#TogetherLCUMC
This past week we began our Road Trip sermon series. Each week during this series I will be sharing something that I have learned from the many road trips I have taken in my life. Last week we discussed how I learned that things won’t go as planned and that’s okay. This week we will discuss how I have learned what it means to be “close” to someone.
Being “close” to someone can mean a couple of things. It can mean that you are physically close to someone. When I would go on road trips growing up I would often travel in the backseat next to my little sister. As siblings will do, we often fought. Being in such small confined space we fought over territory and over pure irritation of one another. If you ever travelled with kids you could probably recall the common sounds of “his legs is on my side” or “she keeps looking at me”. Eventually my parents would tell us to put down the armrest as a divider and to not cross it! The physical closeness is not necessarily a negative thing, it also leads to the other way you become “close” to someone, emotionally close.
The confined spaces almost force you get to know each other on an emotional level. You have the opportunity to talk without too many distractions and develop emotional bonds with your traveling companions. I think one of the most difficult issues we are dealing with in the church and in our society during this pandemic is a loss of communication and emotional connection that seemed only possible when we are together. Although modern technology has helped us stay connected, it still seems insufficient. So what do we do?
As I look to the early church in second chapter of Acts, I become jealous of the sort of “close” that the church had become. The early followers of Christ were together ALL THE TIME! They ate together, lived together, worked together, and most importantly worshipped together. That is until they didn’t. For various reasons such as disagreements, troubling times, and cultural shifts the church was no longer together all the time. We know this because many of the New Testament epistles were written directly to churches and believers concerning the struggles that were dividing them.
Today we deal with a pandemic that is preventing us from being together and staying “close”. We are literally distancing ourselves from one another and so we should! So what am I going to do as your pastor? Well I am going to follow the example of the apostles and early leaders of the church. When issues separated them they still found ways to stay close and communicate. I believe communication is going to the be key moving forward. One way in which I am going to be doing this is through a weekly blog, like this one here. Each week I will share about various things going on in the life of Lake Cities United Methodist Church from my perspective. This won’t be the only or even primary way in which I will communicate, but will offer an opportunity for you to hear about things from the pastor’s perspective.
I also encourage you to find ways to communicate with the church. Take advantage of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can send me an email (pastor@lakecitiesumc.org). You may want to go old school and write us a letter. Also I want you to tell us if you have an idea or ideas how we can communicate better.
We still don’t know how long this pandemic is going to last, but we can do our best to stay “close” and still be #togetherLCUMC . Join us this Sunday online for traditional worship at 8:30 AM and contemporary worship at 10:30 AM as we continue this discussion.
In God’s grip,
Pastor Chuck Church
Lake Cities United Methodist Church
