Pastor Thoughts for March 28

Hello Church Family

   I’ve been sharing hymns that can be very comforting and I hope to continue to do that while we are absent one from another. That is a paraphrase of an ancient covenant benediction called the Mizpah. Maybe you remember using it at the end MYF sessions. It’s from Jacob & Laban in Genesis 31: 49 “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.”  I think it’s very appropriate to ask God to be with us when we cannot be together in person.

   We celebrated the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Fanny Crosby this week. She wrote over 8,000 hymns in her life-time. She died in 1915 at 95 years young. She was converted in a Methodist church in New York and began to write poems and hymns from then on. She was also blind from the age of 6 weeks old. Her writing about everyday events and trying to offer God’s perspective reminds me of the hymn writing of Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, who is a Presbyterian pastor, now serving in upstate New York. She has a writing talent like Fanny Crosby. Here is the one she wrote for this week about our pandemic with the coronavirus.

When We Face an Unknown Future

When we face an unknown future that we can’t imagine yet,
when the closeness we have treasured turns from blessing into threat—
As we miss our friends and loved ones, as we crave community,
may we look, God, in this season, for a whole new way to be.

Jesus faced the lonely desert as a time to look within.
There he met such trial and conflict; there he knew you were with him.
In this time of separation when we miss the life we’ve known,
may we hear your voice proclaiming: “I am here! You’re not alone.”

May we cherish those around us as we never have before.
May we think much less of profit; may we learn what matters more.
May we hear our neighbors’ suffering; may we see our neighbors’ pain.
May we learn new ways of offering life and health and hope again.

God, when illness comes to threaten, and when so much here goes wrong,
may we know this thing for certain— that your love is sure and strong.
You’re beside us in our suffering, and when times are surely tough,
we may face an unknown future, but it’s filled, Lord, with your love.

   I hope and pray you know we are looking forward to the day when we can be back together.

I hope you can join us tomorrow morning at 10 am for zoom.

Join Zoom Meeting.  https://zoom.us/j/7309971650    Meeting ID: 730 997 1650

Blessing to you all. Think of inviting a friend to join you, just send them this invitation.

Pastor Jeff