How can I become healthier in my spiritual life?

On Sunday, September 12, we will begin a new sermon series called VITAL, where we will discuss how we can be healthier in our service to Christ. We will discuss five characteristics of a healthy, vital congregation. Vital congregations have vibrant worship, intentional faith development, transformational leadership, authentic community, and lasting impact. For each of the five Sundays of this series, we will focus on one of these characteristics.

Transformational leadership is about developing servant leaders through whom God changes this world. Too many leaders are self-serving and toxic. Look at many of our government and business leaders. In the news, we hear of leaders who harass people, leaders who tell people to do one thing, and then they themselves do the opposite. We hear of leaders who stir up anger and cause divisions, and we have experienced leaders who manipulate others. Too many leaders look out for themselves rather than for the common good.

God’s will for creation is so much different because God shows us in Jesus Christ, a leader who is a compassionate, self-giving servant.

I have been listening to a podcast about the rise and fall of a national church leader who failed to realize that it is not just what we do but how we do things that matter. The process we follow matters to God as much as our goals. This leader is a gifted speaker and has much charisma, but as the narrator of the podcast points out, “When charisma outpaces character, then you have a problem.” Our character counts. Our growth as followers of Jesus includes us growing in virtue and producing what the Apostle Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

On September 25, beginning at 9 AM (in room C102), I will conduct a morning workshop on Christian leadership. The purpose of this workshop is to help you discern how and where God is calling you to lead.

Our Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development is beginning to identify those of us who will serve on the various teams and committees of our church. We want to develop leaders who will embody the character of Christ as they lead. My goal is for our Christian leadership workshop to help us do so. Please pray for this workshop and plan to attend. Contact the church office or email trinity@trinityfwb.org if you are interested in attending.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

The Apollo Space Program had one goal: to land a person on the moon and bring him safely back to earth. All that NASA did through the Apollo space program was focused on achieving this one goal. We, too, as a church, have one goal: to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Disciples are students of Jesus who obey his teachings and worship him as Lord. Jesus is clear about the goal of making disciples. He says to us at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

We are starting a new sermon series, Mission Critical, this coming Sunday (May 30) to focus on this mission. We will read Paul’s 2^nd Letter to the Corinthians to help us understand this mission of making disciples.

My reading of the 1^st Letter of Peter has helped me understand our mission in our current cultural context. Peter writes this letter to the “exiles in the dispersion” (1 Peter 1:1). Peter compares the followers of Jesus to the people of Israel when they were scattered in exile to places like Babylon. In exile, the Israelites had to learn to be faithful to God among people of different languages and customs, people who did not share their same beliefs about God.

Peter’s image of Jesus’ followers being in exile fits us well in today’s world. Our country has become more secular. Many of our neighbors do not understand or even trust the message and traditions of the Christian faith. Yet, Christ does not call us to complain about our present context. Instead, Christ calls us to step up and communicate the message of Jesus in ways that others will understand and embrace. The miracle of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit empowers us to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ in ways that people of other languages, cultures, and traditions can understand. 1 Peter 2:9 says that Christ chose us to proclaim the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We can curse the darkness around us, or we can shine the light God has given so that people will come to know the love and grace of Jesus. The light that Jesus has given us is not only a light that dispels darkness; our light is a flashlight that focuses its’ beam on Jesus Christ.

Join me each Wednesday at 5 PM in our sanctuary as we pray for our mission to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

I came across the following quote in a daily devotional by the great Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor A. W. Tozer: “Listen to no man who fails to listen to God.”

I am still wrestling with these words: listen to no one who fails to listen to God. The word listen in a Biblical sense means much more than hearing. Listening means paying attention and applying what is heard to one’s life. Listening implies obedience.

The boy Samuel responded to God’s call by saying, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10). Jesus said repeatedly during his ministry, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” (Mark 4:23). Jesus also talked about how his sheep listen to his voice (John 10:16). The model for living given to us in scripture is to listen to God and conform one’s life to God’s will.

