Dear Glen Mar friends,
As February begins, I’m reminded of the movie Groundhog Day (where reporter Bill Murray repeats the same day – Groundhog Day over and over). Sometimes our life can feel like that . . . and certainly the horrific news from Memphis and Monterey leads to the lament “O Lord, How Long?” We are so weary of all the violence and senseless tragedy that so often surrounds us and each day can feel like a carbon copy of the day before. “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,” we sing, ”O Lord, how long . . .”
I was up at my normal time, drinking my normal coffee, and turning on the news full of the everyday predictability of sin and death, when I looked out the window and saw the ground covered with a dusting of beautiful and unexpected snow. My devotion scripture for the morning was Isaiah 58: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”
When life looks like Groundhog Day, we are reminded that in Christ, we are a new creation, that God is yet moving and speaking and healing, that even now, God is doing a new thing…sending people like you and me to be repairers of the breach and restorers of streets to live in.
This Sunday, we’ll continue our sermon series on “Spiritual Affective Disorder” with the call to be a blessing in big and small ways to our neighbors. I really hope you’ll join us and “Let the Son-shine in.”
See you in Church,
Pastor Mandy
PS Mark your calendars for the return of our Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras Pancake Supper! Tuesday 2/21 from 5-7 pm, come ready to party! Bring a friend! Music, food, fun, laughter! Let the Son-shine in!
