Friends,

Last week was the 70th commemoration of D-Day, the day the Allied Forces landed on the beaches of Normandy to launch a major offensive battle against Germany. Many people consider that day as the turning point in World War II, the beginning of the end of Hitler’s occupation of Europe. For some of you, that day is a memory from your early lifetime, a watershed day in history, as September 11, 2001 and January 6, 2021 have become for younger generations.

I have been reflecting on the ways in which our world has changed in these 70 years. Television was born, thrived, and waned. We sent astronauts into space, landed them on the Moon, and housed them for months at a time on a space station orbiting the Earth. Computers went from something that filled an entire room, to something that sat on your desktop, to portable laptops, then tablets, and now we have hand-held mobile devices with more computer power than those original gigantic machines. We went from writing postcards, letters, telegrams, to email messages, FaceTime calls, Zoom meetings, and text messages. We used to gather at the school gym or the church assembly hall or the public library to meet friends and share stories. Now we have social media, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook Stories and Reels, Threads, and all the ones I don’t even know the names of yet.

It’s exhausting to think of the ways our world has changed, the ways our lived have changed in the last 70 years, in ways we never could have anticipated. Sometimes, we just want to stop and say, “Please, no more changes. Can’t something stay the same? Haven’t we changed enough?”

But of course, the answer is no. Our world will not stop changing. Our lives will not stop changing. Our community will not stop changing. Our church will not stop changing. In Hebrews 13:8, we read, “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.” In Revelation 1:8, we read, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

So we will hold fast to a constant God in an ever-changing world. Thanks be to God.

Peace,

Pastor Jack