Happy Sunday on the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day and the last Sunday of the liturgical year. As our society continues to wrestle with the coronavirus and the added challenges of family holidays that are in jeopardy our prayers are with you all for health and safety. The second Sunday back after surgery and recovery went a little better and there were no technical difficulties today – yay! May God bless you in the coming week as we pause to remember all we really have to be thankful for, not just at Thanksgiving but at all times.
In worship our collect reminded us that God’s will and desire is to restore all things to a relationship with God through Jesus. Our reminder is that in Jesus we are given a means to close divisions and unified under the bonds of love, if we remember we can be. Our reading from Ezekiel serves as the poignant reminder that God will personally seek, feed, rescue care for, and shepherd those who have been lost in their sin. Our Psalm tells us that we should be joyful in the Lord and serve God with thanks and joy. In the letter to the Ephesians the next part of our job as believers is laid out: we are called to give thanks, pray for, and intercede for those in need – both in the community of believers and those who have drifted away. Our sermon focused on the reading from Matthew’s gospel. We are reminded that the requirements to do God’s work are simple and have been known since the beginning – care for each other and be just. Instead of simply striving or asking for the bare minimum to follow God, we are called to do what we know is right and to ask if we don’t – because God is a God of community not domination. With God the hard choices are rewarding and enriching.
I invite your comments,
Les+
Readings: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Psalm 100; Ephesians 1:15-23; Matthew 25:31-46
Video of worship: https://youtu.be/oF_FCndbglk
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