If you want to touch the past TOUCH A ROCK. If you want to touch the present TOUCH A FLOWER. If you want to touch the future TOUCH A LIFE.
If you’ve been at church for the last month you have seen this on the bulletin board. We have been spending time in worship thinking about the past and the present and will spend time with the future as well.
This is a time of listening for God to speak. As we peek into different parts and times of our life, as we allow the curtain to be drawn back (revelation) we listen for God’s voice. Sometimes we feel like God is silent and that may be true, but sometimes it is because we are not hearing what we want to hear or not trusting what we hear.
I know someone who for part of their college course had to go and teach in a foreign country. They were a youth leader and hoped to fulfill that season before having to go on the trip. Two opportunities presented themselves. One meant leaving youth early and one was exactly what was prayed for. Easy decision? Sometimes we make the answer harder than it needs to be.
Someone else I knew said they never prayed for life path or job because they were scared that God might ask them to do something they didn’t want to do. Sometimes I think if we do pray for direction we won’t hear God until our direction is chosen (subconsciously of course).
Here we are looking at how God has blessed Edmonton Moravian in the past and how the church has blessed God and those around us. It feels good to remember the good. But there have been many ups and downs and difficult decisions to make. Some changed the course of the church (location) and some affirmed the current way. Today we see that families are smaller, children grow and leave home and church. Numbers fall and our elders begin to step into the nearer presence of God. Much has changed (size) and much has remained (a deep sense of community and belonging).
The focus for most of the time I have been here is discerning the future God has for Edmonton Moravian. We are listening, the question is are we hearing? There is a gathering sense of God’s future vision. May you continue your journey together making the best decisions you can, knowing that God IS in your midst and IS leading your hearts and minds. “Well done, good and faithful servant[s]! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21).
Go boldly and trust God to direct.
Love to all my sisters and brothers, Pastor Trina
P.S. September 8 will be my final Sunday worshiping with you. On the 9th Ken and I fly off to Nepal for our fifth trip together (we return the end of November). It has been two years and we have greatly missed our friends and the work that is going on there. Thank you for welcoming us into your community: it has been a pleasure walking with you during these months. Please keep us in your prayers and we will keep you in ours. Thank you for all the financial support you have given for us and for the ministry in Nepal. We will let you know all about our time and work there. We go with joy feeling blessed by you and by God.
Edmonton Moravian Church 