We live in a noisy world. We hear so many opinions and so many viewpoints, expressed by so many voices. So many people tell us the way things are to be. Yet, do these voices listen to God? Do these voices even believe in the existence of God? Do these voices prayerfully reflect on God and try to discern God’s will? During my ministry, I’ve been guided by Karl Barth’s advice for preachers: we are to hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other hand, because we are to preach the gospel in ways that people can understand. I believe I am to hear all kinds of voices if I am to communicate with others. I must learn other people’s perspectives and backgrounds because my own perspective and background is so limited. I need to close my mouth and listen. Yet, who do I pay attention to on the deepest level? Who do I listen to in such a way that their words influence how I think, feel, and act? What messages shape my attitudes and beliefs? Am I listening to people who listen to God before they speak?

I am currently listening to Howard Thurman, who was the pastor of The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, CA. Thurman listened to God. Thurman collected meditations that he wrote for his congregation and published them in the book Meditations of the Heart. He writes about how to pray. He says, “In quiet one discovers the will of God.” Thurman is talking about slowing down, quieting oneself, and focusing one’s heart to God. We won’t know God’s will if we won’t pray; and prayer is much more than speaking words to God. It is quieting ourselves so that we can listen. Near the end of his life, Billy Graham was asked what he would do if he could live his life over again. Graham answered, “If I had it to do over again, I’d spend more time in meditation and prayer.”

It is interesting that Tozer says, “Listen to no man who fails to listen to God.” He does not say, “Listen to no man who fails to believe in God.” There are many who believe in God, yet hardly pray, and thus their voices may simply echo the mistaken noise of the world. I was challenged once by a spiritual director when I confessed that I was not setting aside time to pray. She said, “Scott, what you are doing is not enough!”

From AW Tozer and Howard Thurman, I am feeling a new desire and conviction to pray. Listen to no one who fails to listen to God. I am interested in hearing what you think about these words, after you have prayed!

This past Sunday, we began our confirmation class. My wife Elizabeth and I led our first discussion with them on the identity and attributes of God. My goal is for our confirmands to realize that God created them, that God redeemed them, and that God sustains them. I want them to realize that God loves them unconditional beyond measure and came to us in Jesus Christ to demonstrate this love. My prayer is that they will respond to God’s love by becoming faithful followers of Jesus Christ.

When God called the prophet Jeremiah, God said to him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). When commenting on this passage, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “God wanted to assure Jeremiah that God’s call to be a prophet was no divine afterthought, that it was part of God’s plan for all eternity. It says that each one of us is part of the divine plan and as such totally irreplaceable and unique. We (some of us) might look like accidents, but we are not accidents to God.” I pray that our confirmands will hear these words about themselves so that they will know the deep commitment God has had with each of them since before their birth. I pray that they will be able to affirm what the Psalmist says “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works” (Psalm 139:14).

Keep our confirmation class in your prayers that they will realize these truths about themselves.

In Christ, Scott

02.03.2021

I have been reflecting on the experience of losing. Football players lose conference playoff games. Politicians lose elections. Investors lose money when the stock market tanks. Our world believes that losing is tragic. But I have been reflecting on how losing can be a blessing.

Think of people in the Bible who have experienced loss. Zechariah was serving in the temple when the angel Gabriel appeared to him and announced that Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth would give birth to a son, John. Zechariah had doubts and asked for a sign, and Zechariah’s ability to speak was taken from him. Zechariah lost his voice and remained mute until John was born (Luke 1:8-20).

Or consider Paul. Paul was a persecutor of Christians, traveling with his entourage to Damascus to arrest even more Christians. There on the road, the living, resurrected Jesus appeared to Paul, and Paul was blinded by the light. Paul lost his ability to see until Ananias came to him and laid hands on him (Acts 9.1-19).

Zechariah lost his voice; Paul lost his eyesight; but losses lasted only for a season. Their loss was not a curse, because during their time of loss, they were able to reflect on their encounter with God and on the ways that they had resisted God. They were able to repent of their wrongs. Their loss became a blessing because it led them to turn to God and rely on God. God was not punishing Zechariah and Paul when God took away Zechariah’s voice and Paul’s sight. No, God was giving them space and time to reflect and to change their hearts and lives. They lost their voice and sight for a season, but they gained their lives for eternity.

