Pastoral Reflections

Greetings to all those wanting to finish strong 

I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No SLOPPY living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself” – 1 Corinthians 9:26 (Message) 

Recently my 36-year-old son Levi ran the Boston Marathon, his first.  His employer is a proud sponsor, making provisions for their employees, so Levi was able to bypass the usual qualifiers.  He ran a great race, and at the finish line, posed, smiling with his family.  I was proud to give him a hug and congratulate him. He had made great time, only taking 20 minutes longer than he had estimated. Though he had finished well, he chided himself that he could have done better.  He had attacked ‘heartbreak hill’ topped it, then let up some.  This is what he regretted.  He felt he could have completed the run with a better time.   

When it comes to the race of life you should endeavor to finish strong in faith. The Bible says ‘the outer man perishes, but the inner person in renewed day by day.  It is easy, on ‘heartbreak hill’, or even after, to ease up, give up, and possibly ‘curse God & die’.  May our inner confidence and resolve, our faith in God and His promise, our hope in life eternal in the place He has specifically built for us, be ever-increasing, and we ‘finish strong’.  Near the end of his life, the Apostle Paul was able to say, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful’. 

Whether it’s doing chores at your house, working on homework, or in any other area, in life, it takes character to finish strong. ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might’; You may want to give up when things get hard, but today’s verse challenges us to do the opposite. Instead of quitting when things get tough, we are challenged to keep running hard. This is difficult to do when you’re tired, frustrated, and just want to give up. However, true character is pushing past what seems difficult. Its when you push past what is comfortable that you really see great results. And the Spirit of God will help. 

Pastor Lloyd

Greetings to the thirsty people of God. 

Ezekiel’s vision of the future temple (Ezekiel 47) describes life-giving waters that will flow from under the doorway of the temple eastward to the Dead Sea. The farther this water flows, the deeper it gets. As Ezekiel followed its path, he reported that the water increased from ankle-deep to knee-deep, to waist-deep, until it finally became an overflowing deep river (deep enough to swim in) that provided life everywhere it went and to everything it touched. 

This is a beautiful, elegant description of how the Holy Spirit works in the lives of those who surrender to God’s mercy and grace. At first, God’s gracious supply is a small stream flowing through our lives, but it continues to increase as we continue to walk in the light of God’s Word. As water is critical for a desert to bloom, so God’s spiritual water is critical for every believer to become all that God intends them to be. The Holy Spirit brings us wisdom, power, and spiritual transformation that will last forever. The flow of God’s Spirit gets deeper and deeper for those who seek Him and walk with Him. His water is available for any who surrenders to Him. 

This is echoed in Christ’s words of John’s Gospel Chapter 7 saying, “All who are thirsty should come to me! All who believe in me should drink! As the scriptures said concerning me, ‘Rivers of living water will flow out from within him’”. With the Samaritan woman of John 4, Jesus says: “but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life” 

In Revelation 22, John’s vision of heaven declares, “Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. ² It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit,^[a] with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.”   

Water is a necessity of life.  Scripture encourages us to desire the vitalization that only the Holy Spirit brings, and will be part of our future eternal life.   ‘Come to the Water’   Let the River flow! 

“LORD, help us to become completely immersed in Your river of eternal life this day.” 

Pastor Lloyd

Greetings in the name of our everlasting God

Last week Lloyd invited us to reflect on summer and to “seize the joy of the season.”. This is a timely and important message for us to hear. I have always understood summer as a time to slow our pace and experience rest and renewal.

Our lives are full of many things, many of them good. But the reality is that these many good things, along with the difficult and trying things, can leave us tired and weary. We need seasons of life when we can step back for a time, intentionally slow our pace, and rest. We need holiday time when we can disconnect from the continuing routines of life and take a break to be renewed. And if “change is a good as a rest” maybe even the busyness of summer, if it’s a different kind of busy, can also feel like rest. I pray that is the case for many of us this summer.

But sometimes our need for rest, and disconnecting from the busy routines of life, is complicated by the urgent realities that seem to never rest, and relentlessly confront us and call for our attention. It is hard to disconnect when demanding decisions keep confronting us. It is hard to disconnect from a world struggling because of violence, war, climate crisis, economic change and uncertainly. It is hard to rest when those we love are lonely, struggling, suffering, and need us close. It can be hard to disconnect and rest…, but maybe because of the urgent realities we face, it is more important than ever.

I invite us to consider another reality. God our creator is an everlasting God who never grows weary and never losses sight of our needs. We can trust God to hold and care for what we cannot. God has the whole world in his hands!

