Water in the Wilderness Blog (On Hiatus During Staff Transition)

…our hearts in Christian love, no matter the distance. Thank you to everyone who tuned into worship this morning from your couches, with the ones to whom you’ve committed your life, with your cats and dogs, with your “comfortable clothes,” with your hearts wide open to receive God’s grace and love.

Worshiping together and connecting in prayer throughout the week has been a healing balm through these trying times, a well of water in this particularly wild Lenten season. When I’ve been on calls with the members of First Church one of the most common exchanges I hear and participate in is: “It’s so nice to hear your voice,”… “Yeah, it’s such a gift to hear yours as well.” These are the times when it is so clear what and who really matter to us, what makes us feel fully alive. What is getting you through this week? 

It is a precious and simple blessing to hear each other’s voices amidst all the noise of chaos and uncertainty that permeates our lives right now. It reminds me of these ancient words:

A voice of one calling in the wilderness:

“prepare the way for the Lord;

make straight in the desert

a highway for our God.” (NIV, Isaiah 40:3)

Our voices are preparing the way for the Lord to make a way out of no way in this season, listening to our cries, to our laughter, and to our gratitude for our very breath.

Enjoy some pictures from our hearths and homes as we joined in worship together this morning! Even in this new virtual reality, we can share in Jesus’ prayer for us:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Creator, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23)*adjusted for inclusive language