FAITH CONNECTION – FARMERSVILLE UMC
Ministry Updates for Monday, June 22nd, 2020
Scripture for reflection – Joshua 1:6
Be strong and courageous; for you (Joshua) shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.
Reflection – Where is Your Promised Land?
We are hearing phrases like ‘The new normal’, and ‘Return to normal’. That makes me wonder. Every year my life changes. Sometimes I would rather ignore those changes, especially the ones that have to do with the aging body. But most changes have been welcome ones. I appreciate the perspective on life and the gratitude that emotional and spiritual maturity bring.
What do I want my life to look like? What brings me happiness? How do I spend this valuable life and time with which God has blessed me? These questions run through my mind frequently. I am not always sure of the answers, but I do know I can never go back to some idyllic time. Remembering the past is important. Returning to it is impossible.
God promised the Hebrew people who were in slavery a land to go to when they had left slavery. In reality, this was the land from which they came, some 400 plus years earlier (see Acts 7:6). They were really going back to the same physical place. But they would not be the same people, for sure. They would have been molded and shaped by the experiences of slavery and, more recently, of being wilderness nomads.
As our world and nation change with the profound events of COVID-19 and the quest for greater racial equity and justice, many of us will, like the Hebrew people, be going back to the same space. But we will be different people.
The questions I shared above are important for each of us, personally. But the more important question is, ‘Where is God going with this world?’. A second is like it, ‘How do we go along with God with the kind of strength and courage which leaves us filled with hope and joy?’ I hope you can see that the question is the beginning of the answer.
Prayer
Great God in heaven, there are times when it seems like this world changes at a dizzying pace. It is hard to make plans, especially with those who live out of town. We are less certain than ever about what tomorrow will bring. Help us be strong and courageous as we move into this new way of being. Help us live with the hope and the joy that your goodness, as it always has, will prevail again. Amen