FAITH CONNECTION – FARMERSVILLE UMC
Ministry Updates for Friday, October 16th, 2020
Facebook Live Worship—Sunday, October 18th, at 9:30 a.m.
Please join us as we again worship through Facebook Live. Use this link to watch the service. And please consider passing it along. https://fb.me/e/3acy1QMYb
In-Person Worship – 11am
If you failed to register for in-person worship, please feel free to attend. While it is important that we honor our commitment to keep our numbers under 50, after our first two in-person services, we have been well below that.
Fellowship Hike – Germantown Dam
Fall Colors Hike in the Woods – Saturday, October 24 – meet at 9:00 am at Conservancy Road entrance to Germantown Reserve parking lot. We will socially distance as we hike.
Scripture – Acts 3:8
Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
Reflection – Joy
There is a second, hidden miracle in the passage we have been looking at this week (Acts 3:1-10). If we read carefully, we learn this man was born without use of his legs. Not only are his legs now functional, he already knows how to walk and even leap.
As I watch my granddaughter learn to walk it appears to be a slow arduous process. But maybe it does not feel that way to her. And honestly, it does not feel that way to me. I know her ability to move about will bring her freedom to walk, run, jump and play. All who love her feel the joy of this newfound freedom she has gained.
You may have seen the episode of ’60 Minutes’ about the young man with severe autism and the inability to communicate. He was given a piano, and was instantly able to play it, without any lessons.
I believe in miracles. Some of them seem to unfold slowly. Others boggle the mind in how quickly they occur. Whether someone develops a skill with much practice or instantaneously, it is still a miracle worth celebrating with joy.
I think that is why we don’t tire of watching someone throw a football 50 yards in the air on the dime to a sprinting receiver, or of listening to our favorite song that miraculously speaks to our hearts, or watching in wonder as our babies learn to walk. Skill, art, practice, perseverance, natural talent, and the like all combine to produce the miracles humanity is capable of.
And it brings us joy. Or it should, if we are paying attention. That, to me, is an important lesson of this poor man who had not been able to walk since birth. He did not lament what he had lost. He celebrated the love of God and the hope of a brand new future.
Our Prayer
God our parent, whose desire it is to shower good upon Your children, we sometimes fail to realize the miracle of being able to walk without falling, of being able to breath in order to restore the oxygen to our bloodstream, of our hearts beating non-stop for a lifetime. This life is a miracle. Free us from all that holds us back from walking, and leaping and praising you with hearts filled with joy in response to your miracles. Amen.