August 2021 Newsletter
This August will bring many changes for our congregation. I am looking forward to the renewal of much in the life of this congregation. We will bless the backpacks this Sunday, August 1, for our school children. Choir resumes in August and children advance to the next grade level. Some are excited and others nervous.
This is a season of great change for all of us. Societal changes throughout the world have impacted every area of life. After decades of advancement the cause of freedom is in retreat almost everywhere. We see threats to our freedom to gather for worship, speech, right to protest peacefully, and public safety. The billionaire class lectures us on “being green” while buying up precious agriculture land, multiple mega-mansions, and consuming more resources than needed to support whole nations.
Denominations like the United Methodist Church are in the process of a likely schism delayed because we are not yet able to meet as a global body due to COVID imposed travel restrictions. Many congregations have not weathered this crisis well. We’ve struggled to make ends meet financially but God has provided enough.
Jesus warned us the end of history would be like this: war, rumors of wars, natural disaster, pestilence. The signs are unmistakable! We are not left wondering.
When we gather this Sunday, really pray over these backpacks and the children who will carry them. Pray for their families, for the witness of Jesus Christ and the hope He offers. Re-evaluate your faithfulness as a believer. Prayerfully give more so that ministries to children, youth, young adults, families, individuals, those who have yet to believe strengthen the faith of believers and our witness as a congregation!
Help out with service, give relief to those who volunteer over and over and over. Step forward to help one time or more permanently as able.
Make prayer, study and service a priority every day. Some of you have your hands full caring for family. That is serving God! But all of us should ask what we can do to share the Good News of Jesus Christ!
Brother David