In my sermon last Sunday, I recalled some of the tools I was given as a child to help me remember various things about our world. I recalled the poem I learned to help me remember how many days each month has, sharing this funny image as I did:
It was fun for me to wait on you all as you read all the way to the bottom of the image and the humor clicked for you.
For many people, January always feels like such a long month. Does it feel that way for you? It certainly has for me.
The new year brings with it an air of hope and possibility as we think about how things might be in the coming 12 months. But it also brings a unique busyness and pace with it too – all those hopes and dreams for the year take planning. January is also the time of year when the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church interviews candidates who are journeying towards ordination. As a member of the Board of Ordained Ministry, I get to be part of that process. This week we interviewed numerous amazing individuals who have sensed the call to ordination. Recent years have certainly presented great struggle for the United Methodist Church, but when I reflect on the qualities and gifts these candidates each bring to their call, I am so encouraged and excited for the future of United Methodism, especially here in Florida. God’s grace really is sufficient for all our needs.
That was the message in yesterday’s Dynamite Prayer reading – that often it is in our times of greatest struggle, weakness, and need that we experience the wonder, greatness, and sufficiency of God’s amazing grace by the dunamis power of God’s Spirit (2 Corinthians 12:9). This month has been busy for sure – but at the toughest points I have experienced the sustaining nature of God’s grace by the dunamis power of the Spirit. As the United Methodist Church has journeyed through difficulty and is now charting the path into its future, we are experiencing the sufficiency of God’s grace by the dunamis power of the Holy Spirit.
And in your life you might be going through a season of difficulty and struggle; you might feel weak and unable to call forth the strength to move forward. I have no doubt that the healing, sustaining, comforting, sanctifying, and peace-giving grace of God is at work in your life by the dunamis power of the Holy Spirit. May you see it, experience it, and know it as sufficient for all your needs.
Blessings
Pastor Charlie
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