Much on which we depend will not last. None of us can take our possessions with us when we die. Things that the world values—things such as social status, financial wealth, physical health, career achievements—all pass away. We cannot take these things with us into eternity. If our ultimate happiness and security depends on the things of this world, then woe to us! The things of this world will not save us, because they pass away. In the end, we lose all of it. Only God’s grace can save.

That’s why Jesus says that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God “Matthew 19:25). When we are rich with money or with health or with talents or with privileges, it is easy to push God out of the way and rely on ourselves and on what we can do. We, then, deceive ourselves into thinking that we are ultimately responsible for our own salvation and don’t need God.

But when we suffer loss, we may finally realize the fleeting nature of the things of this world. We may finally gain the humility to turn to God and rely on God’s grace. Zechariah’s and Paul’s loss led them to change their lives and to embrace God’s grace. Their loss did not lead to misery. It led to joy!

When people lose something that this world considers valuable and essential, then, perhaps, this is the beginning of their salvation.

--Scott

January 13, 2021

I’ve been troubled by protests in our nation that have turned violent and ugly such as we recently witnessed in our capital. We have the right to protest what we believe to be unfair, but as followers of Jesus, we are never given permission to dehumanize and hate those with whom we disagree.

Scripture shows us how we are to live, especially during turbulent, polarized times. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:45, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” Paul gave us these instructions while he was in prison, suffering from the violent, ugly actions of others!

We are in error whenever we feel “letting our gentleness be known” is a sign of weakness and passivity. The word “gentleness” is a translation of the Greek word epieikes which does not mean being a wimp. Epieikes means practicing forbearance, remaining calm in tough situations rather than reacting with high emotions. One of my teachers Frank Thielman defines epieikes as “an attitude of kindness where the normal or expected response is retaliation.” In other words, we choose to be gracious when others expect us to be ugly.

Likewise, Paul lists with the fruit of the Spirit another word that we often translate as “gentleness” (Galatians 5:23). This is the Greek word prautes, which is an excellence of character that the Holy Sprit cultivates within followers of Jesus. Often the word prautes is translated as “meek.” It is the same word that Jesus uses in his Sermon on the Mount when he says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

We also are in error whenever we feel being “meek” means being weak or being a doormat. Practicing prautes means choosing to be humble rather than arrogant. It means refusing to push others out of the way so that we can get to the front of the line. It means that we refrain from oppressing others.

As we follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit grows gentleness and meekness within us so that we shine light in our troubled world. Let’s not respond to unfairness and injustice by letting our passions control us, leading us to act in ugly, even cruel ways. This may be hard work, but with God’s grace and help, it is doable.

In Christ, Scott

November 30, 2020

Patient Trust

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—

and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;

your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense and incomplete.

—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ excerpted from Hearts on Fire

November 9, 2020

We are in the process of discerning how to adapt our congregation’s ministry in our Covid-19 world. We recognize that we will have to do ministry differently than the ways we did ministry at the beginning of this year.

Yet we also affirm that our mission as Trinity UMC has not changed. God is still calling us to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of this world. In our past, we developed deep and strong disciples of Jesus through ministries such as the Walk to Emmaus and the Disciple Bible Study. I am confident that God will continue to guide us to make disciples of Jesus in ways that are effective in today’s world.

At the beginning of the year, we worked with my friend and coach Rev. Bill Kierce to discern our vision for the future. We held town hall meetings where many of you were able to share your ideas on how we are to grow in ministry. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we put our work on hold as we responded to this pandemic. I am glad to inform you that we are now working again with Bill Kierce to discern what God is calling us to do. We have a visioning team made up of Bosco Bostick, Tristan Cruz-Richardson, Ranae Curtis, Amy Klugh, Marie Marshall, Laura Pennington, LaTreva Pounds, and Michael Simon along with some of our staff—Matt Hull, Melissa Johnson, MaKenzie Johnson, Paula Roane and myself. We have begun meeting with Bill, and we are in the process of discerning what God is calling us to do next Trinity to do next to make disciples of Jesus.

