From Pastor Zeke Page 1 From the Desk of Pastor Zeke “And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” - Matthew 6:27 So how are you doing? Really… how are you doing? We are seven months into this pandemic and it would do us well to do a little self-inventory. Are you okay? Life can be so hard and difficult. Our current reality hasn’t made any of life’s challenges easier. If anything, it has only exacerbated things. Our Christian heritage is one paved with struggle and triumph. The Bible is chalked full of stories about God’s people and their struggles. In many ways, reading these stories can bring us hope in our current reality. Yes life is hard but also God is with us in this challenging time. I think this scripture from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is exactly what we need to remember daily. Our future rests in the love of an all-powerful God. We must remember that perfect love casts out all fear. Much of our anxieties are well-placed but can be overcome through our faith in God working through the Holy Spirit inside each of us. In faith, we experience a peace that surpasses all understanding. I pray for that peace within my life and within each of your lives. Surrender to faith and your fears will lose its ultimate power over you. I was speaking with my dad the other day and he was telling me how ready he was that things would just go back to the way they were before Covid-19. I too wish this so very much. So many things I took for granted that are now gone. The reality is that things are different for the unforeseeable future but the people of faith are resilient and tenacious when challenges present themselves. Never underestimate the power of God nor the power of God working through people of faith. I am so overjoyed that we have begun in-person worship again. It has been so good to be in worship in-person with at least some of you. I have missed everyone so much. This comes with some real anxieties and risk. Our Relaunch Team has done our very best to make worship as safe as it can possibly be. I am so thankful for their preparatory work. For those of our church family that cannot rejoin us in in-person worship yet, we will continue to stream worship using Facebook Live. Please be in prayer for our church and for the health of its members. Hang in there and may your worries be replaced with the powerful peace of God. Keep the Faith Strong, Zeke Wesley UMC Newsletter August 2020
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