{"id":31739,"date":"2023-01-27T10:59:39","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T15:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=31739"},"modified":"2024-01-12T11:14:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T16:14:14","slug":"pastors-ponderings-using-the-talents-you-do-have-2-1-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=31739","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Ponderings: Using the Talents You Do Have (2\/1\/23)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new year is a blank slate, and there’s a lot that need to be done.\u00a0 How can I make a difference this year?\u00a0 How can I help my friends, family or church?\u00a0 Do you find yourself thinking, “There’s so much I’m NOT good at- I can’t do that….”\u00a0 But God has gifted us with things that we CAN do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Pastor Jim submitted the following for the February 2023 edition of our church newsletter (“Steeple Notes”).\u00a0 You can’t do what you can’t do…. but you CAN do what you can do…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

PLEASE READ: Romans 12:1-6<\/a><\/span>…<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“Therefore, I urge you,\u00a0brothers, in view of God\u2019s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,\u00a0holy and pleasing to God\u2014this is your spiritual\u00a0act of worship.\u00a0Do not conform\u00a0any longer to the pattern of this world,\u00a0but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.\u00a0Then you will be able to test and approve what God\u2019s will is\u00a0 \u2014his good, pleasing\u00a0and perfect will.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.”\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Romans 12:1-6a)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

An interesting story with a surprising ending illustrates these verses…\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/span>\nIn 17th century Italy, in the town of Cremona, lived a young boy named Antonio. Antonio was often sad because he lived in a town that was famous for its music, but he could neither sing nor play any musical instruments.\u00a0Antonio\u2019s \"\"voice was high and squeaky, so he was not welcome in the Cremona Boys\u2019 Choir. When he took violin lessons, the neighbors persuaded his parents to make him stop. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, Antonio still wanted to make music. Antonio\u2019s friends teased\u00a0him because it seemed that his only talent was whittling, but he did not give up. One day the boy learned that a world-famous violin maker named Amati lived in Cremona. The next morning Antonio went to visit Amati and begged to serve as his apprentice. For many years he studied and worked. <\/span><\/p>\n

Antonio\u2019s\u00a0talent for whittling grew into a skill of carving; his hobby soon became his craft. Patiently he fashioned many violins, striving to make each one better and more beautiful than the one before.\u00a0\u00a0When Antonio died, he left over 1,500 violins, each one bearing a label that said “Antonio Stradivarius.” Today they are the most sought after violins in all the world. The clarity of tone and careful craftsmanship remain untouched as\u00a0the centuries move forward. <\/span><\/p>\n

Antonio Stradivarius could neither sing nor play, but he did what he could, and now, over 300 years later, his violins are still making beautiful music.<\/span>\n\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

\nThis story highlights that even though Stradivarius couldn\u2019t play music or sing in tune, this didn\u2019t stop him from making music. Instead of bemoaning that he couldn\u2019t do this or that or giving up in frustration because he was denied a chance to sing with the choir, he used what skills he did have to enable others to make beautiful music through the instruments he made. And that is precisely what Paul is saying in Romans 12:6. Look at the way the Contemporary English Bible translates this verse, “God has also given each of us different gifts to use….”.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we begin this New Year, 2023, are each of us using our gifts, talents and resources to the best of our ability to glorify God?\u00a0 Are we making a sweet sound for God in all that we do?\u00a0 As each of us in our various places of worship and service using our gifts, talents, and resources together in harmony, we can make beautiful music together for God’s Kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us together, in unity, empowered by the Holy Spirit, make 2023 the best for our community, and for PUMC!<\/span><\/p>\n

Shalom,<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n

Pastor Jim<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+\u00a0 \u00a0+<\/span><\/p>\n

For more Pastor’s Ponderings, click this button:\u00a0 Pastor’s Ponderings<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes we keep trying to do things we can’t do and get frustrated because we loose focus on the things we CAN do. Pastor Jim submitted thoughts on this for the Feb. 2023 edition of Steeple Notes (our church’s newsletter).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[97,146],"class_list":["post-31739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-ponderings","tag-faithskills","tag-godsprovision"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31739"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31746,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31739\/revisions\/31746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}