“…and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20 Amplified

Welcome God, welcome,

Welcome into this day.

Welcome into its fears and or pain,

Welcome into its beauty unfurling.

Welcome God, welcome,

Welcome into this day.

Welcome into its struggles.

Welcome into the joy it holds.

Welcome God Welcome,

Welcome into this day.

Whatever lies before us.

Welcome into this day.

By Christine Sine

I read this prayer a couple of days ago and I thought it was a nice way to begin the day. As I was reflecting on it I thought, yes, I already do believe that God is in every moment of my life, so why would I need to invite God into my day when surely it is more a matter of God welcoming me into a new day. Then I realized how, at times, I ignore or fail to acknowledge the ever-present God in my thoughts and words and actions. I do indeed need to welcome God into my day. God never barges in, but stands at the door waiting to be invited in, waiting for me to open myself to God’s presence in each new day.

Maybe when we welcome God each morning to be present, we are simply asking God to be in our experiences and emotions that fills our days. If you are like me then you might have had a rollercoaster of emotions through these last 5 months (and not just the last 5 months), and I’m sure more to come before things return to some sort of normalcy. 

We seem to be bombarded every day with things that can be unsettling in the news, in the lives of our family and friends and our own personal lives. But in Lamentations 3:22-23 says “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

I find increasingly that, in our daily routine, I need to pause frequently and commit my experiences and my emotions to God. Only as I face the reality of who I am and what is going on in our world can I really enjoy the intimacy of a God who cares for me and welcomes me into every aspect of my day. May it be so for you too.

Comforting Lord, we come to you emptying our cares and anxieties. Most Holy Spirit, be in our experiences, fill us with renewed joy for each new day and wrap us once more in your grace and mercy. Amen.

Peace, Brenda

Train yourself for a holy life! While physical training has some value, trainingin holy living is useful for everything. It has promise for this life now andthe life to come.  1 Timothy 4:8

We as people of faith are encouraged to engage in some kind of spiritual practice. It might be reading scripture or setting aside a specific time for prayer.  Journaling is another form of spiritual practice that is often suggested. I’ve tried to sit quietly and read a devotion or scripture. I have tried to be more intentional with my practice of prayer, but I have not been able to stick with it over any period of time.

I have found myself working in my garden many times right after worship on Sunday mornings. I find this time has become a quiet time for me. Sometimes I reflect on George’s sermon. Other times I don’t have any thoughts, and I just listen. I have had more than a few aha moments during this time of listening. 

One such moment came this past Sunday. I saw a butterfly, or maybe it’s a moth, I still never can remember the difference. Once again, I was in awe of God’s wonders.  How does that butterfly, or moth know there are plants here? Or how incredible is the perfect timing between the male and female zucchini that must happen for a zucchini plant to be fertilized in order to produce? It again became clear to me that the intricacies of the natural world and the way it is all connected is something only God could orchestrate.

Another aha moment that came on Sunday was that in this time of quiet and listening God speaks to me but more importantly I can hear God. I realized that I have found a spiritual practice and one that works for me. I didn’t set out to have this garden become my spiritual practice, but it has grown into that. 

In this forced time of slowing down I was able to find a spiritual practice and that is something I have never been able to do in the past. Was it because I have never been dedicated to setting aside the time and committing to any of the practices or was it because I never found the one that has worked for me? I don’t know. What I do know that because of this time that has been pushed upon us by COVID-19 is that I have found a spiritual practice and what a blessing that is. I encourage you to keep your eyes, ears and hearts open while doing the things you love to do, and I bet you will find a spiritual practice too.

God of wonder, your works are amazing and give us a space for those aha moments to develop. Thank you for your patience with us as we train for holy living. Thank you for your flexibility in the ways you connect with us so that we can be in a relationship with You. Help us to find the moments of quiet so that we can hear You.  Amen

Marty Drake

“Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, theLORD, is the Rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:4

“God is good, all the time – all the time, God is good.”  This is one of my favorite sayings.  But right now, I’m scared.  I’m worried about what the pandemic is going to do to the Preschool.  I have been the director of the preschool at CUMC for the past 21 years.  I love this place.  I love the people here, especially the kids.  And I don’t know what the future holds for our school.  But I do know that God is good – all the time.

We have worked hard to put new safety protocols into place for the new school year.  Just like the church has done.  But will the families come back?  Will my staff come back?  What if someone gets sick.  Worries like these keep me up at night.

On two different occasions this summer, I ran into Rick Day and Cheri Atkinson.  Both asked how everything was going.  And both said we will get through this.  Just like we have in the past.  They were right.  We have gone through some tough times.  The cell tower was a hard time with people protesting and parents threatening to remove their children. And we got through it. The recession in 2008 was a really hard time.  I had to cut hours for every single staff person.  But we made it through.  God is good.  He is always with us.  I like to think that my running into Rick and Cheri was an encouragement from God.

We will get through this.  I do not know how it’s going to happen.  So I lay this problem at His feet and know I can trust Him.  My faith is in Him.  And I believe with all my heart  God is good – all the time.

Heavenly Father, we praise you and give you thanks.  Teach us to wait upon you.  Help us to know that you are always working for our good.  May we always trust you.  Amen

Vicki Compean

But now thus says the Lord,
   he who created you, O Jacob,
   he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
   and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
   and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
– Isaiah 43:1-3a

Observant Jewish folks do not use the name of God. In fact, many will write the last word in that sentence as “G-d.” This is a matter of respect. Just as knowledge is power, the use of a name confers some control. You have seen it in the movies and TV shows: the detective calls out the name of the suspected perpetrator who is trying to be anonymous, but at hearing their name, they look up, and thus give away the game!

