Give them something to eat, yourself 你們自給他們吃吧
groh....@gmail.com
The words
from above are always mysteries beyond imagination, expectation, and
anticipation. 由上邊來的話語總是神秘、超乎想像、期待、與預期。
One of the current issues of discussion is about the roles and the jobs of our
church elders and the deacons. I have not heard about how to see the difference
between them while participating in the nomination of the candidates. 近來有個討論的話題牽涉到我們教會裡的長老跟執事的角色與職務。我沒有聽過正式（官方）的解釋可幫助我們釐清長老跟執事有什麼不同。
Based on my limited exposure to the levels of responsibility and functions in
organizations and the hands-on experiences in dealing with the "right
people for the right work", I can see the secular sides of the issues while
acknowledging that God has not carved them explicitly on a piece of rock.
Obviously, God has not treated us as slaves who cannot do anything but follow
His rules words by words. 基於我對組織的「責任和職能」層次的有限了解以及跟「找對的人去作對的工作」這種價值觀打交道的親身經驗，我可以看到問題的世俗面，同時也承認上帝沒有硬性地把一些選人/用人的規矩刻在石板上。顯然，上帝沒有把我們當作「只可盲目遵循規則」的奴才。
Based on some common sense of group behaviors, the elders are concerned about the missions of the church with the responsibility of teaching and ruling to make sure that the church is not functioning off the track to serve the Satan, Teaching elders are the ordained minister from outside the congregation, likely and preferably, and the ruling elders are elected from the congregation by the committed voting members. 基於一些群體行為的常識，長老們關心教會的使命，負有教導和治理/理裁決的責任，以確保教會沒有為撒但服務。「教導的長老」指的是受到教會封立過的牧師/傳道，通常是，也最好是，來自會員名單之外，治理的長老由已經積極參與會務的「具有投票權的會員」從「具有被選舉權的會員」名單中票選出。
The elders work on what to do and what to achieve while the deacons work on how to do them effectively, efficiently, fairly, cost-justifiably, .... The strategy is the content of the session's job and the implementation methods and tangible results are the deacons' job. 長老們致力於「什麼事可作和期待產出什麼成果跟效益」，執事會則致力於如何有效，高效，公平，合理地實施那些可以作、值得作的事務……。小會的職責在於制訂策略及檢驗驗成效，執事會則聚焦於「實施的方法、過程」和具體的成果。
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They do share some commonality which is the subject of this coming sermon, give
them ..., yourself. The church cannot outsource everything to outside
consultants. In many cases and situations, a church is like a caravan leaving
St. Louis and heading for the promised land in the wide West. We cannot always
find outside help as we need. They are basic functions to be performed
and increasing functions to be developed in every church. None of the church
leaders can choose to work only within his or her expertise. Everyone must be
willing to pick up responsibility where he or she appears to be ignorant and
get on the journey of learning. 兩個組織確實有一些共同點，這是下個主日講道的主題之一，「自己給他們……」。教會不能將一切都外包給外部代工者或顧問。在許多情況下，教會就像是「離開聖路易邁向西部蠻荒的大篷車」，勇敢地獨力穿越廣闊的曠野，期待抵達一些充滿希望的地方。我們不可能總會找到適合我們所需外部助力。每個教會都有非執行不可的基本功能，跟需要發展的新功能。沒有教會的領袖可以選擇只在他或她熟悉的專業知識範圍內服事。每個人都必須願意在他或她似乎無知的地方承擔責任，並繼續學習。
We have a convention to let the new members of the session and the board of deacons to choose from the existing areas of responsibility. This means that the second-year and the third-year members have to pick up the rest, like it or not. This is one of the greatest goodness of our church life. 我們有一項不成文的慣例，就是讓新任的小會成員和執事會成員優先從現有職責範圍中選擇想要負責的項目。這意味著第二年和第三年成員必須選擇沒有人選擇的事務，無論喜歡不喜歡。這是我們教會生活中最大的優點之一。
We can see that the election in a church is different from the election in the business world where qualification and track records are the primary criteria. In other words, in the secular world we select from the past achievements while in the church we select the willingness to advance and face the unknown with faith. 可見，教會裡面的選舉跟一般「看資格與資歷」的俗務選舉不同。換句話說，在俗間，我們從過去的成就找人，而在教會裡卻是從「面對無知」及「面對成長」的信心去找人。
We will learn and sing the hymn 360, the church is like a table, this coming Sunday. It brings good news to us, those using English as a second language because the lyricist, Rev. & Dr. Fred Kaan, a famous and influential writer of the hymn in English, which is his second language. His Christian faith is not inherited from parents either. 這個主日我們要學習並唱出聖詩第360首。這首聖詩為我們這些以英語作為第二.語言使用的人帶來希望，因為，寫歌詞的人，闞牧師，這位非常著名並有影響力的英語聖詩作者就是用他第二語言寫詩的。他的基督信仰也不是從他的雙親在家裡傳給他的。
There are separate files for the sheet music of this hymn #360, in this folder for your self-study. 這個資料夾裡面有不同語言的歌譜讓你自習。https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uWHJg2GP-XoXjAKgJ8Tv5eR1sX8_Lrg1?usp=sharing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Kaan
http://www.hymnary.org/files/articles/Kaan,%20My%20Hymn%20Writing%20Journey.pdf
