Dear Friends,
Do you ever wake up with a song in your head that you can’t seem to shake? Even though I had not sung this song in years, I woke up this morning with “They’ll know we are Christians by our love” playing in my head. It was a song we sang 40 years ago around the campfire at Camp Wanakee. While the song itself was simplistic and repetitive (like many church camp songs and praise choruses of its time) the truth of that chorus endures. Other will know that we are followers of Jesus by the way we love one another and others.
I’ll confess, that is not always easy. I had an experience this week where, because of the incompetence and indifference on the part of another person, a situation became much more difficult and frustrating than it needed to be. To be very honest, in the midst of that experience I was not feeling very loving. Ever been there?
When we are confronted by frustration, disappointment, anger or hurt, it can be hard to respond with the love of God. But these are the moments when it is all the more important that we maintain our love. This is our witness. This is the way others see Jesus in us and through us. Can you imagine how different our church, our community, our world would be if in all things we responded with love. I’m not always good at that, but it is what I’m striving for. And on those days when I begin to lose sight of that, God sends me a song. “And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes they'll know we are Christians by our love.”
I do want to take a moment to celebrate this week’s day camp at our Sandown campus. We’re about half way through the week and it has been awesome! We have a great group of kids, an amazing team of volunteers, and the Spirit of God is all over this program. Facebook has been lit up with great pictures and encouraging comments from parents raving about the program. What a great way to bless our community and share the good news of Jesus. I will tell you that on Friday, after the closing BBQ with the families, we could really use some help breaking down and cleaning up. We also have to get everything reset in Plaistow for the second week of camp. So if you can spare an hour or so beginning around 5:30 pm on Friday in Sandown, or at 9:00 am Saturday morning in Plaistow, I know the team would be so grateful. Many hands would make light work.
This Sunday we continue our series “At the Movies.” There are only a couple of weeks left and we’ve saved the best movies for last. You will not want to miss this Sunday!
God bless,
Pastor Steve