If You Build It They Will Come

From Pastor Quentin Wallace

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. — Psalm 128:1-2

I must be honest: In my grade school years, I always hated “back to school” signs appearing in August. School had seemed endless until my senior year  when, at last, I would receive the fruits of my labor by graduating. Who wants to work for nothing?

In the above scripture, the unknown composer of Psalm 126 shared a roadmap to acquiring fruitful work in two parts: reverence and obedience.

• Reverence is honor and respect, felt intrinsically, deeply and outwardly demonstrated.
• Obedience is complying to a request or order and being willing to submit to another’s authority. Biblically, it is hearing and cherishing God’s word and being willing to joyfully and diligently follow it.

Some may think what God wants us to do is difficult and unrewarding. However, the Psalmist begs to differ, saying that God gives a reward to the faithful.

As I stated earlier, who wants fruitless labor?

Let me share this . . . During my tenure as pastor of a small congregation in Reading nearly 20 years ago, several members and I would schedule a Saturday workday task for church repairs, and we assumed we could successfully complete it on the scheduled day. However, I recall at least two work days of planned tasks that were totally nonproductive. My opinion.

One was the day we intended to install portable air conditioners, and the other was the day we planned to insulate the building by adding plexiglass and plastic to the church windows to save energy costs.  We planned to meet at the church early and promptly start the work.

Sadly, we spent most of those two days running to Lowe’s for supplies we hadn’t anticipated needing, and subsequently we had to schedule another Saturday workday to actually complete the task. In short, by the end of both days we felt we hadn’t accomplished anything; we didn’t see the fruit of our labor, but we would eventually. That said . . .

As we resume our ministry here at Lincoln Park Church after Labor Day, let’s pray that we continue to see the fruits of our labor as we witness the blessings of God in our personal lives, our community, and our church. We thank God that our weekly worship attendance — both in person and online — is growing, and new people are joining us in ministry and being added to the church rolls.

After one year of ministry at Lincoln Park Church, we — my family and our congregation — are witnessing the fruits of our labor. One indicator for this year is that Lincoln Park Community UMC is celebrating 79 years in ministry, and our church received the One Matters Award for making disciples from the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

Let us continue to invite people to church and to deliver inspiring, passionate worship. You never know when someone will accept your invitation. Please, keep telling others about our thriving programs, like our food and clothing ministries which assist the disadvantaged locally. We see the fruits of our labor in our ministries for children, young families, empty-nesters, and our seniors.  Keep on building this spiritual house of worship because I trust and believe the whisper, from the movie Field of Dreams,

“If you build it, they will come.”