A Congregational Letter to Morgan’s Point and Forks Road East United Churches
It was a wonderful week for me, as I connected in with so many of you through phone and text. Unfortunately, I am not always able to speak with everyone each week, but I am able to have conversations with a good number of you, which, helps me to know how folks in both congregations are doing. As of this past week, we are doing well, staying safe, and enjoying our families and friends through facetiming, zooming, and skyping.
We will be concluding the Season of Epiphany in just three weeks. Following the Season of Epiphany, we enter the Season of Lent. Lent begins on Wednesday, February 17th, with Ash Wednesday. Sunday, February 21st, is Lent 1, and during the Lent 1 Worship Service, we will be celebrating Holy Communion. I will remind you over the next few weeks about this special service, so that you can have your juice and your bread available to participate in the Communion Service during the Sunday morning YouTube service.
My sermon this week is based on Mark 1:14-20, and is entitled “Follow Me”. In the lesson from Mark’s Gospel, Simon and Andrew are casting their nets into the sea, while James and John are mending their nets. Although we may not fish for a living, like Simon and Andrew, James and John, we all know about casting and mending nets. Casting and mending nets is our life. It is our everyday activities. We cast and mend to make a living, to feed our family, to pay the bills, and to gain the things we want like a house, a car, books, cloths, and a vacation. Casting and mending are realities of life. They are, also, the circumstances in which Jesus comes to us, inviting us into new life.
Simon, Andrew, James, and John, were not looking for Jesus. They were much too busy with the nets, but Jesus saw them, spoke to them, and invited them to follow him. Isn’t it interesting how Jesus has a way of showing up in the ordinary places of our lives, and interrupting the daily routines of casting and mending. That’s what he did to the lives of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. That’s what he does to your life and my life.
“Follow me” is Jesus’ invitation to a new life. If we accept the invitation, our lives will, forever, be changed. We will begin a journey, an inner journey, into the deepest part of our being, to the place where God resides. May we joyfully make that decision today.
Let us continue to pray for one another every morning at 10:30, remembering that God grants us wisdom, love, and peace as we hold each other in God’s tender keeping. Much love and care to you all. Keep well and safe.
God’s Blessings,
Pastor Laura
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