Newsletter

April 2020 Newsletter

By the rivers of Babylon--
    there we sat down and there we wept
    when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
    we hung up our harps.
For there our captors
    asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How could we sing the Lord’s song
    in a foreign land?

Psalm 137 is a lament from those Israelites—those of God’s chosen people – who were captured by the Babylonians in 597 BC and carried off with them into exile in Babylon. The exiles, who had been used to worshipping God in the Temple, were unsure how they could praise God in a different environment.
In some ways, I feel like the exiled Israelites. We are accustomed to singing songs to God in our church building with members of our community. Now, we are shut up in our homes (a form of exile?) and we need to figure out how to praise and worship God in a different way.

The good news is that we can worship God in another way. We can phone each other to check in and to have prayers together. We can join one of the virtual services – Sunday service and café services are both taking place virtually and those with email have received information on them. We can find times for quiet meditation.

The good news also is that no exile lasts forever. The Israelites were allowed to return to their homes beginning in 538 BC when the Persians conquered the Babylonians. Many great works of Hebrew literature were written during the exile. The synagogue, as a local place of worship, takes its origins from just after the return from exile. The temple was rebuilt.

We will be able to return to worshipping in person in our church building again too. It may be a month from now, or several months from now. But it will happen. The experience of this “exile” will bring forth something new in us, just as the Hebrew exile brought new works of literature and new options for worship to them.

God is still with us and our community. He will never let us down.

Randi+

2020 Submission Deadlines

Even if not scheduled for a submission, articles are always welcomed and encouraged! Please electronically submit your article to Shawn by the following FIRST MONDAYS OF THE PRIOR MONTH:

Dec/Jan 2020 Edition:
November 4th

Feb/March Edition:
January 6th

April/May Edition:
March 9th

Summer Edition:
May 4th

September Edition:
August 3rd

Oct/Nov Edition:
September 7th

April 2020 Newsletter

2020 Submission Deadlines

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