Friends,

I think we are finally on the other side of the COVID outbreak that blew through our congregation last month, like the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, lighting on so many of us! I think we are also on the other side of the first Arctic Blast of Winter 2024 that kept us inside for a couple of days worrying about the power grid and the water supply and our neighbors who are at risk during these extreme weather events. I don’t know what the next crisis will be, or when it will come, but I do know there will be another one. There always is!

Psalm 62, the psalm in the lectionary for this coming Sunday, reminds us:
        For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from God.
God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress;
I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
Trust in God at all times, O people; pour out your heart before God.
God is a refuge for us.

When COVID strikes us or our loved ones, our hope is from God. When extreme weather threatens us, God is our rock. When political turmoil unsettles us, our refuge is in God. When economic pressures weigh on us, we trust in God at all times. When grief and sorrow overwhelm us, we pour out our hearts before God. When the past seems so far away, the present is chaotic, and the future seems so uncertain, our soul waits in silence for God.

Spend some time in silence this week, waiting for God to fill you with light and hope. Then share that light with another!

Peace,
Pastor Jack