Beloved Northminster Presbyterians —
As I head out a town for a week of vacation, in advance of our anticipated return to sanctuary worship on June 14, I cannot depart this Lord’s Day without acknowledging what a disheartening week this has been for our nation. As if the strange days of Covid 19 were not enough, now a week has past marked by brutality, by protests both peaceful (righteous) and violent (unrighteous), and by divisive rhetoric all over the airwaves. To be sure, this too shall pass, but my spirit is heavy and I join many of you in grieving the state of affairs. What shall we do? We shall pray. And on this Pentecost Sunday, we shall pray that God’s Holy Spirit moves in the places where Good News is needed most. And we shall continue to be the covenant community for which God has formed us, in ministry in Jesus’ name wherever we find ourselves. In other words, we shall love. We cannot change the World, alas. But we can absolutely bless and better our little worlds, each and every hour. In the power of the Holy Spirit, those hours are not nothing.
As for prayer, my mind went to this lovely and applicable prayer of George Appleton, an Anglican bishop of a century ago:
O God of many names
Lover of all nations
We pray for peace
in our hearts
in our homes
in our nations
in our world
The peace of your will
The peace of our need.
May it be so, I say, in Jesus’ name. Much love to you, Northminster Saints, and blessings on this first week of the month of June, and a Pentecost-week, no less. I look forward to worshiping with many of you in person and others online on June 14. Know that daily I give thanks for Northminster’s collective witness and love in my life. You are a gift to me, and to Macon.
Your friend and pastor, Ralph
