Thoughts on Life and Worship

  Join us this Sunday night on Zoom for prayer meeting.  Here's the invitation.  Make sure you have Zoom uploaded to your device and click on this link.  Hope to see you at 6:00 P.M.  (And hopefully, this link will work!) Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78940725608?pwd=V25CaGhzRGtrTE9MbHVzNGtJdWxwZz09 Meeting ID: 789 4072 5608 Passcode: URBm6t

November 19, 2020 Dear church family,  I’m writing this letter from home as I’m still warding off the effects of COVID, twelve days after my first symptoms.   I have been blessed by your many expressions of prayer support and concern that I have received since first becoming ill.   And it has been necessary because my case nearly took a turn towards pneumonia.   So, in this season of Thanksgiving, I am very grateful for your love and support and God’s mercy towards me.   And it’s not just me, while the results of a test for one church staff member remains pending, but likely positive, all of us have been infected.   That reality, of course, has raised concerns and the question of when we should resume in-person worship.   In the meantime, the Governor has issued Level 3 Mitigation Strategies for the entire state to begin on Friday, November 20.   The trajectory of infection and danger is clear.   This is a good time to pull back to recorded services on-line.   Just today, we also

As I write this, it is several days after our national election and we still don’t know who won the presidency.  A lot of Americans are on edge while we wait the outcome in a handful of critical states.  Law enforcement departments in large cities are wondering if the outcome will trigger a violent reaction in their streets.  In the run-up to this election, I have pondered a fascinating question: how would Jesus have voted if he were an American citizen today?  There are many Christians who would quickly wave the question away, doubting that Jesus would even bother to vote. They reason that Jesus wasn’t concerned with political matters.  He was singularly focused on the Kingdom of God.  And I would certainly agree with them.  But I don’t think the question of political engagement for Jesus-followers is that simple.  After all, Jesus did say that people should “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.”  I take that to mean that since we are all beneficiaries of the rule of governm