Services Cancelled for Hurricane Irma – 9/10/17
Friends in Christ,
After watching the latest predictions about Hurricane Irma, we have decided to cancel all church activities this weekend. There will be no Sunday morning service or Messy Church on Sunday, September 10th. We will continue to evaluate the situation for the following week.
Please make use of caution and prayer in the following days.
You can help! Please send me an email here if:
- you are still searching for local shelter in a non-evacuation zone or
- you live in a non-evacuation zone and would be willing to host others.
Since we will not be together in one place for worship this week, I invite you to spend some time on Sunday morning and otherwise (unceasingly!) in prayer for the church, the world, and all those in need – especially those whose lives have been and will be endangered by these deadly storms.
In these past few days, I have turned again and again to the promise God has made to be with us, even through danger, fear, and sorrow.
¶ But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isa 43.1–3 NRSV)
I have also found these words of Julian of Norwich comforting:
God showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand. It was as round as any ball, as it seemed to me. I looked at it with the eyes of my understanding and thought, “What can this be?” My question was answered in general terms in this fashion: “It is everything that is made.” I marveled how this could be, for it seemed that it might suddenly fall into nothingness, it was so small. An answer for this was given to my understanding: “It lasts, and ever shall last, because God loves it. And in this fashion all things have their being by the grace of God.” In this little thing, I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second is that God loves it. The third is that God keeps it. And what did I see in this? Truly, the Maker, the Lover, and the Keeper.
I am not glib or naive enough to think that prayer or faith will always keep me and others from harm’s way, but I am hopeful enough to believe that God has named us, claimed us, and will stay with us through all danger. God is our Maker, Lover, and Keeper.
May God love and keep you through the storm.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Keith