1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 New International Version (NIV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
I wrote about this verse way back when this self-isolation/quarantine started, and it spoke to me in a quite different way. Now, it is speaking to me to look for blessings in this constantly changing situation we call life in 2020. There are still so many reasons to rejoice and give thanks if you just have a mindset to look for reasons. One saying that I have been using a lot lately is take your blessings when you can get it.
God is with us in this chaos that we call life in 2020 and can help us through this if we just let the Holy Spirit do just that. And no, I do not think I am being Pollyanna about it.
Here are some examples; at church we are being pushed to use technology in different ways and use it more often then we were doing. We use Zoom for meeting and studies. Because we are using Zoom for studies, we now have Karen Sufana joining us from Florida! She used to be in the group but moved away. It has been so cool to have her with us again. So, now if you move away you can still participate in our studies and keep into touch with your church family here. Since we are now streaming our services, we have people that have moved all over the country joining us in worship. The are times when we have had people from Oregon, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida watching the live stream and they have even requested prayers. What a blessing it is to worship together like that. Streaming our services will help us to reach new people in new places. We had always talked about doing it, COVID just made pushed us to do it faster.
While COVID took many things away from us, it has also pushed us into using technology faster than we would normally have. This is helping us stay connected with each other currently and will help us reach new people in new places and ways in the near future and beyond. That is extremely exciting news.
Change can be difficult, and everything is changing extremely fast right now. Know that your church is here for you now and in the future. We will be here to help you on your spiritual journey, connect with God, connect with fellow church members, and to care for others. In others words, we will be here to help you live into the life you are called to live by Christ. Our church is living into it’s mission to be the church of today by helping others and looking at the future with hope knowing that God is with us through all of this, and we can give thanks and praise for that.
Gracious and Loving God, even when we are weary, and feeling small, help us to know that you are there for us. Create in us eyes to see your blessings in nature, friends, and family. Help us to be a blessing to others and to be the hope that we wish to see in the world. Help us to give ourselves grace when we just feel like doing so many things and get absolutely nothing done. Help us to listen to others and to learn new ways of being in community with others. Amen
Grace & Peace, Suzanne