Welcome Home!
This Sunday, Pine Valley United Methodist Church will be going back into the gym for worship services, and I can hardly wait! I cannot wait to hear the voices lifted in that gym, praising God! My eyes well up thinking about it! I have enjoyed the outdoor services, but I have missed being inside with my church family! I have heard people say they are excited and feel like they are going to church for the first time! Others have said they think it will be so emotional. Some people do not want to come inside, and that is ok too! Do whatever you are comfortable with. We will be streaming all three services online, so there is something for everyone.
We are learning how to do things in new ways - in fact - we have learned a lot in the past five months. We learned that PVUMC still had church even when the doors were closed! We learned we still have a children's and youth ministry even though the doors are closed! We learned the old and young could still meet and be friends through penpals! We learned we could have Sunday school and Bible studies on Zoom! We learned we could have Wednesday night suppers - drive-through style!
Monday in a staff meeting, we were planning our homecoming/reunion indoors. Pastor Tim led our devotional from Isaiah 43:16-19, “This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Not sure about you, but, during these past five months, I have felt, at times, like I have been through mighty waters, and I have been snuffed out! Even if everything in your personal life is going well, this has been an emotionally and mentally hard time for people.
Verse 18 is tough for me, “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” It is hard not to think of church as the way we have known it. The Lord says to forget the former things and do not dwell on the past. He was really talking to me! Going inside is still going to be different. Our family unit will sit six feet apart from the next, and that may mean we do not get to be in “our” seat! Since we have to sanitize the chairs between services, we will have to exit quickly so we will not be hanging around visiting with our friends. We won’t have coffee and snacks. Go ahead and whine so we can forget the former things and not dwell on the past!
Moving on to the future - I am thankful for the excitement that this announcement of coming indoors has brought to so many people! Verse 19, God is telling us that He is doing a new thing! This is what we need to dwell on! He also says He is making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. He is bringing great things from all of this. I believe God is planning a revival! Pastor Tim reminded us of how important water was back then. Water was a great thing, and the streams made the wasteland valuable.
Through this, we have all learned a lot about ourselves. The staff and volunteers have had to do things differently. One Sunday, Pat was doing the video and camera and left to play the bongos and go back to videoing. Our kitchen crew is now a greeting and temperature taking team! As someone said in our staff meeting, “It is a joy to be able to pivot.” We are still on a new path, which means it is sometimes a rough trail getting where we need to be. God has spoken, “I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” A river in the desert is miraculous, supernatural and unimaginable! When the conditions are dire and hopeless God can bring an unexpected miracle, an unexpected second chance, an implausible outcome. I am sure on Good Friday, the disciples could never have imagined that Jesus would rise from the dead! And these extraordinary events happen to ordinary people! Here we are two thousand years later, still worshiping the God who does the unimaginable, Who finds a new way in our life, in our church, in our community and in our world! He is doing a new thing!