Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Psalm 43:5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Yesterday, I was reminded how much easier it is to give spiritual advice than it is to live it. As I was working from home yesterday, thinking about the different things my family has going on, and listening to the concerns of our leaders and health professionals about this current pandemic, I was feeling a great amount of anxiety and stress. I started reflecting on a thought I shared on Sunday, that when we experience suffering we should be thankful to Jesus for His sufferings and ask him to use our suffering to make us more like Him. How was God using the stress, uncertainty, and anxiety that I was experiencing to make me more like him? I decided to pray and ask God those questions, His answer, humility. Before this circumstance, I cannot think of a time where I was made more aware of how dependent I am on routine, structure, and handling the familiar. I think God is using this in my life to humble me. I am learning that I am not as dependent on Him as I thought I was. God is freeing me from holding on tightly to my physical circumstances and showing me how to hold on to Him more tightly. How quickly our circumstances can change in a matter of seconds, minutes, days, and weeks. But God is unchanging. I don’t think I realized how much of my hope was in my circumstances. Don’t be downcast in this time Park Street, hope in God.
Adam Herndon, Minister to Families
- Learn more about how to practically love those in need in our city.
- Connect with one another online.
- Join us on Sunday for worship at 11 am or 4 pm.
- Other important links and info as we respond to COVID-19.
- God is on the throne. He is ruling and reigning over the world and our lives, and he loves us more than we can fully comprehend. This is a love from which nothing can separate us—not death, not this pandemic, not an economic downturn. Nothing. Remember and rest in that love.
- We are a people, a family. The church is not a worship service. It’s a diverse and united family of those who worship God in spirit and in truth. That means that you and I are not alone, and we’re not meant to manage our varied responses to this pandemic alone. If you are alone, please reach out and know that we are trying to reach out to you as well.
- We are a praying people. I love the psalms. They have taught me how to pray. One of their main lessons is this: be honest with God. He can handle it. Are you anxious? Frustrated? Angry? Annoyed? Tell him. Start there in prayer. We are called to pour our hearts out to him (Ps 62.8), and to cast our anxieties on God because he cares for us (1 Pt 5.7). In addition to being honest, intercede for one another, for your colleagues, for elected leaders, for your neighbors, and for the vulnerable. God hears and God has what this pandemic so clearly shows us that we lack: power.
- We are witnesses. This is always true, but trials allow us to bear witness in a uniquely powerful way. E. Stanley Jones, a Methodist missionary to India (d. 1973), wrote, “You are to find your finest opportunity for witnessing through these very troubles. In other words, you are not to bear your calamities, you are to use them. You are to turn your trials to a testimony.” How might we, the church, turn the trial of this pandemic into a testimony about Jesus? In many ways, no doubt, but let me suggest that we can do so by being a non-anxious community of worshipers who care for the vulnerable and love one another and our neighbors.
- This week’s Wednesday Lenten Service will be available only via streaming. It will be live from 12:15–12:45 PM, and available on our Youtube page afterward. We encourage you to take a moment in the middle of your day to worship corporately, yet remotely. This week, Miranda Kwon, a PSC pastoral intern, will be bringing us a short meditation, “Giving Back to God The Things of God.”
- Sunday services will be streamed online only. In compliance with Gov. Baker’s declaration, we will only be permitting people essential to bringing you a virtual worship service into the church building. We are brainstorming new and creative ways to more fully involve our community in corporate worship. View the live stream.
- The Installation Service for our new Senior Minister has been postponed until a later date. While Mark will still begin his ministry with us next week, a date for the formal installation service will be announced in the future.
- Do you have a prayer request? If so, please submit it to us so our prayer team can pray for you. In the coming weeks we expect to have a great demand for needs within our community.
- Please consider giving to the Deacon’s Fund if you are able, which helps those members of our PSC community with direct, immediate need. If you know of someone in the PSC community who is in need, please contact Pat Chen.
- Are you a deacon or ministry leader? We have resources to help you facilitate remote ministry. Visit www.parkstreet.org/remotemeetings for tips or get technical support.