When trials turn to hope...

How much has your life changed in the last few months?

Do you trust that God is with you?

This week in worship we are taking a look at the story of two disciples who wound up in prison.  Jesus had just commissioned them to go out and share the Good News, and they wanted to preach, heal, and love. However, everything flips upside down when they are thrown into a jail cell.

What do you do when life turns against you?

What do you want
to eat today buddy?

Personally, I don’t feel like I have any right to complain about difficulties.  I am blessed with my place at the church, and I am blessed with my family and friends.  However, I can still become overwhelmed.  Recently my kids have thrown all-out tantrums because I won’t let them crawl into the dishwasher or eat the mud on their shoes. It’s hard! However, an interesting thing will happen when I take time to reflect on these moments a few days later.  If I have the opportunity, I will look back at a picture or think of a crazy time, and I can’t help but to smile. If I stop to take a breath and experience the love, I am able to experience the joy.  In the Bible there are numerous stories of people who realized God was always with them, but they never realized it until long after the trial passed.

 

Today I hope you can take a bit of time and look backward.  Take time to forgive yourself if you lost your temper… We all get lost in the moment!  However, I hope we can open our hearts.  May we all believe that God is always with us!

Blessings!

Pastor Brian

Do you believe in the promise of Easter?

Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen!

Easter is a time of celebration.  However, we are also trying to get used to this new season of quarantine.  I know I am having some difficulty finding a bit of hope in the midst of all this. 

As a family, my household has been trying to find activities that we all like to do together.  It’s hard!  One person wants to climb a mountain, another wants to go for a walk, and then the kids want to either roll around in the mud or scream as loud as they can.  We just can’t agree on one thing!

However, every once in a while we can all agree on watching nature programming on TV.  (I guess that tells you we are all a bunch of nerds!) We get drawn into these wild places, and we love to watch the unfolding stories of snow leopards, grizzly bears, or elephants.

Who wouldn't love this little
monkey?

I saw a bit of an episode recently showed a clip of a Rhesus macaque.  (It’s basically just a little monkey.) The narrator stated these animals are aggressive and xenophobic primates.  Their social status is determined by who they were born to.  Then they are either treated as royalty, or they are isolated, rejected, and preyed upon.  All of this was known at birth.  Honestly, my whole family was a little upset watching a few of these poor little guys getting picked on.  They were just born to a mother of low social standing.  It also made me think that people are not always that different.  Sadly human beings can be just as brutal to one another, and if we don’t take time to open our hearts a little bit, I think we can revert back to this awful behavior. 

All creation longs for grace!

I believe the Earth longs for grace.  There are moments when grace creeps into our world and offers an explosion of hope.  There are little moments when people choose to work together.  There are moments of love in spite of desperate circumstances.  The animal kingdom will do this too.  One animal can choose to love another.  The Bible says all creation is longing for redemption.  The whole world is searching for grace.

Today we are living in uncertain times.  Are we going to give in to evil and self-serving behaviors?  Is it possible to allow grace to move us forward?  When life is flipped upside down, do you still believe in love’s power?  Do you believe in Easter?

I hope and pray that all of you will open your hearts to find a bit of grace today.  I hope you all know that you are loved, and I pray that you will find love.

Blessings!

Pastor Brian

Making space to worship

"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

-Matthew 21:9

This week we are celebrating Palm Sunday in the church.  Traditionally this is a joyful time.  We remember the day Jesus triumphantly rode into Jerusalem, and the people stopped everything to worship Him.  Now, we have to remember the people would soon turn on Jesus, but for at least a moment, their hearts were filled with praise.

It was a confusing time in ancient Israel, and there is still an abundance of fear, uncertainly, and chaos in our world today.  However, I think it is important to pause and think about ways to continue to worship wherever we are…

I had a wonderful experience in with my family recently.  My wife was outside in the yard with our boys, and she started talking with one of our neighbors.  (FYI:  they were able to speak while also observing safe social distancing. :)

Anyway, the neighbor was apologizing, because she was not able to get out into her yard to remove the weeds that were growing there.  She was older, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain her yard.  When our older son heard this he immediately wanted to help, and he started picking the weeds.  It turned out to be a great activity that got the kids out of the house, and it also helped someone else.  Even our one year old got the hang of taking the weeds and putting them in the bucket.  It may not be much, but it opened our eyes to little ways that we can still reach out to our neighbors while still being socially distant. 

Our world today is confusing.  I wish I could be doing more for people in this time of great need.  However, I believe our scripture reminds us that there are still ways to praise God.  We may not feel like we are making a difference, but simple acts of love are still changing the world!

God Bless you all!!

Pastor Brian