Our goal is to be a VITAL congregation. A VITAL congregation contains the following five elements:

1. Vibrant Worship. (People experience God and are transformed through our worship).

2. Intentional Faith Development (People grow into being disciples of Jesus Christ).

3. Transformational Leadership (People develop as servant, Christ like leaders).

4. Authentic Community (People support and encourage one another in love).

5. Lasting impact (Trinity UMC makes a difference for Christ in our community).

We are discerning our next best step in each of these 5 areas. Please keep our visioning team and our work in your prayers. I will keep you informed with what we discern.

In Christ, Scott

September 30, 2020

We are in the midst of a very polarized election. Both conservatives and progressives feel troubled over things happening in our nation, although we disagree about what things should trouble us. It is so easy to let the divisions of this world divide us in the church, but this is a temptation we must resist. Can we find common ground to unite us?

I will make the following affirmation: God is still God, and Jesus Christ is still risen from the dead, and the Holy Spirit is still indwelling and empowering God’s people. Therefore, we remain people of faith, hope, and love—always! Our calling is not to place our ultimate trust in the political systems of this world, but to place our ultimate trust in Jesus Christ. The political leaders and systems of this world will not usher in the kingdom of God. God alone ushers in the kingdom of God. Thankfully, at times our political leaders say and do things that align with God’s will; they do the kinds of things that God wants to bless. But tragically, at other times, our political leaders say and do things that oppose God’s will. We must be careful not to equate the kingdoms of this world with the kingdom of God.

Still, God gives us a mandate in scripture. Jeremiah tells the Israelites living in Babylonian exile: “Build houses and settle down; cultivate gardens and eat what they produce. Get married and have children; then help your sons find wives and your daughters find husbands in order that they too may have children. Increase in number there so that you don’t dwindle away. Promote the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because your future depends on its welfare” (Jeremiah 29:5-7). We are called to promote the wellbeing of the city, county, state, and country in which we live. We are called to pray for these places. We are called to pray for all our elected officials. Remember, 1st Timothy 2:1-4 says, “First of all, then, I ask that requests, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made for all people. Pray for kings and everyone who is in authority so that we can live a quiet and peaceful life in complete godliness and dignity. This is right and it pleases God our savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” We are called to work for the common good regardless of what political party or person holds office.

Someone shared with me the following quote from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. This quote is helping me during this unseemly election season. John Wesley wrote in his journal on October 4, 1774: “I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them 1). To vote without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy, 2). To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and 3). To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.” This is good advice, especially now. We must resist the temptation to demonize those who hold political views that are different from ours. When we “take care that our spirits are not sharpened against those that voted on the other side,” we will then be acting as the children of light that God declares us to be, truly offering healing, help and hope to our world.

August 12, 2020

Right after participating in an online workshop called Helping People Heal through Trauma, I reread Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:14-36. The workshop defined trauma as “an event or experience that leaves an individual overwhelmed with intense fear, hopelessness, and horror.” When I reread Peter’s sermon, it struck me that Peter himself had recently experienced trauma only a short time before he preached.

Pentecost happened a little over 50 days after Jesus’ crucifixion. On Good Friday, Peter had witnessed the betrayal, torture and death of his friend and lord, Jesus. Peter, himself, had denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter must have felt overwhelmed and hopeless, horrified at what had happened .I know that Peter also witnessed the resurrected Jesus on Easter, and I know that he spent time with the resurrected Jesus and experienced his reconciling love. But, I don’t want to diminish the experience of trauma that Peter must have felt when he witnessed the violent death of Jesus.

In his sermon, Peter identifies Jesus twice as the crucified one! He says in verse 36, “Let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Peter won’t let us forget the fact the one whom God highly exalted is also the one who was shamefully executed. The American theologian James H. Cone compares the cross of Christ to the lynching tree—a lynching, a traumatic act of violence. Jesus didn’t just take on our sufferings. Jesus took on our traumas!

Mark 14:27 tells us that after Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, the disciples scattered. The scattering of the disciples reminds me of how the people of Israel were scattered after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587 BCE. The people of Israel ended up as exiles and refugees in Babylon, Persia, Egypt and many other nations. Imagine how traumatic this catastrophe was those who went into exile! This diaspora or dispersion of the Jewish people among the nations led to them gradually speaking other languages. This is why Jews spoke different languages when they gathered together in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Behind the story of Pentecost lays the trauma of crucifixion and the trauma of exile. Yet, notice how God begins to heal the trauma. The crucified one has now become the resurrected one, the one who is now exalted to the right hand of God. The Jewish people, who had once been scattered into different language groups because of the horror of the Babylonian, are now united through the Holy Spirit, each able to hear the gospel proclaimed in their own native language. God exalts the one who suffered; God joins those who were scattered. God begins to heal the effects of trauma; and, Peter, who on Good Friday cowardly denied three times that he even knew Jesus, now boldly preaches a sermon that leads 3,000 people to turn to Jesus.

