Sisters and Brothers, with all that is happening in the world, the world needs us to share about God. They need us to help them realize that what we experience here and now is not all that there is. That there is something greater that is coming that is beautiful and glorious. These times we are in is when people need to hear of something greater than the powers and principalities of this world. They need to know that as bad as things get in this present world there is still hope, there is still grace, there is still beauty, and there is GOD! During this summer of revival that is what we have been doing. We have been pointing to the strength God gives us to make it through these times of trials. God still brings forth the beautiful flowers from the ground to remind us that God loves us and is still in our midst. This last Sunday, Pat and Curtis Baughman blessed us with many sunflowers and and Black-eyed Susans. We even had a bouquet of them under the cross. The cross represents a cruel and awful device of death that humanity created. There is nothing beautiful about the way people were tortured and killed upon crosses. When people were placed upon the cross to die they suffered and had a long time to think about the cruelty of the world and would feel hopeless about what was to come for them. Yet, Christ transformed that ugly hideous symbol into something that gives hope, that reminds us that God has a plan for us, and longs to redeem and free humanity. When broken and hurt people place themselves beneath the cross and open themselves to God's love and grace, beauty springs forth. Hopelessness, brokenness, and pain is transformed into something that is beautiful in the eyes of our Creator. When people take their brokenness and lay it before the cross they are transformed. We need to offer that opportunity to others as we share what gives us hope and strength in these times. We need to be willing to show the pain and cruelty we have experienced and then share how God eventually brought forth beauty from that time. That when we come before the cross that we are seeds that God longs to grow to become glorious and beautiful flowers to the world that points to God. That is our call, that is our task, can we help fill the world with bouquets of beauty and grace?
Peace,
PH
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