Posts from 2021 (Page 4)
Easter Week
Dear First Church Family, Holy Week blessings to you! What a difference in mood we experience during this sacred time of year. Last Sunday, we began worship with Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem, amid shouts of “Hosanna.” In fact, things were going so well that John says the Pharisees murmured: “Look! The whole world has gone after Him!” (John 12:19) Everything seemed wonderful! But Jesus knew it wouldn’t last. He knew how fickle crowds could be. He knew that the faces of people inside…
April Message
First Church Family, I continue to pray for you as we begin to move through spring. I pray that your life is being renewed just as our surroundings are. Something we don’t often talk about is the many miles Jesus walked during his ministry. There were no trains, planes, or automobiles to help in His transportation. And walking was a slow process. Interestingly, though, He came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on a donkey. He only rode it a couple…
Passion Sunday
First Church Family, I pray you are enjoying some of the signals that spring is here, arriving this past weekend. And God’s creation is alive with new life: blooming daffodils and jonquils, budding and flowering trees, Hostas breaking the surface of the ground, and the like. Last Sunday we gave in-person worship a trial run in our Sanctuary with a limited number of people. And things couldn’t have gone better. This coming Sunday, Palm/Passion Sunday, we will hold in-person worship at 10:00am in our Christian Life Center.…
Resurrection Greetings!
March 22, 2021 Resurrection Greetings! Here we are again at that beautiful time of year we know as Easter. Many have rightly called it the “Season of Resurrection,” because it highlights the most amazing event in all of human history: the moment God raised Jesus from the grave! As we enter this blessed season, I’m reminded that things are different than they used to be. We are still cautious about our comings and goings, even though we are beginning in-person…
Welcome Back
First Church Family, I pray you are enjoying some of the signals that spring is coming: blooming daffodils and jonquils (what we used to call “March flowers”), budding and flowering trees, Hostas breaking the surface of the ground, and the like. Spring will officially arrive before we worship together for the first time in a year this coming Sunday. And after a cold, dark, wet winter it couldn’t be a more anticipated arrival. As we announced last week, we are giving in-person worship a…
Re-Opening: March 21
First Church Family: Much has changed in regard to COVID 19 in the past months. Infection rates are down; vaccines are being given to a much larger number of persons across our community; and it is being reported that all three of the vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson) will prevent 100% of possible hospitalizations from the virus. Our leadership has sought to move wisely and cautiously over the many months that we have dealt with the pandemic. And we have been blessed that there…
March Message
Who Has You? One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat…
Lent and Pastor Dave Up-Date
First Church Family, I pray you are doing well this week. We have entered the season of Lent together and are bound together through the daily devotions provided by many individuals in our church and produced so masterfully by our Sheila Triplett Brady, Sarah Sponenburg, and Ivey Deitz. Please make it a practice in your family to read and meditate over those daily. In that way, we will be in unity of spirit during this Holy season. Lent is the forty days that precede Easter.…
Ash Wednesday Preparations
First Church Family: A number of persons in our church family have received the second COVID vaccine, which is wonderful. After receiving a call from the hospital weeks ago, asking whether I would want to get one if I could, I said “yes,” and set up an appointment. I was able to get my second shot Monday and did have some reaction to it. I pray you are doing well and that you will have the opportunity to be vaccinated soon. Next Wednesday, February 17, is…
Psalm 27
First Church Family: I pray you are well and are staying warm in the winter cold. My devotions this morning led me to Psalm 27. The psalm is a psalm written by David, just like Psalm 23, around which we are worshipping. David begins Psalm 27 in similar fashion to his message to God in Psalm 23: The LORD is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid?The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger,so why should I tremble? (vs. 1) There is a…
February Message
First Church Family, I pray you are continuing to manage the challenges of safely dealing with COVID-19. Our medical community is doing an exemplary job of caring for us and offering the vaccine to those who qualify. And there is some “buzz” in the community about the difference the vaccine will make in the next couple of months, in terms of lowering the number of new cases and slowing the transmission of the virus. I have often noticed that difficulties…
Serving the Community
JANUARY 20, 2021 Dear First Church Family, My prayers remain with you during this time, and I covet yours as well. Though our world still reels from the COVID onslaught and seems divided to a magnitude I haven’t experienced before; every day I am reminded of the powerful presence of Almighty God and the hope brought to us through the gift of our Savior. Last week, I was honored to be a part of a number of people gathered in-front of our hospital to encourage our health…