Let this give hope to those of you who are experiencing trauma. The Covid-19 pandemic has been traumatic for many. Yet, Jesus has suffered with us, which means that Jesus has empathy for us and is willing to help (Hebrews 4:15-16). And the Holy Spirit unites people who were once scattered, empowering even those who had experienced the trauma of slavery to prophesy and speak for God (Acts 2:18)!

June 22, 2020

During a time of crisis and uncertainty, I feel the Holy Spirit pulling my heart to refocus on the basics of what we believe. What are the basics of our Christian faith? What do we believe fundamentally, above all else? How will this guide us in what we do during this time of trouble and grief?

I participated recently in an online worship service where one of the leaders read words from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. She read from Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible called The Message. I share these words with you. These are Jesus’ words to us: “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-14).

As I listened to these words, I felt my heart energized. I remembered my purpose—our purpose as Christ’s holy church! Even now, especially now, in our polarized world, we are called to be salt and light. This purpose has not changed. It is needed now in our world so divided by racial tensions and disagreements on how we are to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

I read a letter in the magazine The Christian Century (June 17, 2020) in which a man named Josh Heikkila wrote the following: “It seems that as Christians we need to listen more deeply to the people with whom we disagree, and then be willing to be more gracious and generous in our response.” This seems to me what it means to be salt and light.

I read those words right after I had read words from the editor of The Christian Century, Peter Marty, who wrote, “We in the church ought to retrieve a deeper meaning to the word conspiracy. John Courtney Murray liked to use the term to describe the beautiful collaboration among people who are filled with the spirit of God. The root of the word conspire means ‘breathe together.’ We might think of the Pentecost story as a true conspiracy: not some evil design or sinister gathering, but a consensus for good. The coronavirus is giving us all a fresh reason to band together and breathe goodness into a chaotic world.”

Banding together and breathing goodness into a chaotic world energizes me. This is what I want us Trinity UMC to do. This is what God is calling us to do.

I am looking forward to meeting with you again on Sunday, June 28 when we resume in-person worship. We are making adjustments in how we meet together in order to mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 virus. I am confident that you will be gracious and generous in your response. Our online worship will also continue even after we resume in-person, and I continue to give thanks for our online worship.

Above all I give thanks to our being able to pray together again in person, because the world needs us to breathe goodness into our chaotic world more than ever.

May 13, 2020

How do we pray during times like these?

One of the appropriate forms of prayer during this season of quarantining are prayers of lament. The Book of Lamentations, Israel’s great song of grief over the destruction of Jerusalem begins with these words: “How lonely sits the city, that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations!” (Lamentations 1:1)

It is appropriate to express our grief to God in prayer. We don’t even have to use words. We can simply lift our sad hearts to God in silence.

The Book of Lamentation ends with a call for God to act. Lamentations 5:21 says, “Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old.” Prayers of lament lead into prayers for help. The World Council of Churches has called for a worldwide day of prayer for Thursday, May 14, stating that on this day, we can “implore God to lift this pandemic off us and the entire world, to rescue us all from this adversity.” I encourage you to participate in this day through prayer and fasting.

Another way we pray is when we lift our requests to God. If we don’t know what words to use, that’s okay, because we are promised that “when we do not know how to pray as we ought, the Holy Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26). Sometimes, the best we can do is sit silently with God. If we need words to help us pray, a simple prayer is always, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” We can pray these words over and over again.

God’s last word to us is not a word of death, but a word of life. The latter chapters of the Book of Isaiah are addressed to those who are lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem. To those who grieve, the prophet announces that God “has sent [the prophet] to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1). The prophet even proclaims, “They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations” (Isaiah 61:4). God promises full restoration. The prayer at the end of the Book of Lamentations is answered in Isaiah 61:4.

