Pastoral Letter 4

April 4, 2020

Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,

Hope you are all well and safe.

I write this fourth letter, as we will not be able to meet tomorrow to have our Palm Sunday Service to worship our God, have fellowship together and share the Lord’s Table. But we will keep on communicating via email, phone calls and our church website. I stress again that in these prevailing tough and most unpredictable times, as we face the terrible pandemic and the quick spread of Covid-19, when we don’t know what tomorrow holds, our only hope is God, our heavenly Father who loves; the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who comes to us with His grace and the Holy Spirit that gives us power to resist evil and all the challenges of life.

With this email and the attached Order of Service as an alternative to our church service, I ask you to follow the Order on Sunday morning at 9:30 am, by reading the script, the Prayers, Responsive Reading, Bible Readings and sing the hymns and think about all those who are worshiping with you at the same time. I am attaching the hymns in music and video format, to make it easy for you to sing along. Just double click on the attached file and your computer will do the rest. If you don’t have a copy of the hymnbook in your home, we are happy to drop you a copy, as well as a copy of the Bible if you need. Just let me know and we will arrange it.

If you have read my reflections in the latest Newsletter, I have said that we will also miss our Communion Service, which we usually hold on the first Sunday of each month. I am not sure when we will be able to share the Lord’s table again, but I would like to suggest to you to take a small roll of bread and some wine or juice in a cup, put them on your table and pray to God the Father seeking His blessing. Break the bread, eat it and drink from the cup with conviction and faith. Do this with your husband or wife, with the household, if you have a family living with you; and even if you are on your own, please do this in His name and in remembrance of Him.

You might ask yourself, “Am I allowed to do this?” Yes, theoretically you can’t, as this is the right of the ordained minister or priest. But we believe in the “priesthood of all believers”. So, if you believe in God and accept Jesus, the Son of God, as your Saviour, then you can do it. And I ask you to do and remember what He did for you and us all.

We can do, and we will do this! Please read the summary of the message that you will find below, meditate on it further and see what more God is saying to you. Also, don’t forget to put your offering in a dated envelope, set it aside and when the time comes to recommence and reconvene for our services in the church sanctuary and worship together, please bring the envelope/envelopes with you as a sign of your gratitude and thanks to God for keeping you safe and giving you the chance to come and join again with the loving and caring congregation, your brothers and sisters in Christ, to worship and celebrate. Alternatively, you can make a direct deposit to the church account, as our treasurer, Wendy, has suggested.

God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who was, is and will be with us always as He has promised. The promises of our God assure us that all things will work out for the better over time.

I will continue writing to you every week with a similar message and urge you to do the same, until such time when we will be able to meet again on our church premises. We are already missing the company of our sisters and brothers in Christ, the fellowship and the singing.

Please keep writing to me during the week if you have enjoyed the Service and the message summary. I will greatly appreciate and be happy to hear from you.

Please keep communicating with me for anything you need. I am more than happy to assist you, besides praying for you. If need be, I am happy to come and see you face to face, but respecting the current social distancing regulations. In the meantime, please communicate with each other with phone calls and keep informed everyone, with any new developments that happen with you, your family or any congregation member that you know is having any problems. I will try to call everyone this weekend to catch up with you.

Keep on praying and leave everything in the hands of our great God, who is our refuge and strength.

I have read the following paragraph in a letter I have received from the Barnabas Fund CEO, who writes:

We have a Hope that is steadfast

We live in uncertain times, but, as the hymn says, “we have a Hope that is steadfast and certain, gone through the curtain and touching the throne”, a Hope and Anchor for our soul that is based firmly on our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has gone before us (Hebrews 6:19-20). The Psalmist affirms that, with God as our refuge and strength, “we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea” (Psalm 46:2). Likewise, we will not fear any pandemic that may sweep across our globe, but of course need to take the precautions required.

Message Summary

“Give Thanks! Can We?”

Today is Palm Sunday, a day when people, and especially children, are supposed to be full of joy and praise, with Palm and Olive branches in their hands. But this year our outlook is a bit different than in years past. This year, our world is different.

Economies are collapsing, businesses are shutting their doors, thousands of people are becoming unemployed.

Yes, this year our world is a bit different.

I think the entire world is distressed. All the churches, without any exceptions, have closed their doors and are trying to find different means to communicate with the members of their congregation, minister to their needs and using alternate ways of doing Sunday Services and other church ministries.

Also, today, as we celebrate Palm Sunday, it’s supposed to be a time to raise our voices with joy and express our thanks. But instead many people are losing hope.

The cure for this kind of depression and stress is a continued faithfulness and hope in God’s love for us. Jesus is the only answer to this world’s problems. Because He should be at the core, this kind of worry, despair, stress, and depression are spiritual problems.

Yes, things have changed this year, but God has not! And this is one thing…the greatest thing we have to be thankful for! So, don’t question yourself saying: “Can We?”

The Psalmist declares in this beautiful Psalm: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever!”

If we can give thanks to God during both the good times and the bad, then we will most certainly overcome any and all difficulties this life can throw at us and to our face. We will be able to keep on going, regardless of what goes around us. Because God is with us.

God’s love for you; God’s love for me endures forever!

The deadly Coronavirus will not be with us forever—certainly not into eternity. But God will be with us—through it all.

The Psalmist continues:

“Let Israel say: ‘His love endures forever.’

Let the house of Aaron say: ‘His love endures forever.’

Let those who fear the Lord say: ‘His love endures forever.’

In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free.

The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?”

As Christians, we are part of something which is much larger than ourselves and the pandemic. We are the members of the body of Christ – the Church. His church. This gives our lives hope and meaning and helps us to survive and keep step with all the challenges we face.

We have so many worries as we face life threatening evil, but we can turn to God, who is our only hope.

In verse 5 of our Psalm, the Psalmist declares: “In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free. The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

It is difficult to say similar words, when the world is on its knees and day after day the number of the fatalities grow exponentially.

We are in pain and anguish! But when we call out to the Lord in the midst of our anguish, when we honestly call out to God and hand God the reigns, He answers by being with us and walking with us through these hard and difficult days.

Yes, the whole world has changed as we face difficult situations. We are in distress and almost in a state of giving up all hope. How can we have hope and give thanks to God?

In verse 6, the Psalmist writes: “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

When we are assured, through the experience of faith, that the Lord is with us we no longer have reason to be afraid.

In these turbulent and uncertain times, this is truly something to cherish and something to be thankful for.

Yes, the world has changed. We are in storm and in great fear, a feeling that, for many, is something we have never felt before.

We have to rejoice on this special day, not like the joy of the people who went out to welcome the Saviour, who was entering Jerusalem, seated on a donkey. Because those shouts of joy were going to change into the shouts of hatred and condemnation in just a few days.

God is good and God’s love lasts forever, and He will be with us through the storm and lead us safely through it, until we get out of it with joy and thanksgiving.

And because of this, as the Psalmist says, we “will proclaim what the Lord has done.”

We will give thanks to God in uncertain times!

We can! We should! And we will!

This may very well be the best Palm Sunday ever, if we are ready to give thanks to God, even in these challenging days. If we believe in Him and trust Him, we will give thanks to the Lord.

May it be so.

Amen.