July 11, 2020

Greetings to all Road Church members and friends,

May this message find you safe and well. You are in my thoughts and prayers as we continue navigating through these strange times of pandemic. Some of us had hoped that by now conditions in our community and our country would be well on their way toward what they were in pre-pandemic times. Two steps in that direction have been made, but now we are in the process of taking one step back due to an unfortunate resurgence of new cases. During the past four weeks there has been a steady increase in the number of infections and deaths. Yesterday there were 68,226 confirmed new cases in the U.S.A. There have been 800 deaths in each of the last four days, up from a low of 217 on July 5.

To my dismay, I have also read that increased outbreaks have been traced back to churches that have resumed in-person services. In the last month over 600 cases in forty churches have been reported. As a church we want to spread the gospel, not the virus. I share this information as a cautionary note. As eager as we may be to move beyond masks, distancing and sheltering, we must continue to be patient and observant of the CDC guidelines. Until there is an effective vaccine, our patient persistence is the only way we will defeat this pandemic. May God bless us in our efforts to do so.

In a message a few months ago I mentioned that nothing is just “one thing.” The same is true of this pandemic and sheltering at home. Rather than focusing on what we can’t do while this pandemic lasts, I suggest that we try to “redeem” these homebound days. Redemption is finding something good in an otherwise unpleasant situation. My message this weekend builds on the idea that nothing is just one thing. Let’s try to see these days as opportunities to attend to things that got crowded out of our lives when we were too busy to get around to doing them. Or perhaps these times can teach us to rearrange our priorities. That’s what people who keep in step with the Spirit do.

   The scriptures for tomorrow’s message are Matthew 16:1-3 and 1 Corinthians 14:1, “A Prophetic Faith: What the Church Needs Most”

 Blessings to you all, Pastor Norm normerlendson@gmail.com 860-759-6720

Pastor Norm’s message on YouTube for July 12, 2020: https://youtu.be/dMNrg0yuqTs