Church Family Update - March 17, 2020

Greetings Ebenezer Church Family,

Perhaps you've heard me define wisdom as: "Knowing what's true and knowing what to do." I've been thinking a lot about that lately as it relates to our church family. Here are some things that we know are true:

God is both powerful and good (Psalm 34:8).

God loves us very much (1 John 3:1).

One of the best gifts that our loving God has given us is the gift of being together in Christian fellowship (1 John 1:3).

There is currently a virus that is being spread through social contact and it is therefore imperative that out of love for our neighbors we do our best to practice social distancing (There is no Bible verse to quote for this. It's simply the state of things in our world today.)

These are the facts. To sum up: God is good. Fellowship is good. But right now we are in a situation where we need to limit our fellowship in order to protect the health of those in our greater community. 

Based on those truths, what is the path of wisdom? I don't exactly know but I believe that God will direct our steps as we continue to walk by faith. 

For now, here is what things will look like for our church family in the immediate future:

1) We will not gather at our church building for Sunday morning worship. However, we will still have a worship service and we will gather in spirit. I recognize that it's not the same as being together physically but I am thankful to God that we are able to use technology to continue to experience worship services together.  Our worship service will be live-streamed at 10:00 AM on Sunday morning. In a different message later this week I will send a link that you can follow to watch the service. Our current website does not have the capacity to save these services for later viewing so the service will only be available while it is happening live on Sunday morning. 

2) Our church office will be open for only very limited hours. An administrator will be in the office from about 9:00-10:00 AM in order to respond to email, return phone calls and do other administrative tasks. If you need an immediate response to a pastoral concern then contact your district elder or contact me directly via text, phone or email.

3) All church ministries that involve gathering at the church building (including Friendship, GEMS, Cadets, Coffee Break, prayer meeting, etc) have been canceled until further notice. Please email any prayer concerns either to our administrative team or directly to me.

4) I will continue to send out email updates regarding life and ministry at Ebenezer. I will also send out periodic devotional reflections during this unusual season. I will do everything I can to promote good communication amongst our community during this time of social distancing. Please make your needs known so that we can care for one another!

That's all for now. I look forward to "seeing" you on Sunday and I will be in touch via email before then. 

I leave you with one final thought. Do you remember when Elisha and his servant were in Dothan surrounded by the Syrian army? (see 2 Kings 6). Elisha's servant was scared and rightly so. They were outnumbered and surrounded and there didn't appear to be much cause for hope. And then Elisha prayed, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." And in that moment the servant saw that they were surrounded by horses and chariots of fire that were there to protect them.

I encourage you to think about the truths contained in that story. There's more going on in the world than we can see. Yes, invisible viruses exist that can do all kinds of harm. And yet, God is not absent. He is right here with us. Surrounding us with His divine presence. We are not alone...If only we had eyes to see it. "LORD, please open our eyes that we may see."

Many blessings upon you and your family during these trying days. 

With love and prayers,

Pastor Jason