Greetings,
my friends
Tomorrow we will be emailing our updated Beacon Newsletter for our church, and you will see there are a lot of additions. It must be January because it’s the time when we seem to reset ourselves and start new things. I don’t know about you, but personally I made no resolutions this year, I just was not in the mood or spirit to do so. Instead, I decided to face the new year and (hopefully) gracefully handle what came my way.
Bay Shore, Wednesday did not go as planned.
On the Day of Epiphany, I usually enjoy the holy day in a variety of ways (if you missed the traditional House Blessing I posted on the 5th, you can view it here).
Instead, I found myself spending the afternoon watching scenes I never thought I would see. I found myself wondering how this could be happening. I found myself praying hard, Bay Shore. While I had known Epiphany Day was going to be different this year, I had no idea how much.
I’m still handling what I saw on Wednesday. I hope that I am doing so gracefully. But I know this—like the wise men who visited Jesus and were affected by what they saw, I too am affected by what I saw. After a night of bad dreams, I woke up knowing that my year will personally go another route now. I have been changed.
So, my prayers are with you, Bay Shore, because I know you saw it all, too. I pray for our next weeks ahead, I pray for those who are grieving the loss of life from Wednesday, those who are working so hard to roll out the vaccines, those who are working endlessly in the health professions watching over patients with COVID, and for those upset in Kenosha. Suddenly I understand why Paul wrote that he prayed unceasingly. You see, when you open your eyes and see what is happening—you can’t help but pray and breathe at the same time. You can’t help being affected, changed, and needing to reach out to God with sighs too deep for words. So please join me in prayer, Bay Shore. Our world needs it. Desperately.
Peace to you and your loved ones,
Pastor
Sarah
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