Pastor’s Message – July 17, 2018

From the Depths of the Earth
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go to the heavens you are there.
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
~ Psalm 139:7-8

Last week twelve soccer players and their coach were rescued from a cave in Thailand after nearly three weeks of entrapment. Their survival was a miracle, their rescue was a miracle, and their in-progress recovery is a miracle. There are so many lessons we can glean from this story about the power of teamwork, the willingness of people to risk their lives for strangers, the sacrificial devotion of the diver who lost his life in the rescue preparations.

In the celebration and excitement of this multi-layered miracle, let us not forget who oversaw and executed the rescue and recovery. Jesus Christ was ministering to those boys in the cave. He was instructing the rescuers. He was comforting the parents as they waited. He is the Word made flesh who meets us in the depths of the earth—and the depths of our own darknesses.

No matter how deeply buried we might feel by life’s trials, let us remember two things. One is to give thanks that we are not physically buried by floodwaters in a cave like our little brothers were for so long. The other is to give thanks that Christ is with us in all of our circumstances. Let us receive the miracles that he has rescued us from sin and darkness, and that he oversees our recovery towards healing and wholeness.

all good things to each of you,
Pastor Darian

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, July 22, 2018
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Psalm 89:20-37
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

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