She came back relieved that it was still present. However, she left me wondering, “Did she think that having something in the building she had donated mean that mystically she was present? What an error on her part!
A hat in a classroom or a piece of donated furniture in a church building means nothing without a personal presence. The professor was not teaching anything through his hat, the students were learning nothing through their hats and the woman was contributing and gaining nothing from God through that piece of furniture which, by the way, is now no longer in the worship center.
You can have your name on the roles; you can have a pew with your name on it; you can have a wing of the building built in your honor; you can have information in the church history book about you and your family; but, if you are able, but not personally present in body and spirit, you are kidding yourself to think it is the same as being present with the Family of God, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ.
Without the instruction of the Word of God or the fellowship (connection) with other Christ-followers or the contact with the cross through the Lord’s Supper or the linkage to God through agreeing in prayer, we are missing out on a crucial part of our Christian walk of faith. Acts 2:42 tells us that the early, dynamic church devoted themselves to these common efforts.
The inspired writer of the letter to the Hebrews stated that the best way to hang on to our hope in Christ is to connect with the family; to stay close to the love and encouragement that can only come from relationships. Sometime back we had a guest speaker named Dr. Perry Stepp who asked what would happen to a finger if it were cut off from your body? Of course, it would lose blood flow; it would wither and dry up. It would no longer live. We know that it would die and begin to stink. It would be worthless to the body or anyone.
Christ wants us to stay connected. John 15 tells us that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. If we lose connection we will dry up and be useful only for the fire pit.
Have you gathered the point of this article? If you want to be effective for Christ in the world, you need to be connected to the life source through the members of Christ. If you want to have abundant life, cling to Jesus by clinging to his branches. You need the church of Jesus Christ and the church of Jesus Christ needs you.
This Sunday I will shift our series from Kingdom Stories to Holy Stories as we explore more of Jesus’ parables. This message is from a very familiar parable found in Luke 10:25-37 titled Neighborly. Plan to be here and share in the excitement. Please don’t just send your hat.
Hatless,
Jon
More than a Hat
Albert I. Raizman told a true story on page 34 of the January of 2005 issue of Readers Digest about an incident that took place at a certain university. This university had a policy that if the professor was 10 minutes late for class...it was cancelled. But one day a professor put his hat on his desk and then went to the faculty room. He apparently lost track of time and when he arrived back at the class he was 10 minutes late and found it room empty. He was furious.
When the class next met, he informed his students “When my hat is here, I’m here!”
His class learned their lesson well. The following day, the professor arrived at 9 a.m. and he was met by the sight of 25 hats on the desks – but no students.
A lady came by the church building one day all in a huff. I had never seen her in the building in the several years I had ministered here and never saw her again in a service beyond her dying day. She was angry because she had been told that a piece of furniture she had donated in memory of her late husband had been removed. She came back relieved that it was still present. However, she left me wondering, “Did she think that having something in the building she had donated mean that mystically she was present? What an error on her part!
A hat in a classroom or a piece of donated furniture in a church building means nothing without a personal presence. The professor was not teaching anything through his hat, the students were learning nothing through their hats and the woman was contributing and gaining nothing from God through that piece of furniture which, by the way, is now no longer in the worship center.
You can have your name on the roles; you can have a pew with your name on it; you can have a wing of the building built in your honor; you can have information in the church history book about you and your family; but, if you are able, but not personally present in body and spirit, you are kidding yourself to think it is the same as being present with the Family of God, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ.
Without the instruction of the Word of God or the fellowship (connection) with other Christ-followers or the contact with the cross through the Lord’s Supper or the linkage to God through agreeing in prayer, we are missing out on a crucial part of our Christian walk of faith. Acts 2:42 tells us that the early, dynamic church devoted themselves to these common efforts.
The inspired writer of the letter to the Hebrews stated that the best way to hang on to our hope in Christ is to connect with the family; to stay close to the love and encouragement that can only come from relationships. Sometime back we had a guest speaker named Dr. Perry Stepp who asked what would happen to a finger if it were cut off from your body? Of course, it would lose blood flow; it would wither and dry up. It would no longer live. We know that it would die and begin to stink. It would be worthless to the body or anyone.
Christ wants us to stay connected. John 15 tells us that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. If we lose connection we will dry up and be useful only for the fire pit.
Have you gathered the point of this article? If you want to be effective for Christ in the world, you need to be connected to the life source through the members of Christ. If you want to have abundant life, cling to Jesus by clinging to his branches. You need the church of Jesus Christ and the church of Jesus Christ needs you.
This Sunday I will shift our series from Kingdom Stories to Holy Stories as we explore more of Jesus’ parables. This message is from a very familiar parable found in Luke 10:25-37 titled Neighborly. Plan to be here and share in the excitement. Please don’t just send your hat.
Hatless,
Jon
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