Petoskey United Methodist Church 1804 East Mitchell Road Petoskey, MI 49770 Tel. 231 / 347-2733 [email protected] · www.petoskeyumc.org Pastor: Dr. James P. Mitchum · Ministries Director: Doug Mantha July 22, 2020 Dear Friends, Confession is good for the soul. Putting thoughts into words lessens their power in our lives. I need to admit that I didn’t really mean to sign up for all the changes in church and our cul- ture over the last thirty years. And I really did not sign up for the changes wrought by the current pandemic. What’s next? Maybe I’m glad I don’t know. None of us have the answers for the questions before us because not one of us has lived through something like this time. To quote Arthur Brooks in The Atlantic, We are living in a time of fear. The coronavirus pandemic has threatened our lives, health, and economy in ways most Americans have never experienced. We have no idea what the future will bring… the percentage of people in the US, who say that “the future of our nation is a significant source of stress” rose to 83 percent in June 2020, up from 63 percent in 2017. Our fears vary wildly and widely. We have fears about the divisions and unyielding rhetoric in our nation’s politics. We have economic fears about paying our bills. We have fears about international fears. We are fearful of those who refuse to wear a mask and physical distance. At times I fear for the long term future of our church. Maybe what is hardest is that many of the threats we face seem impossible to eliminate. The impossibility to eliminate threats is nothing new. There will always be threats to face and stuff to fear. So how do we cope? We cope in faith, hope, and love. Faith helps us know that God holds the world in compassionate, caring, loving hands. Hope in the power that raised Jesus from the dead, overcomes despair. John, in his mature disciple years, wrote that mature love casts out fear. [1 John 4:18] In faith, we share faith, hope, and love. “Share” is an im- portant word. Isolation feeds fear. As a community of faith, we live life together. Living life together means that sharing your fears, even admitting your loneliness, to some- one else is good and healthy. We know that what we speak out loud often loses part of its power in our lives. If admitting our fears to another is too big of risk, speak to God. God knows how we feel and yet God yearns for dialogue with us. As a child needs to speak to a parent, so we need to speak to God and know that we are his own.
4
Embed
Petoskey United Methodist Churchpetoskeyumc.org/.../07/Pastoral-Letter-7-22-20.pdf · 7/22/2020 · Petoskey United Methodist Church 1804 East Mitchell Road Petoskey, MI 49770 Tel.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Petoskey United Methodist Church 1804 East Mitchell Road