Message from Pastor Karyn for April 2020
“Praise the One who breaks the darkness with a liberating light;
Praise the One who frees the pris’ners,
turning blindness into sight.
Praise the One who preached the gospel,
healing ev’ry dread disease,
Calming storms and feeding thousands with the very bread of peace.”
This song, set to the tune of “Come Thou Fount” is on the list of favorites for me and it has been carrying me these last few days. I am on Day 7 of social distancing/isolation and yesterday I sat with my mother and my best friend and listened to Governor Evers announce “Safer At Home” (aka shelter in place) order/step up/recommendation and my fear sky rocketed. I felt the urge to reach out to my siblings, to cuddle with my Mom, to drink, to bake, to somehow keep at bay the fear that had settled into me.
Praise the One who break the darkness with a liberating light…
This morning this song bubbled up past the fear, past the eroding hope that this won’t be as bad as the experts are saying, past the disrupted routines and rhythms of my day, to offer a measure of peace. A measure of peace that comes from a deep faith in the One who imbues this world with hope and peace. A measure of peace that come from the One who over and over again walks with me, with you, through times that seem impossibly hard. A measure of peace that comes from the light of world that darkness cannot and will not ever overcome.
Today, hope seems far off and yet, in Jesus my hope is grounded and so it is as close as my breath. Today, I will choose to keep the fear at bay by praising our God for the steady stream of grace and hope and peace that God provides each and every day, the promise that I am never alone, even during social isolation, even when I lead worship in an empty sanctuary, even when I cannot know what tomorrow will bring, I am not alone. God walks beside me every step of the way.
“Praise the one true love incarnate:
Christ, who suffered in our place;
Jesus died and rose for many that we may know God by grace.
Let us sing for joy and gladness, seeing what our God had done.
Praise the one redeeming glory; praise the One who makes us one.”