Jesus Christ, when he began his public ministry, told us that these verses in Isaiah are ultimately fulfilled in his ministry (Luke 4:14-21). Therefore, our job as the church is to continue to proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ gives life and freedom even as we wait for Christ to fully manifest his saving work. Even when our church building is closed, our church is never closed! You are Christ’s church now, and you still proclaim the good news of Christ’s rescue through your words and actions and attitudes even now.

We are in a time of waiting, a time of lamentation as we wait for this pandemic to recede. But as we wait, we are also receiving God’s promises. God’s rescue has come, is here, and will come. Even as we wait for God’s rescue to fully manifest itself, we experience God’s rescue now in many ways. How have you seen God’s glory at work in your life even now? When we reflect on these signs of God’s faithfulness, “when we count our blessings, naming them one by one, ” we are led to prayers of thanksgiving and praise.

Following these practices helps us do what the Apostle Paul calls us to do in Romans 12:12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer,” which is a healthy practice, especially now during this pandemic. Our Bishop David Graves shared this scripture verse recently with the pastors of our Annual Conference.

April 28, 2020

Dear Friends,

Our Bishop David Graves and the leadership of our Annual Conference have requested that we not have onsite worship through at least May 17. At this time, I am unable to give you a date on when we will resume onsite worship. When we join together again for on campus worship, changes will be made in how we gather. We will adapt to safety guidelines in order to mitigate any spread of Covid-19. We are currently putting together a team to help us think through what changes we are to make.

I miss not being able to worship with you in person, but I am grateful for all those who have contributed to our online worship, especially Matt Hull who has edited and produced each worship service. As you noticed, we include a 5 minute countdown at the beginning of each service. The purpose of this countdown is to give you the opportunity to notify friends and invite them to watch the service with you. New people have joined our online worship because they have been invited to join us during the 5 minute countdown. Even after we begin worshiping together in person, we will continue our online worship.

Change is a part of life. The people of ancient Israel changed their religious practices when they were exiled in Babylon. They adjusted to worshiping without the temple in Jerusalem. After the temple was destroyed, the ancient Israelites developed synagogue worship. They also began to put together the sacred writings that would become our Bible. The changes that the ancient Israelites enacted in exile shaped the way we worship God today.

Change is inevitable. What encourages me when change happens is that we are always accompanied by the same gracious God who never changes. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

The Book of Lamentations was written as a response to the loss that the Israelites experienced when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and exiled many of its leading people. To lament is to express our grief to God. The Book of Lamentations is an appropriate book to study at this time of sorrow and uncertainty, because we are also in a time of lamenting and waiting.

Besides expressing deep sorrow, the Book of Lamentations also expresses hope in the faithfulness of God. Lamentations 3:19-23 says, “The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

These verses inspired the poet Thomas O. Chisholm to write the words of the familiar hymn: “Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father; there is not shadow of turning with thee; thou changest not; thy compassions, they fail not; as thou hast been, thou forever wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”

Change will happen. I don’t yet know what the future will be, and no one else knows except for God. I do know, however, that God remains faithful. I also know that our mission will remain unchanged. We will continue to be a place of unconditional love, offering the healing, help and hope of Christ in our city, our nation, and our world.

My prayer is that during this season of not being able to worship in person, God will grow our faith so that together we will pray, “Great is thy faithfulness.”

In Christ, Scott

Living into our Governor’s stay at home order has not been easy. We all are suffering, even if we are suffering at different levels. I find myself feeling restless and troubled, wishing I could go about and connect with others. I am experiencing grief and the anxiety that comes with uncertainty.

I feel as though I am under house arrest. So I find comfort in the Apostle Paul who spent time during his ministry under house arrest and in prison. While in prison, Paul wrote some of his letters, including his Letter to the Colossians. In Colossians 4:1-3, Paul writes, “Keep on praying and guard your prayers with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray for us also. Pray that God would open a door for the word so we can preach the mystery of Christ—which is why I’m in chains. Pray that I might be able to make it as clear as I ought to when I preach.” Even while confined in prison, Paul sees opportunities to communicate the Gospel. Paul sees opportunities to win others to Christ. Let this be our prayer, too.

