Can We Do it Again?
Last summer my family and I went to Disney World and it truly did feel like the most magical place on earth! The atmosphere, the food, the rides, almost everything feels magical there. For my youngest son, Hayden, it was his first experience of Disney Parks and I loved seeing the excitement of it all through his eyes. He is a bit of a thrill seeker like me and loved the wild rides. As soon as the ride would end he would immediately ask, “Dad, can we do it again?” Most of the time I would say yes but every once-in-a-while I’d have to say no because the line would be too long or we had to move on to some other part of the park. He asked the same question about us going back to Disney this summer, but for many reasons (COVID-19 being one of them) we told him no. It is hard to tell him no when you see how much he loved the experience and how happy it made him.
As the pastor of Lake Cities I had a similar experience this past Sunday with our in-person outdoor worship service. I heard from so many of you how much you loved the experience and how wonderful it was to worship together again. Immediately after the service I had several people come up to me to ask, “Can we do it again?” Of course we have already planned to do it again on September 20th, but many of you wanted to do it again this Sunday. More than anything I wanted to say yes, but to be safe and give our praise band members a break I had to say no. It’s hard to say no when you could see how happy it made people to be together once again.
What I believed many of us experienced this past Sunday at our outdoor service was hope. Hope that things will go back to normal. Hope that we may find a new normal. Hope that the coronavirus will be a thing of our past. But most importantly I believe we experienced the hope that God will bring us through this all and return us together once again. The author of the book of Hebrews shares a similar message of hope. In Hebrews 12, the reader is told to continue enduring the hardships of the presence time because God is making a path to Mount Zion, a place of joy where the people of God reside. Hebrews 12:18-28 contrasts Mount Zion with Mount Sinai where Moses and the people of God stood in fear. The message here is that we are moving from a mountain of fear towards a mountain of joy!
The experience of this past Sunday was a reminder that we are moving towards a place of joy. This joy gives us hope and enables us to be the people of hope our community so desperately needs. This Sunday I hope that you will join us online as we continue our worship series called The Hope Epidemic and don’t forget our next outdoor worship service on September 20th.
In God’s grip,
Pastor Chuck Church
