Join us as our youth host Pender’s Easter Egg-stravaganza!
It will be a fun time for the kids as we get together safely to celebrate our Easter Season. We will have Easter story time, crafts, dancing, and photos with the Easter Bunny!
Bring the tailgate chairs or a picnic blanket. Social distancing will be observed and masks will be required.
The event will be Saturday April 3rd Check in starts at 12:45pm and the event runs 1pm-2:30pm. Please be on time so that you don’t miss the fun!
A tweet is floating around that simply says, “I miss precedented times.” How often do you hear that these are unprecedented times?
Of course, like all broad statements of that kind, this is both true and untrue. It is true that most of us haven’t lived with a pandemic. The natural disasters and the political and racial unrest all roll together to create a miasma of despair unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. Except we have. Maybe not exactly this, but we know the experience.
We’ve been here before. We call it wilderness. It is a regular occurrence in the lives of followers of Jesus. One might say it is standard operating procedure. But familiarity doesn’t mean ease. Wandering through the wilderness is a difficult journey at the best of times. Other times, it can seem impossible.
Our task in this series is to help us find our way through the wilderness of this time by allowing the first of God-wanderers in the book of Exodus to speak to us. The stories of the people of God, along with the hymns of the faith in the Psalms, become our guides through the wilderness today.
There is an irony in the selection of texts for this week. We are two days past 9/11, a date when we mourn the loss of life in such large numbers in the terrorist attack on New York and Washington DC and Pennsylvania. And we read a story of a miraculous rescue through an impossible barrier and the subsequent loss of lives of the pursuing nation, while a song is sung in praise of the victory. We remember the false reports of Muslims in this country singing and dancing with joy at the devastation on 9/11. We were outraged that such a celebration should occur. Those lies were exposed, but some still cling to that image. So, how do we as the people of God celebrate the destruction of the Egyptian enemy in the sea with dancing and singing and feel good about ourselves? There is a rabbinic teaching that says that when the Israelites crossed the sea and were safe, a cheer broke out in heaven. Then when the sea crashed down on the pursuing Egyptian army, another cheer went up in heaven. But God turned to the angels and said, “Why do you rejoice when my children have drowned in the sea?”
We cannot resolve all these issues in one act of worship this month, any more than we can “explain” how the sea parted and the people were set free. But we can be aware of the implications of our celebrations and our praise. We can be aware that praying for freedom is threatening to the status quo and unsettling for many; some will be hurt in the struggle for liberation; blood will be shed. It is happening around us all the time. We cannot ask for an easy road; we cannot ask for painless transformation.
But we can, and we should, indeed we must, ask for God to go with us. That is the focus of our worship today—not a celebration over enemies, but a recognition that in the difficult times, and in the comfortable ones, God is with us. God goes before and God follows behind. So, like the people of God on the shores of the Sea of Reeds, let us rejoice that God is with us; when there seemed to be no way, God makes a way. When there seems to be no hope, God is our hope. And God continues to be our hope, the hope we live out in our moving forward, even when lying down and giving up seems like the logical thing to do.
Remember, we are in the wilderness. The people standing on the shore, amazed at what God had accomplished, were not done with their journey. They had only just begun. We are on a journey too, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And we have only just begun. We are still wandering, no matter how focused our mission and our goals might be, we are still wandering in the wilderness.
Also tomorrow:
Destined in Love
At our 8:15, 9:30 and 11:00 am services on October 13, Guest Speaker Thom Jones will preach on “Destined in Love” based on scriptures Ephesians 1:3-10 and Ephesians 1:11-14.
The book of Ephesians hits on a wide range of moral and ethical behaviors, designed to ensure believers are living up their (our) heavenly calling. As we continue in our faith from day to day, month to month, and year to year, the temptation to get too comfortable will always exist. However, the Apostle Paul presented the gift of God in Christ and the benefits we receive so clearly that we cannot help but ask ourselves if our lives reflect that reality as they should.
How have you grown in your Christian life since you came to faith in Jesus Christ? The words in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians makes clear that spiritual growth occurs primarily in community with others – in other words: WE NEED YOU AT CHURCH.
Maturity yields benefits in believers’ moral lives, but it extends far beyond that as well. Increased maturity benefits the community at large, leading us to present a more consistent witness to the working of God in our lives as well as protecting us from the harmful divisions and quarrels that have plagued so many communities throughout history.
God so loved the world – He has destined us in love. Come to church; feel the love, and help spread His word.
We hope to see you in church on Sunday.
Also on Sunday
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