Third Service Added for Sunday Worship
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THIRD SERVICE ADDED FOR SUNDAY WORSHIP We have great news! Because things went so well on our first Sunday back, and the demand seems to be there, we have added an 11 a.m. service to our Sunday worship schedule which will now include services at 8, 9:30, and 11 a.m. This will increase our capacity to 300 people between three Sunday services and alleviate the pressure on the very popular 9:30 a.m. time slot. You can sign up online at flccs.net to reserve your spot. If you’ve previously signed up and want to move to another time slot, please email Cheryl at [email protected]. HELP WANTED! We are all thrilled to have three services in which to worship together in the Sanctuary! Even with COVID Restrictions, we are welcoming more than 300 people into church each Sunday. This means we need your help! We have a critical need for Greeters, Ushers and Communion Preparation. No experience necessary! We are happy to teach you! You simply need to bring a smile to welcome people to worship! If you haven't already, please complete the How Would YOU Like to Serve? form. If you've already filled it out but would like to add something, please fill it out again! https://bit.ly/2OyeHxM 1 From the Pastor It’s been said that we’ve all been in the same storm this past year with the pandemic, but we haven’t all been in the same boat. One pastor suggested that some of us have gone through this storm in a yacht while others have gone through it in a rowboat or clinging to driftwood. I think of all that the things that people have lost. Some of us were hit directly by this storm and lost loved ones to Covid. I watched recently as a family gathered at the columbarium around the niche where their loved one is laid, re- membering the one-year anniversary of his death. Some of us lost a year with family, being isolated from grandchildren and family and friends. Some of us lost milestone celebrations like proms and graduations. Some of us lost vacations we were looking forward to and special events that we had been planning. We’ve tried to make up for some of those things, but most of them are just gone. What do you do with loss? You grieve. You have to grieve in order to heal from what you have endured. I sit with a lot of families, especially this time of year, who are grieving the death of a spouse or parent. We gather at the church, and I invite them to tell me the story of their loved one. It is so powerful to see the healing that happens just when they are given permission to remember and talk about the one they have lost. I think that’s what we all need to do right now as we begin to emerge from the pandem- ic. Remember and talk about the things that you have lost. This past year isn’t one to brush under the rug and forget. Name the things that you missed, the hurt you experienced, and the grief that you feel. Then the healing can begin. And let us ask what God has taught us this year. What has God revealed to us during the pandemic? We’ve learned how precious community is. We’ve learned how strong our church can be. We’ve had our eyes opened to people and situations that we had tended to neglect. We’ve learned that we can adapt and change and do old things in new ways. We’ve learned how vulnerable we are, too. I’m expecting this to be a year of learning as we debrief the pandemic. It was so good to see some of you face to face after a year apart. We have some catching up to do! I hope our hearts can be open to the lessons God still wants to teach us. I hope we can linger with one another longer and soak in the gift of each other’s presence. I look forward to seeing more and more of you in the coming months. God be with us all. -Pastor Travis 2 3 EASTER 2021 Brothers and sisters in Christ grace, peace and mercy to you from Jesus Christ our risen Lord and Savior. As we come together to celebrate resurrection joy, have you ever noticed that the other things that seem to come with it are a lot of being terrified and doubtful? From finding the empty tomb, to en- countering the risen Lord, there is an awful lot of uncertainty, fear, and doubt. Not unexpected, I guess. But Jesus did tell them that he would never leave them, that he would be back. Perhaps they really just didn’t know what to expect, and until they could see, understanding was going to be just too difficult. Today we face many situations of unbelief. We find it outside the church, inside the church, or sometimes I fear even within preachers who aren’t sure what they know or believe anymore. At Easter time, the words “Christ is Risen!” are answered with “Alleluia, he is risen indeed.” But unspo- ken responses might include, “Oh really?” or “I doubt it” or “I wish I believed that” or even, “You’ve got to be kidding.” So many wondering if Easter really is too good to be true. But God has heard all this before and each time that Jesus encounters someone after his resurrec- tion he seems to begin by telling his frightened, doubting disciples, “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36). Today in Psalm 4 we find that it, too, offers peace to troubled hearts and trust to doubting minds. The readings for today all look at how we encounter and can work through our unbelief. I mean we would love it if in the chorus of “Christ is Risen” every response was a joyful “He is Risen, indeed” but from the very first Easter to today, the good news that Jesus lives brings different responses from his most faithful follower to one who has never considered the good news. Some people re- ceive the message with joy. Others are skeptical or fearful, and still others reject the message out- right. The Psalm begins with a prayer for help. In our Eastertide where faith and doubt collide and hope hovers precariously, this prayer for help is one we can pray over and again. Beginning with the cry to “Answer me when I call, O God…” and ending with a statement of faith. “You have put gladness in my heart…You alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.” Beginning and ending with God – a good idea for all our days. The psalmist gets a little salty in the middle of his prayer. He offers some direction to all those who are hearing his prayer, those who believe and those who don’t. Some who are anxious and cannot Sermon cont. p. 4 Sermon, cont. from p. 4 sleep, and others who want to know what God has done says, “When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on for them lately. I will tell you, this is the place where I your beds, and be silent.” The fears, struggles, constant struggle with the world around me. This is where as a unknowns are enough to keep anyone awake at night believer, as a pastor, I wonder the same things as the and tempt us to find relief anywhere we can. But the Psalmist; why is it so hard to hear the good news, to psalmist exhorts us to pray and trust. For insomniac know that you receive God’s grace (whether you realize believers, who believe but have trouble trusting, the it or not). Why is it easier to love vanity over truth or to Psalm ends up with these reassuring words, “I will both seek after lies? I don’t know how many of you feel that lie down and sleep in peace”. It also points me to the frustration, have friends or family who either don’t scripture to “trust in the Lord with all of your heart, believe or sit on the fringe of their faith in ways that and lean not on your own understanding.” If I had to wouldn’t identify them as one who loves the Lord? So, depend on self alone, I don’t know that I would ever as we celebrate the Easter resurrection, I feel sad some- have a good night’s sleep. times for those who don’t know what it’s like to shout, The psalmist also calls into question those who don’t “Alleluia, he is Risen!” Then as I look to the Psalm I’m believe that God has done anything good for them late- reminded, by God’s faithfulness, and not of my own ly. I wonder what the disciples in the house must have (because, frankly, I can be a little salty), that God gives been thinking as they sat, likely scared, afraid of perse- us room when we are in distress, says the first verse of cution, yet having been assured by the return of Jesus the Psalm. Easter means that God sets us free from the that he was with them. Was their faith being tried, did fear of death – God “gives us room.” In the Psalms, this they believe because they had seen? Did they have language means that God lifts us out of a tight spot.