I’m sitting in my office at the church as the sun is setting over the football field. It’s been a beautiful sunny day full of hope. The highlight for me was a Zoom video gathering with some of the local pastors for prayer. What a gift to connect with them and pour out our hearts in prayer for the people we have been entrusted to pastor.
My email and text load has significantly increased but I want to strongly encourage you to respond back to this email so I know how you are doing. I may take a while to respond back, and may just respond with a short reply, but hearing from people in the church helps me to know how to pray, what to teach on Sundays and how to help. If you recently lost your job because of the pandemic, let me know, and especially let me know if you need groceries. We want to make sure everyone is well fed as much as we can help.
About 100-150 or so people in the church are involved in small groups. Because of the ban on gatherings we are not meeting physically but we are staying connected through email, texts, Zoom calls and Apps. If you are in a small group my encouragement is to make every effort to utilize whatever means you have to stay connected with your group. If you are not in a small group I want to encourage you to jump into one. There’s a complete list of groups on our website and it’s easy to join one. Once you do, you’ll start getting communication from your group leader.
We will be launching video this Sunday! I’m pretty excited about this. We’ll be pre recording the service Saturday and it’ll be streamed Sunday every couple hours—11, 1, 3, 5 and 7–for your convenience. We are still figuring out tech logistics but I know that you’ll be able to easily access the content from the homepage of our website. You won’t have to open an account or create a password or anything like that. Just click and watch. We will also be getting the word out through social media and will send a link Sunday morning early as a reminder. Be praying that our first video production would go smooth. Pray that we would be able to create content that is compelling and engaging and life-transforming !!!
Inviting a friend to church has never been easier, by the way. You can just send them a link to our website. This is a great opportunity to extend our reach and get the message of Jesus out far and wide. Even in the last couple weeks, doing just an audio stream, we had folks listening from as far as Florida, Kansas and even South Korea. That’s pretty awesome!
Okay, now let’s get more personal. How are you doing? Really, how are you? This is all so crazy. The whole planet is being affected by this tiny microscopic foe. People are very anxious. Almost everything in the news feeds is Coronavirus related. I read one article today by Andy Crouch that warned that this is not a blizzard but a winter. A blizzard is bad and passes quickly. But winter drags on—as we well know as New Englanders! The northeast U.S. could get hit really hard. Some are saying it could be worse than what Italy is experiencing. It’s very easy, even as believers, to become anxious.
I’m praying constantly for the Ren community for supernatural peace. If we just feed our minds with news and then imagine the worst scenarios, well, we are going to feel troubled. I don’t want you to feel that way. Jesus certainly doesn’t want you to feel that way which is why He said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) God wants us to tap into His peace. He’s not telling us to figure out some clever way to be at peace like maybe a combination of yoga and breathing exercises and slow jazz. No! He’s saying that He has a peace He wants us to possess.
Here’s the truth: God is not nervous. He’s not panicking about the Coronavirus. He’s not surprised by it. It didn’t sneak in when He wasn’t looking and now He’s frantically trying to get rid of it. God is not worried or afraid. He doesn’t get uptight. He’s not overwhelmed. He’s not having stressful meetings amongst the Trinity (Father-Son-Spirit) trying to solve the problem. He’s not even in the slightest bit anxious. He knows what He’s doing; He’s in control of everything. He’s working all things together for good. He’s preparing a people for eternal purposes.
His ways are not our ways. But we know that beautiful things are made through pressure.
Consider how silver and gold are refined through fire. Or how grapes need to be crushed to produce sweet wine. Think of the way certain cheeses need to be shut away in darkness for a long period to bring richness of flavor. God knows what He’s doing. Pressures, afflictions, distress and trials are God’s instruments of refining. They have a way of restoring prodigals, awakening sleepy Christians and moving sinners to cry for mercy. Even for those who are strong faithful Christians, the sufferings the Lord orchestrates have a way of driving them into the deep places of God’s heart. The Scriptures are filled with examples of this from Moses in the desert to John in exile on the isle of Patmos. All the great saints testified to being shaped by hardships. Here’s what Paul said:
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). Paul was saying that extreme pressures accomplished something good, namely, a reliance on Christ. The trials had a way of breaking stubborn self-dependence and teaching him to abide in Christ.
My prayer during this season is that we’d embrace whatever is happening with a confidence that the Lord is with us and He is working all things together for our good. I’m praying that we would trust Him. That we would not sulk and fret and worry. That we would not dive into sin to cope. That we wouldn’t look to tv and food or anything else to be our god in this season. I’m praying that our joy and satisfaction would be in Christ alone. I’m praying that we would allow this pandemic to be like the wind that drives us into the heights of God! May we lift up drooping hands and strengthen weak knees (Heb 12). “For such a time as this” we are called to shine like stars and proclaim the excellencies of Christ. People are groaning for solid ground right now. May we invite them to come under the shelter of God who welcomes them graciously.
Scott