²⁸ Have you never heard?
    Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
    No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak
    and strength to the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will become weak and tired,
    and young men will fall in exhaustion.
³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40)

God want to use us to bless the lives of those we love. God wants us to be channels of healing grace and love. But God invites us to trust that when we pause to rest, he will continue to be present and actively at work in the world and in the lives of those in need. God will keep being the everlasting God!  So, trust that reality and rest in that truth.

I pray you find many moments of rest and renewal this summer. If you do, you will continue to run the race of faith and not grow weary, you will continue to walk the Jesus path of love and service and not faint.

Pastor Ray

Greetings to the light emitters of God’s People! 

We have just marked the beginning of summer and the “longest day of the year.” Of course, the day is no longer or shorter than any other day. But on June 21, our town had about 15 and a half hours of sunlight.  

Summer is a season known for cultivating and bearing good fruit.  There is just nothing like a sweet, sun-ripened summer strawberry.  Could we say, it is like a taste of heaven?  Summer is known to be ‘harvest time’. Farmers are busy, reaping and bringing in the fruits of their labours. 

With longer days and warmer weather, we tend to spend more time outdoors.  There are weekends at the lake, dinners on the grill, bonfires, sticky smores, and much more.  Summertime is a time for bearing fruit and embracing the abundant life that surrounds us.  Yes, the days are now getting shorter, fall and winter will come, but don’t let thoughts of the unknown rob you of the joys of the moment.  Seize the joy of the season. 

At East Zorra, this summer, there seems to be a number of transitions or seasons that are looming.  These seasons must happen as surely as the earth rotates around the sun. Each season brings a different set of joys to embrace. Though daylight is waning, the sun is still shining, all the time.  Jesus is the light of the world.  Though we may not see Him, He is still there, a constant in a changing world.  His love never ceases, through all the seasons of life. 

You may believe that there’s a lot of darkness in the world even during our daylight hours: violence, conflict, prejudice, apathy, loneliness, sadness, and so on. Jesus is the light of the world and calls us lights as well. How can we shine as lights, reflecting this light of Jesus, on those who suffer in darkness? 

And despite the darkness, we see in the world, despite the darkness in us, or even the fact that from today on, our days will darken more and more with the coming of winter—we can still live in the light of hope that one day, there will be no more darkness. 

At the end of time, the world will have no darkness at all—God’s light will shine forever among us and there will be no more night, no more curse, no more tears, death, or suffering. The “longest day of the year” can’t hold a candle to this light that will last forever. 

So, enjoy today’s sunlight. Step out, take advantage of these daylight hours, and also, put your trust in the light of Christ: overcome darkness where you see it, and live in hope for the endless light of eternity. 

It’s time to rise and shine!

Pastor Lloyd

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ who, “is the same yesterday and today and forever”. (Hebrews 13.8)

We live in a world that is impacted by so much change – social change, political change, industrial change, climate/environmental change, religious change….

As we navigate these changes, we experience our own personal and interpersonal changes. Changes in family structure and dynamics, work and leisure changes, faith formation changes, changes in attitudes, perceptions and understanding, health and wellness changes, physiological changes as we mature and age.

And as we navigate all of this, we also face church and faith community changes. Changes in the way we plan for worship, change in programming and approaches to ministry and faith formation, changes in offering collection, technological changes, visioning around potential building changes, pastoral and parish nurse changes… Next week our Church Ministry Council meets, and in the weeks following that gathering, 5 of our current 9 members will complete ministry assignments and 5 new leaders will join the ministry council team. More change!

Change can be positive and life giving, just what we need. It can also be hard and devasting and can catch us unaware and may feel like the hit we certainly didn’t need. Whether positive or negative, change can cause stress and anxiety. During all this change, and all the life adjustments that come as a result, we need some constants to help sustain and anchor us and remind us that we will be ok.

Amidst all the change, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, God in human flesh, is our sure and constant presence and friend.

Psalm 102 speaks to the constant of God in our lives.

²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away,
²⁷ but you are the same, and your years have no end.
²⁸ The children of your servants shall live secure; their offspring shall be established in your presence.

God/Jesus is our constant in love, faithfulness, justice, mercy amidst all the changes we experience. But God is not confined by only one way of revealing that love, faithfulness, justice, and mercy. God’s way of being present to us may change, or Jesus’s way of revealing love and mercy may change, or our perspective of God may change. But as the writer of Lamentations testifies, amidst all the changes of life, the love and faithfulness of God consistently remains and is renewed every day. That will not change!

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3)

Pastor Ray