According to Isaiah, God calls us by name and in this we know that we belong to God. This isn’t meant as a matter of trapping or owning, but belonging and kinship. We are redeemed – our debt is paid – and then freed to choose to cleave unto God.

In the time of crisis we need to have a firm footing. We need to know what we can trust. God, speaking through Isaiah, is reminding of that we can count on this sense of belonging, of kinship, and of support. God knows you!  God knows you by name! God has redeemed you and will not abandon you!

And yet it is in the time of Crisis that we are most tempted to feel abandoned or rejected by everyone, including even God. We will be talking about this on Sunday in Church. In the Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul deals with great questions of faith. Among these are “Who gets in?” What does belonging mean?” and “Has God rejected me?”

As you have seen, we have been including discussion questions on Sunday morning. We do this so that you can “bring the message home” and actually participate in wrestling with the Word of God. These questions often come out of our Wednesday Noontime “Lectionary Lunch” group. I would like for you to use them for your own study time, with your family, and in groups. I invite you to contact others in your circle of friends, and consider using these questions as a starting point for deep fellowship.

For this Sunday, the questions are:
            1. Who gets in to the Kin-dom of God?
            2. What do you do when you feel forgotten?
            3. How can you help others know that God hasn’t given up on them?

Pastor George

Light of the World, bring your wisdom and understanding upon us. Through sharing your Word and living your will, let us remember that we belong with you. Calm our troubled spirits and deepen our resolve to love you with all that we are, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Walk with us through the fire, the storm, and the silent sameness, that we may be a sign of hope and strength to others. This we pray in Christ our Redeemer. Amen.

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 New International Version

The other day I was reading my emails here at church and I was blessed with this heartfelt email. I wasn’t having a very good day for whatever reason, and this totally changed the direction of my day in a good way.  It reminds me that we need to be encouraging to one another during the best of times and during the difficult times. We are all tired and would like this pandemic to be over with; however, that is not the case.  We just need to keep on swimming, as the saying goes.  We also need to let people know that what they do matters and that they mean something to us.  We need to encourage one another, after all we are all in this together. I hope this letter uplifts you as much as it did me and thank you Nuha for giving your permission to use this as my daily blessing.

” Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.  Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” Hebrews 13:7
“With upright heart, he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.” – Psalm 78:72

    As I was attending the CUMC service this morning, August 2, 2020, I thought about Bishop Hagiya’s briefing, July 27, 2020 :

“This is the ‘Kairos Moment’ for us to experiment, innovate and create the new paradigm that will take the church into the future. What new shape it will take, no one yet knows, but this is our time to create the church of the future. We need to take all that we cherish at the local church level (relationships, disciple-making, preaching and worship, community building, fellowship, etc.) and to vision a new way this will take place outside of the four walls of our buildings. If every one of us works at this new vision and experiment with new ways to bring it about, something wonderful will break forth.”

Now that we are facing yet another surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Southland, we are grateful to all those leaders who have taken serious steps to keep us – citizens, students, congregations and workers in all walks of life – safe.  Prime among those are our pastors who have allowed us to continue our spiritual participation in worship in a sheltered and meaningful manner in spite of the waves of criticism and resistance they might have faced by certain groups.  Once more, I would like to thank them for their judicious leadership throughout these tough times.  L .Roger Owens in his article “Not Lifting our Voices – The Blessing of Abstaining from Communal Song” said the following:

“Christ’s kenosis- Christ’s releasing self-assertion and relinquishing entitlements – rests at the heart of Christian believing, praying and living.  And, we might add singing.  Let not singing be a cross.  Take it up.  Find it a blessing.  We might, for instance, allow our willingness to accept not singing signify our lament.  Our corporate silence can become an eloquent cry to God, a lament not only over the destruction and fear caused by a virus but also over the ways willful ignorance, incompetence, and malfeasance have compounded the tragedy. 

“Paul used the story of kenosis, his abandoning divine privilege and accepting the humility of a servant, as the climax of his encouragement to the Christians of Philippi to ‘look not to your own interests, but the interests of others.’  Christ’s own kenosis, brought about salvation, a word which comes from a Latin word that means to make safe or healthy.  Our own self-denial around singing [or other changes we have made in worship practices] can be a way of looking out for the health of the members of our communities.  It can be a way to make safe our gathering for worship.

“It’s the same reason we will cover our faces with masks, pass the peace without touching and position unsightly hand sanitizing stations around our sanctuaries.  Because Christians look not to our own interests but to the interest of others.  Because there are no Christian entitlements.
“As Wesley said, ‘If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.’  Our worshipful silence might become both a lament and somehow, by God’s grace, a song of praise.”

Thus, as we listen to the Sunday sermons, read the daily meditations, and experience the reaching out in new and creative ways to involve our congregation and beyond, our leaders at CUMC have never failed to remind us how to keep ourselves and others safe by being the prime example for us to follow.  For that we are truly thankful.

Nuha Salib Salibi
August 1, 2020

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”  – Isaiah 40:31

Gracious & Loving God, create in us spirts and heartsthat uplift and uphold people even when we are tired.  Help us to use our words and actions to honorand bless others.  Give us eyes to seethe good things that our happening, for all too often we concentrate on thenegative.  Help us to feel your presencewith us and to shine your light in this world. Amen.