FAITH CONNECTION – FARMERSVILLE UMC
Ministry Updates for Tuesday, November 24th, 2020
The annual wreath sale will continue amid Covid-19! We have moved the order form to an online format or you can call the church at 937-696-2502 to place your order. Orders are due Wednesday, November 25th and they will be delivered to your home by a youth/church member on Saturday, December 5th (local deliveries only, please). Contactless delivery is available – just note your preference on the order form. Checks (no cash) must be sent to the church with “Wreaths” on the memo line to complete your order. This fundraiser benefits the youth group to support their endeavors throughout the year. We thank the congregation for your continued support! Here is the order link: https://forms.gle/B2m79eahm3RQH9Ms8
Scripture – Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Reflection – Thanksgiving Part II – Running on Empty
Songs from my generation often come to my head when I read passages of scripture. When I read this one, I think of the song by Jackson Browne ‘Running on Empty’.
As we all know, you can’t ‘run on empty’. You can drive a car near empty, but not on it. Is Mr. Browne implying some mystical force? The words of the song may imply just that:
‘Everyone I know, everywhere I go,
People need some reason to believe’
We have this ‘thing’ called a soul. The soul is a place where, among other things, hope lives. That hope is God is with us. That hope is God loves us. That hope is God is powerful, and nothing, not even torture or death on a cross, will stop God from bringing us into his eternal kingdom of love and light.
I often hear Christians say, ‘I don’t know how I got through that tough time.’ Well, the simple answer is in what we read in the scripture above, that he gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. God gives us wings to rise above.
As you move through your thanksgiving week, a most important thing to be thankful for is God who gets us through the toughest of times. Maybe your life is running along fine. If so, you can be grateful to God for that. Or maybe this pandemic is hitting you hard. If so, you can be grateful for the promise, which I know you have experienced before, that God gets us through.
Our Prayer
God, we are tired. Some of us feel like we are ‘running on empty.’ God, in this season of Thanksgiving, we are thankful that You have brought us this far during the pandemic. Be with those who feel the walls are closing in on them. Be with those who are without jobs. Be with those who are working long hours due to situations around the pandemic. Be with our soldiers overseas, and anyone displaced from family. Lord, we pray You would be with anyone who is wondering if they can make another day. Let them know You will carry them when they can no longer carry themselves. We give you thanks for the energy You give us when we are faint and weary. We give you thanks for wings of faith.
Amen.