Refuge Family,
As the threat related to the Coronavirus Pandemic continues to grow the elders have made the decision to cancel all Refuge Church activities through the end of March. At that point, the elders will assess and make any necessary decisions about future gatherings. This decision is motivated by a desire to love our neighbor and community by being a part of the effort to protect life from the spread of this virus (Mark 12:31). We also want to honor and respect our governing authorities who have asked us to limit our gatherings (Romans 13:1-5).
The elders will be meeting Wednesday afternoon to pray and discuss how we can continue to remain unified as a church through this time apart. We will be making decisions related to Life Groups, how to cultivate virtual community, and how we want to handle our Sunday morning service online. We also want to think carefully and intentionally through how we can continue to pastor those God has placed under our care and faithfully shepherd God’s people. Please pray for us to have both biblical wisdom and godly creativity. We will send out another update Thursday regarding decisions coming out of that meeting with regard to Life Groups and how we will handle our virtual Sunday morning gathering.
By God’s providence, I’ve been reading a book by Andrew Davis called “The Power of Christian Contentment.” Yesterday I was in the chapter on Contentment in Suffering where he quotes CS Lewis, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
While I don’t know all that God intends to accomplish through this trial, I do believe that he intends to wake us up from our routines, habits, and going through the motions of life. He’s unsettling us. The question is whether or not we will place ourselves in a position to listen as he “shouts in our pain.” We have entertainment at our fingertips. We can fill our quarantined moments with more movies, more television, more social media, more online shopping, and more mindless browsing. Satan would love nothing more than for us to drown out God’s megaphone with the siren call of the world. So, I urge all of you to take time over these days to quiet yourselves before God. Sit with him over the truth of His Word. Commune with him through the cries of your prayers. Sing to him with the voice of your heart. Serve him by loving your neighbors. And, maybe even just sit on your porch, feel the breeze tickle your face, be captivated by the song of the birds, and enjoy the clouds floating by. In that moment of quiet, as the world has slowed down, let yourself rest in the sovereignty of God that is holding all things together and is working for your good and the glory of His name!
Trusting Christ with you,
Pastor Jonathan