When E.F. Hutton Speaks

Remember the commercials that would show people cupping their ears to listen to Mr. Hutton (supposedly)? “When E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen,” it said. My philosophy: when God speaks, I listen! Well, I would LIKE to say that I always listen but, being a mere human, it’s not that simple. But when God says the same thing to me twice, you can better believe I will turn an ear (and a heart) toward him. That happened to me over the past two days.

Yesterday at church, our Minster of Pastoral Care gave the sermon; it was our pastor's last Sunday of sabbatical. He spoke on Colossians 1:27: “…to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Now, I’m sure I’ve come across this verse in reading before but had never heard an exposition of it. While he referenced many other verses, this was his key verse and he kept bringing everything back around to how we don’t have to wonder as to the nature of the hope of the gospel – it’s Christ, in us, and that for believers the “riches of glory” is no longer a mystery. Very, very good, very touching to me, and I took notes.

Fast forward to today, the first day of preplanning at school for all teachers. Our Christian school is not part of a church. Even though the board members are all Christians, they are mostly businessmen and women and a homemaker or two. When the school was founded, they knew it was important to have true spiritual leadership from clergy members, so they ordained a committee of pastors (fathers of students) to give spiritual leadership to the decisions and direction of the school. Three of those pastors spoke this morning. The first one was fun, light, and interesting. The second one referenced our school’s theme verse: “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Colossians 1:28). The point he kept driving home was, “Who among us is adequate?” Well, I certainly knew it is not ME by the time he charged us with all the responsibilities and burdens that we bear as teachers and ministers in that school! But what really got me was where he led us from there to state the source of our strength, the previous verse: “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” ???? Now, it is an understatement to say that my radar screen really lit up at that. It had been, after all, not 24 hours before that I had listened to 50 minutes’ worth of teaching on that very verse. Wow. Just wow.

I won’t go into great detail here because it was a message for me and would lose something, probably, if I tried to translate it here. But the most wonderful thing was that, after three of the pastors had spoken, all the teachers, staff, administrators, even the facilities personnel lined up for commissioning: they prayed over us individually, by name, and we partook of the Lord’s Supper. What a sacred moment and what a privilege to begin a new school year this way, in an institution that bathes itself in prayer. What a deeply humbling, yet inspiring, thing to join in God’s work as an extension of the Christian home. Who among us is adequate? Not me. And I have to realize that none of my coworkers is adequate for the task, either. But God is. This is His work; as long as we consecrate ourselves to His work, in His will, He will be more than adequate through our pitiful flesh.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. While I have never mulled over those words before yesterday, I know that is what keeps me going. Today I sing a new song because my heart is overflowing with the hope of the glory that has been promised to me. Seven very simple words, one very profound meaning. I will be contemplating this for days to come.

Please pray that God will bless, strengthen, and inspire all the teachers, students, and families as another school year begins anew.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 3:18