The ride is over.  It seems to get longer each year.  This year we didn’t take as long as we usually do because of the pandemic.  We stopped briefly to see each of our sons.  But it still seemed longer.  Maybe it’s because we are getting older!

This morning I went back to church in person.  How I have missed being present in the sanctuary and receiving the Eucharist!  Since June, I have attended church online and while that method offers the mechanics of the service, I have missed the live people and their interactions, even as stilted as it can be with social distancing.  I miss being hugged (although we still can’t do that) and seeing the eyes of all the wonderful people of this congregation. 

Sunday’s readings from Paul to the Thessalonians struck a poignant note for me.  Paul is writing to the church of Thessalonica where he, Silvanus and Timothy had recently made converts to Christianity.  They had moved on to Corinth and wanted to send reassurances to the new church.

The opening greeting moved me to tears right there in church because as I looked around the sanctuary, I could feel the same emotion which Paul felt when he wrote:  We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father, knowing brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen.

So many familiar faces wrapped behind protective masks.  Even in the face of this crisis, the good people of Joy are worshipping God and thanking Him for their blessings.  They are serving as assistant ministers, readers, ushers, communion assistants, bell ringers, running the sound system and being faithful attendees.  They are bringing the work of God by example and actions to the hurting world.  These are acts of a selfless love by God’s chosen.

Our Stephen Ministry group is reading a book by Max Lucardo which must have been picked out personally by the Holy Spirit for us to read at this time in our history.  The title is “you’ll get through this”.  We just finished a chapter call “is God good when life isn’t?”  An interesting question for us to address currently.  Here is a quote from Max which sums up the answer to this question.

“What is coming will make sense of what is happening now.  Let God finish His work” pg.87

Read Romans 8:18. Believe and remember that God loves you unconditionally!

Terri