Reflections during Eastertime: Getting Back to Basics Spiritually
by Jim Minutelli, CLM,Wesleyan District Communications Chair and member of the West Milford United Methodist Church; reprinted from May 2018
The contemporary Christian group 4Him released a hit song in 1992 called “Basics of Life,” which talked about drifting away from the light.
We need to get back to the basics of life
A heart that is pure and a love that is blind
A faith that is fervently grounded in Christ
The hope that endures for all times
These are the basics, we need to get back to the basics of life
(4Him. The Basics of Life. Benson Records, 1992.)
When the West Milford United Methodist Church got together in 2017 to discuss the direction of the church, they felt they needed to find new ways to re-light their spiritual fire and challenge the congregation, as the song states, to develop a pure heart and a blind love. But with a new pastor and everyone getting used to the new dynamics and changes to committees, the effort didn’t initially materialize or gain momentum.
It wasn’t until the start of 2018 that the church jumped into the strategic planning realm full force. Pastor Jim Murphy said that, during the first meeting of the planning team in 2018, “we discussed the need to get back to the basics, so to speak, and look honestly at our church mission, how we serve those around us, and where we want the church to go. The consensus of our team was that intentional prayer needed to be a focus.”
As the team brainstormed ideas for a concrete mission statement, they also looked at the church’s prayer life and re-experienced how intentional prayer was important and integral to a growing and thriving church. They discussed ideas on how to bring a dynamic daily prayer life to the congregation and how to infuse more excitement into our church ministries.
God is always working, and the nine-day teachers’ strike in WV gave the church additional opportunities to start stepping out. It came in the form of a need to feed Harrison County students while schools were closed, according to Maggie Fisher, the church’s strategic planning facilitator. With a lot of prayer and the support of the school system, who generously donated pounds of food, fresh fruit, snacks and “to-go” packs and donations of money and volunteers from the community; local churches, including New Beginnings Church, New Bethel UMC, Sycamore UMC and Pleasant Hill UMC; and area agencies such as the West Milford Lions Club, the volunteers were not only able to prepare over 1500 meals and weekend snacks for students during the Lenten season, but also to deliver these meals and snacks to every student that could not come to the church.
Moreover, as the fifty days of Easter closes into Pentecost Sunday, the church will also finish a Prayer Encounter weekend with Rev. Terry Teykl from Houston, TX, another great opportunity that evolved from the church’s strategic planning. Rev. Teykl will be providing a public prayer seminar on Saturday, May 19th from noon until 4pm and will minister to the church during a special 10:00am Pentecost Worship service on Sunday, May 20th.
Sometimes in our spiritual lives, we must get back to the basics in order to move on and up. Sometimes prayer and fulfilling the needs of others gives us the ability to light the fire of the Holy Spirit, not only in our own existence, but in the lives of those around us, as the West Milford church has discovered this year in a big way during the time of reflection and new beginnings, Lent and Easter.