In another one of his prison letters, in Ephesians 5:15-16, Paul writes, “So be careful to live your life wisely, not foolishly. Take advantage of every opportunity because these are evil times.” I love how the King James Version translates the words “take advantage of every opportunity” as “redeeming the time.” Are we redeeming the time during these troubling days of home confinement? Are we being a good steward of these different kinds of days? During this time of social distancing, it is as though we are practicing an extended Sabbath. We have suspended our normal rhythms and habits of life. So what is the best way for us to use this new time?

That is a great question I invite you to explore.

As you explore this question, be compassionate to yourself and to others. We are all going through grief. During times of grief, even trauma, it may be hard to focus. We may be frustrated, especially when we feel helpless and disconnected from our normal routines and relationships. We want to do something, but we often don’t know what to do. How can we redeem the time while not condemning ourselves and others?

Words written by Sister Joyce Rupp in her book Praying Our Goodbyes has helped me during this pandemic. Rupp writes about how Jesus in John’s Gospel refutes the idea that a man born blind was born this way because of his sins or the sins of his parents. She also notes how in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus refutes the idea that a group of people whom Pilate slaughtered as well a group people killed by a collapsing tower were worse sinners than others. Rupp writes, “In each of these circumstances Jesus goes on to point out the necessity of repenting of one’s sinfulness and suggests that instances such as these can be invitations for a change of heart or for inner conversion. In doing this, he implies that suffering can be an opportunity for us to reflect on our life, the kind of persons we are, how we relate to others, what we value, but Jesus flatly refuses to uphold the traditional theory that suffering is sent as a punishment for one’s sins.” What a way to redeem the time, by reflecting on the kinds of questions that Rupp lifts up!

These are troubling days. Our leaders are doing their best trying to figure out how to respond in ways that do the least harm. And we are all figuring out how to live into this new reality. We may feel as though we are under house arrest, but God still gives us the opportunities. God is giving us the opportunity to redeem this time.

March 23, 2020

As a response to Covid-19 virus, I began reading Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love. Julian was a medieval mystic, living from 1342-1416 in England during a bubonic plague pandemic. Julian herself became sick almost to the point of death, and during her illness, she had a profound series of visions of Christ’s suffering and love.

One vision was of her soul being a fine city with Christ in the middle of the city. Christ tells her, “You will not be overcome.” Julian reflects on his words and then adds, “You will not be overcome, were said very insistently and strongly, for certainty and strength against every tribulation which may come. He did not say: You will not be assailed, you will not be belaboured, you will not be disquieted, but he said: You will not be overcome.”

“You will not be overcome” echoes scripture. Jesus said in John 16:30, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart;I have overcome the world.”

What a word of hope! That we will overcome means that we won’t be defeated. It means that the last word given to us will always be God’s word of life. We live with hope. We have hope even during this time of uncertainty that comes with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yesterday, I listened to Krista Tippett interview the writer Rebecca Solnit on the On Being podcast. Solnit said, “People in [our] culture love certainty so much. And they seem to love certainty more than hope.” Even in Bible days, the disciples wanted certainty. They asked Jesus questions, and often, Jesus didn’t answer their questions in the ways that they wanted. For example, the disciples once asked Jesus, “Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” And Jesus answered, “Nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the heavenly angels and not the Son. Only the Father knows.” It is as though Jesus is more concerned with giving us hope than with giving us certainty. Hope is a component of faith, and faith means we live with trust, not certitude. We trust that God will act in God’s good time to make all things well. I can’t give you certitude, but I can point the reason to have hope: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Christ will prove faithful to us, and even now, Christ says, “You will not be overcome.”

The proper posture for hope is to “watch and wait.” “Stay awake,” Jesus says, “for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” Watching and waiting is not a passive activity. We watch and wait by praying. We watch and wait while doing simple acts of grace and compassion, such as calling on our neighbors (especially the elderly and those who are self-isolating) to make sure they are okay and to let them know that we love them. But we don’t do any activity out of a frantic worry. We don’t rush into anything out of a sense of fear. We remain calm, trusting in the faithfulness of Christ, who tells us, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart;I have overcome the world.”