Pastors' Columns
Pastor's Pulse
God’s Promise in a Time of Change
August 2009
“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.” – Joshua 1:5
Once again we find ourselves living through a time of transition. Pastor Brandi has taken a call to the Noroton Presbyterian Church in Connecticut. In the next several weeks we will be looking at the steps involved in finding a new pastor. This process has changed as of the current Book of Order. In News of Grace you will be reading about what is involved in the steps that need to be taken. We are confident that the Lord has already prepared the person who will be the next member of our pastoral staff. Nonetheless we need also to be praying for ourselves that we as a church will be ready to receive this new person.
Change is inevitable and we are living through more change now than many of us find comfortable. In the passage quoted above Joshua was facing major changes as he took over the leadership of the people of Israel. Moses, their leader for forty years, was dead. They had come through the wilderness. A new generation had arisen. They were at the gates of the promised land. Yet there would be challenges coming into this land as well. Neither Joshua nor the people could anticipate all the changes they would be facing. Yet God’s word to them is also God’s word to us: “I will not fail you nor forsake you.”
In the words of an old gospel song, we do not know what the future holds but we know who holds the future.
On a personal note we as a family continue to thank God for all your prayers and support during this time of Beth’s cancer treatment. She is almost half-way through her chemotherapy and continues to do well.
Last month we had the special pleasure of having three special people with us in worship, all of whom had grown up in Grace Church. These included Shelagh Wynne, the daughter of former Pastor T. Lawrence Wynne, who currently serves as a missionary in Thailand, Jon Hatch with his wife, Amy, and the Rev. Michael Samson who baptized his niece, Grace Kennedy.
The promise God made to Joshua centuries ago continues to lead us and guide us.
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