Dear Community of Faith at Worthington UMC,
We are beginning an adventure that few, if any of us, have experienced before; and none of us desired. As sporting challenges are cancelled, stores full as if for holiday buying, schools for K-12 closed for at least three weeks, and older students attending online as their professors scramble to figure how that will work, and churches cancelling services and increasingly more activities, we are all in a learning mode.
We will have the opportunity to be the church while not being together in worship, while not being physically at many church activities. Many churches are live-streaming this weekend and we will be working this week to have something up live next weekend. This is an area we have wanted to focus on and the time is now to do so. So, look for us next weekend to have something up and running. This weekend please go to the West Ohio UMC Facebook page and look at the devotional sharing by Bishop Palmer and consider the ideas later in this memo.
We have members and friends who are quarantined, having been out of the country or exposed to persons who were. For some of us the restrictions may seem over blown and yet, it is becoming reaI that they are very needed.
Our text in our Les Miz series for this Sunday morning is Matthew 5:38-48. John Girard was to preach this Sunday and he offers these questions for us to ponder in light of the scripture:
- Is there a time you have experienced someone treating you from an ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ mindset?
- How could they have treated you differently?
- What does it mean to be ‘perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect’ and how can we be that perfect?
Continue to watch for updates early next week. And remember that as we walk this journey, live this adventure, God is with us and will help us in learning new ways to be the church, to care for one another and to share the love of God with all!
Please feel free to let us know of prayer needs or other concerns. You can do so by sending your prayer concerns to: cyndylg@aol.com and they will be shared with the pastoral staff. If you want them shared with the prayer group, please mark as such.
In closing I would like to share this prayer that is circulating around the virtual world. Thank you for your understanding and patience; we appreciate it.
Cyndy Garn