Hello, beloved Ballina Uniting Church?
How are you? I wish I could see each one of you and ask this question personally. Seat with some coffee or tea in our hands and have a chat… We miss those little things, don’t we? But I know that we will see this season through and we will have a renewed sense of community.
Yesterday I had two phone calls in the early morning. One was our Presbytery chair checking on how I was going. A quick phone call, but it made me feel cared for. The second one was from the pastor of the church in Uruguay that sent me to missions back in 1995 and that supported me in missions for 20 years. It was more a colleague call, sharing ideas, asking for opinions, building one another. I was encouraged for seeing what God is doing in my homeland and in my home town. A few hours later I joined a group of friends from my youth that met online to share a time of worship. We worshipped with songs from the 80’s, remembering stories and praying for one another. At one moment we had people from over 10 nations present, worshipping God together in 3 languages. A little piece of heaven, in my opinion.
This morning I joined a prayer group from the Gold Coast, praying for our government, for the first responders at hospitals, nursing homes, police force, agencies, churches… I kept thinking why we don’t pray for them more often? I left the meeting a deeper sense of awareness and connection. Fernanda started working at Bupa and as family we pray every night that she will be a blessing there and that she will be used to keep our elders safe and loved. We need to remember those at the frontlines of the battle and keep them in our prayers.
But I’d like to invite you consider the following passage of scripture; it comes from Isaiah 26.20:
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms
and shut the doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until his wrath has passed by.
Did you check the date today? It’s March 26th 2020. You may call it a coincidence, but I believe there is a connection there. We are invited to slow down, to pause, to consider the times we are leaving and the things we are taking for granted in our everyday life. God is using these circumstances to invite us into the secret place of relationship with Him. As we keep times inside our homes, and quiet down before God, we are invited to contemplate life from a different perspective. To regain a perspective of gratitude. To realize the power of prayer and the need for prayer in our world. To remember how important it is to care for one another. How fragile we are and how much we need one another. But in a very special way, to remember that we are the church, not the building. The building, as important as it is, as significant as it is, it’s empty right now (with the exception of a crazy Latino who insists in prayer inside most days!), but the church is not closed down. The church is in the community, caring, loving, protecting one another, praying for the world, prepared to be a response. The church is alive and in times of crisis is where we shine our most, because we are the hands and feet of God in our community. So as we can’t meet again, let’s keep our eyes and hearts open. Let’s go deeper with God and listen to his voice bringing peace, hope and grace to us and through us. We will see this through!
With all my love, missing you and looking forward to hear from you! Stay safe, keep others safe! With my love,
Pablo
How to keep connected during this time:
Call me at 0430037027
Email me at: pabbs@me.com
Check our website: http://ballina.uca.org.au/