May the God of hope…
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
Dear Church Family,
This week, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, the heart of discrimination beat a little stronger. The baker and those like him trample over the Gospel to reach their vision of a moral high ground. As they claim their stake in morality, they puncture the very heart of Jesus’ message and mission.
Jesus crossed boundaries, broke traditions, and confronted religious authorities to embrace the oppressed and marginalized. If we strive to follow Christ, we are bound to find ourselves at odds with the culture. With hate and fear constantly pouring through our social media accounts and television, we might doubt the power of faith, or the church’s ability to make a positive impact on the world. We may feel defeated and alone, but we are not. We have faith. We have each other. God has us all.
Our Office Manager, Win Bent, shared the following quote with me recently, and it is a wonderful reminder that the work of faith and social justice can never be done alone.
This morning I have been pondering a nearly forgotten lesson I learned in high school music. Sometimes in band or choir, music requires players or singers to hold a note longer than they actually can. In those cases, we were taught to mindfully stagger when we took a breath so the sound appeared uninterrupted. Everyone got to breathe, and the music stayed strong and vibrant.
Yesterday, I read an article that suggested the administration’s litany of bad executive orders is a way of giving us “protest fatigue” – we will literally lose our will to continue the fight in the face of the onslaught of negative action. Let’s remember MUSIC.
Take a breath. The rest of the chorus will sing. The rest of the band will play. Rejoin so others can breathe. Together, we can sustain a very long, beautiful song for a very, very long time. You don’t have to do it all, but you must add your voice to the song. With special love to all the musicians and music teachers in my life.
— Michael Moore
My friends, we don’t have to do it all, but we must add our voice to God’s song of grace, and hope. May love’s heavenly chorus rise above the destructive noise of ignorance, fear and hate as we lift our voices in faith together.
Pastor Katheryn