“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

John 14:5

Note: all these “during the service” photos were pulled from yesterday’s HMPC live feed. The audio-visual team do a great job.

Sunday morning at church, Rebekah followed up last week’s message on leadership by kicking off a three-part series on “Perspective.”

Also – and this is always a real privilege – the worship team asked me to assist in the pulpit as liturgist; so I got to lead a few of the responsive readings and prayers.

As a professional observer, thinking about perspective is absolutely in my wheelhouse. We talk often (in this blog) about things such as, “Blessed are your eyes because they see,” and the many times Jesus comments on seeing and hearing clearly. But it’s not just about clarity, not just about having our eyes open; it’s also very much about where we look, how we look, the state of mind/spirit we bring to our looking, and where we are standing.

Here at this church our view, our perspective, is impacted by a lot:

• We are in a time of transition (that’s why Rebekah and I are here);
• We are standing at the 150th anniversary mark of our history, looking both forward and back;
• Our view comes from the strength of Howard Memorial’s consistent and faithful witness, and looking through the lens of a mature membership;
• People here see this community as uniquely gifted and this sense of confidence affects their view;
• Some peer through eyes clouded by doubt, others from spirits shining bright with promise and belief;
• Rebekah and I tend to see things through the lens of 40-plus years, featuring rich experiences defined by vibrancy and growth and encouragement and new life… while some pastors can only see the disappointment they have experienced and they project it onto the community they serve.

Our opportunity here in Tarboro, Rebekah points out, is to look at this world, this community, and this church as people who believe the promises of scripture and who are not afraid to step into the possibilities such Good News invites.

Listen to the message. Rebekah begins preaching around the 28-minute mark of this video (Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church).

There really is only one viable perspective, going forward, and that is the one Jesus invites us to embrace:

He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. His purpose (is) to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13