“Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits. He forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities. He redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and lovingkindness.”
Psalm 103:1-4
Dear friends in Christ,
Since I broke my hip 8 weeks ago I have not been doing anything much but physical therapy and recuperating. So it has been especially nice getting so many cards, texts, and phone calls from so many people. It has been very encouraging. As usual, St. John’s showed a lot of love and I appreciate it very much. I will be back to Church on October 1st and resuming my regular office hours but I’ll have to ease back into things. I am looking forward to it. I want to thank Janet, Linda, and Karen along with the Church Council and all of you for your ongoing participation and support in the work of the Church. Yes, pastors have important roles in the Church, but the Church is the Body of Christ and that includes every believer. And every believer is given a mission to serve in some way. Thank you for showing that in the past and especially in the last 8 weeks. God bless you all.
I quoted the first three verses of Psalm 103 for this month’s “From the Pastor” newsletter article. It came to mind after being “sidelined” for a while. I guess it’s one of the only times I have been on the “injured list” and not in the “lineup.” Can you tell I’ve been watching a lot of Phillies games? What that did was give me time to stop and reflect and that’s when Psalm 103 came to mind. King David wrote the psalm focused on God’s goodness. It is easy to complain about life when things aren’t going the way we want and we’re sick or hurting in some way. What he says in this psalm gives us plenty to praise God for instead of complaining. God’s blessings of love, forgiveness, salvation , kindness, mercy, patience, and peace. No matter what life might throw at you, you can always count on God and you can always look for His blessings and He will bring you through even if the problems don’t all go away.
Again, I’ll be back October 1st and I look forward to seeing all of you. Thank you again and God bless you all.
Pastor Dan