November 22nd, 2024 | Rev. Dr. Mark Charles & Bishop Tom Berlin

As we move toward the Thanksgiving holiday, I was preparing some thoughts around what I would write to you all today. Then, last night, our Bishop sent his own Thanksgiving message to the Florida Conference. It is so good that it is worth sharing here with you all.

Even in turbulent times, we have much to give thanks for. As you gather with your people this week, may deep gratitude be your experience, and may it be a blessing to you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Pastor Charlie

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Dear Friends,

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, a time with family and friends, often with food we enjoy and time to create a celebration where we can take stock of what is good in life. I like Thanksgiving because it offers the opportunity for moments of personal worship to God, when I give thanks.

For decades our extended family gathered at the Outer Banks of North Carolina the week of Thanksgiving. We rented a large beach house where our families could all stay together. We had time to fish on the beach, play games, take walks and reconnect. Often on Thanksgiving Day I would stand on the beach and look up at the glass windows of the house. I could see the swirl of activity created by three generations. It always made me joyful, and deeply grateful. In that moment, I would offer a prayer of Thanksgiving, and if the beach was empty, sing one of the thanksgiving hymns that I carry in my heart. 

For many in Florida such an idyllic scene is not possible. Hurricanes have destroyed homes and disrupted neighborhoods, not just in our state but throughout the southeast. It is hard to ignore headlines of that remind us of wars in different parts of the globe, conflicts unresolved, injustices that the innocent endure and concerns for the future. How do we give thanks in such a season? 

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul tells a church facing persecution to "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus". I find an example of this practice in one of my favorite thanksgiving hymns, Now Thank We All our God. It begin:, 

Now thank we all our God,

with heart and hands and voices,

who wondrous things has done,

in whom this world rejoices;

who from our mothers’ arms

has blessed us on our way

with countless gifts of love,

and still is ours today.

It is a beautiful hymn written by Martin Rinckart (1586-1649), who endured the Thirty Years’ War and the plague, which took the lives of many at that time. Alissa Davis writes that as a musician and archdeacon in the city of Eilenburg, Germany, Rinckart was one of the last surviving ministers in the city. He spent his money in the care of refugees of the war and at the height of the plague, spent his time performing nearly 50 funerals a day.

  Rinkart and the church he served were living through an era known for a deadly pandemic, warfare that often took the lives and property of civilians, shortages of food that could lead to starvation, rulers that were far more focused on personal power than the welfare of their citizens, and the deprivations of life normative to the 16th century. In the midst of all this suffering, Rinckart’s understanding of the Christian life motivates him to teach his congregation to sing, 

O may this bounteous God

through all our life be near us,

with ever joyful hearts

and blessed peace to cheer us;

and keep us still in grace,

and guide us when perplexed;

and free us from all ills,

in this world and the next.

 Rinkart reminds us that not only can we give thanks at all times and in all circumstances, but it is also important, even essential, for us to do so. Our thanksgiving, rather personal or in the context of congregational worship, enables us to see the presence of God around us. It enables us to experience grace when we most need it, along with guidance from God when we are most confused. Thanksgiving frees us from our problems by reminding us that, with God’s help and the love of those around us, we will prevail. 

Last Sunday I met a woman whose home had been destroyed by Hurricane Milton. She has been living with various friends in the time since while filing insurance claims and arranging for the repair of her home. I asked her how she was holding up in such a difficult time. She said she gave thanks for her friends, for people who helped her clean up her house and for the presence of God in her life. She was practicing thanksgiving. Then she took her seat in the choir and began to sing songs of praise to the God who sustained her. 

Our annual conference theme this year is Come, Holy Spirit Come. I believe we uniquely experience the guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit when we give thanks for the beauty and goodness that is present, especially in seasons that are full of hardship.

I wish you a happy thanksgiving, and hope that no matter what we are experiencing at this time, in Christ, we will have ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us.

In Christ,

Bishop Tom Berlin

November 15th, 2024 | Rev. Dr. Mark Charles

Many of the conversations I have been having in the last couple of weeks have been centered around hope. Some people are naming their hopes for the future, and some are looking for signs of hope in the difficulties they are experiencing.

If you were to press me as to what lies at the very center of my personal theological framework, I would likely use the word hope often in my response, because I believe hope lies at the heart of Christian faith – the hope that God is not done with the world; the hope that resurrection presents in the face of death, the hope of new creation and eternity in the presence of God.

What are the things that are fueling hope in you these days?

Even as I ask that question I understand that it might be a profoundly difficult one for some of you to answer. If that is the case, I’d like to invite you to make a point of attending church this coming Sunday because I believe hope will be very present there this weekend as our Youth Ministry leads all of our worship services. They will lead us in prayer, in song, they will present a skit to help us engage with the Scripture, and they will preach the sermon.

By their very presence among us, these young people embody hope for the future. Seeing them blossom in faith as part of our church family gives me great joy and encouragement, as it should for you too.  So let’s get out to church this weekend with hearts and minds that are open to the work of God’s Spirit that will take place through the leadership of our Youth.

I’ll see you there!

Pastor Charlie

November 8th, 2024 | Rev. Rachel Williams

Dear Friends,  

Do you recall a few weeks ago when Charlie encouraged us to return to home base, to Scripture that grounds us? He read the words of Lamentations 3:22-23, which read, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

And the day after the election, Bishop Berlin sent out a letter encouraging us to “reorient” in the face of an election season and results that left many disoriented.

We must reorient, remembering that we are first and foremost children of God. All of us are children of God, and thus we should treat each other as if we are encountering the image of God.

I am choosing to ground myself in these two directives- to return to home base and to reorient. One recognition of this election is that we all need to participate in healing work that pushes us to see each and every person as the Imago Dei, the image of God. In addition, we need to participate in spiritual practices that will yield spiritual fruit.

Remember, Paul writes that the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). In a moment in time when it feels like so many of these ways of being are missing in our society, let us be the light that shines in a darkened world.

As we continue to share Christ’s transformative love in the world, particularly with those on the margins, let us be the ones that live as an example by extending love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control to others.  

With grace and peace,  

Pastor Rachel