Tuesday 14 April 2020

COVID-19, Tuesday, April 14


Dear Church Family,

It’s 27 degrees in Florida right now, at 9:15 a.m. Gerald and I were supposed to wake up in Florida this morning, where I would be starting a week of reading through that stack of books that you have referred to me over the last year.  The books are still on the shelf in my office.  I’m still in Ancaster.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us in very personal ways.  Everyone is feeling the ache of missing our friends and loved ones. All of us are dealing with some degree of boredom and fear and impatience.
Mostly, I’ve been feeling impatient lately. 

And then someone sent me this, a poem they had written:

The cross is empty
The tomb lies bare
He is risen
He is not there

He accomplished on the tree
The plans laid from eternity
That we would live with Him above
Because of His redeeming love

Yes, there’s a bigger picture here, bigger than my Florida plans, bigger than my reading list, bigger than COVID-19.  My plans for what today was supposed to look like have changed completely. “But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart though all generations” (Psalm 33:11).

I read that, and I’m feeling better already.  It may be only 3 degrees out there, but the sun is shining brightly and God’s gift of a new day stretches before us.
Pastor Rita


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