Acts 2:22-32 and John 20:19-31

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ! Well, we are far into a month of absence from our sanctuaries of worship, fellowship halls, Sunday School rooms, and the strange way of doing mission and community life at a “social distance.” Who could imagine!? Snow and ice keep us away and inside, but not a virus! Really?!

So, we learn different ways of following our Resurrected Lord without being with each other like always. We are almost like Thomas in our John text, we can’t see and touch so we are likely to have doubts creeping in. Jesus gave Thomas the opportunity to touch but still said to all disciples, “blessed are those who can’t see and touch but still believe!”

Doubt and belief often sit beside each other but belief “gets up and walks!” That’s where the Holy Spirit comes alongside us as Jesus bestows the Spirit upon us so we can find the strength and effort to live the new life of renewing hope and love to neighbors.

In this odd season of separation and interrupted routine, we are like the early disciples “leaning into a new life.” Let’s lean together even we don’t see each other quite like we used to! Pray as you lean forward!

And, like in years past, this Sunday after Easter Sunday is Bright Sunday in which the whole church rejoices with good humor and smiles with laughter. We tell jokes to remind ourselves that the Empty Tomb is a joke on the Devil! Be sure to check your email before Sunday to find some good humor coming your way. And if you can send me a fine, clean joke to share with others. I’ll post those soon and give you credit as well!

If you have any joys or concerns please email them to me at pastor-barry@kedronumc.org

Please remember your tithes and offerings. They can be sent to Naomi Lee.

We will live stream on Sunday at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Blessings and Encouragement~~†

Pastor Barry

Colossians 3:1-4 and John 20:1-18

As different as this “social distanced” Holy Week has been this year, the stories and message of our faith are the same. Out of death God makes new Life. Where there was no hope, now there is hope!

To get to Easter morning we face Good Friday first. In preparation, for our online Candle Light Service please find a cross in your home, a necklace, pocket cross, or cross on the wall or table. Or even a cross in a card. Have that present with you as you watch and participate in the Friday evening online service.

On Sunday morning at 11 am we hope to be outside weather permitting. Have a flower or plant nearby as a reminder of life blooming or waiting to bloom. We will hear of the disciples seeing the unexpected and then running. Of Mary Magdalene crying and then once again reaching out to cling to her Savior. We will hear where our hearts should be confidently placed as our life unfolds here and now.

This is not a “normal” time in our lives. It is disruptive from jobs to school to relationships and daily routine. But so were the times of the church experiencing the hope of Resurrection centuries ago and up into our time….and beyond.

Join our community in worship this Friday night and Sunday morning. And find your personal story written into the Eternal Story of Resurrection!

If you have any joys or concerns please email them to me at pastor-barry@kedronumc.org

Please remember your tithes and offerings. They can be sent to our treasurer Naomi Lee.

This Friday and Easter Sunday “tune in” once again on our Facebook page for worship!

The Good Friday service will be pre-recorded and posted on Friday evening. Should be available at 7:30 pm

We will live stream on Sunday at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Peace and Grace to all~~~†

Pastor Barry

To all of us in exile, we will still worship our God and wave Palm branches for the Messiah and participate in Holy Communion! In preparation, find a broad leaf branch and place it in a front window. Or on the door front. A sign of welcoming the coming Lord.

In preparation, have some bread or cracker and/or grape juice (or equivalent) nearby as you watch the worship broadcast on Sunday 11am. The liturgy can easily be followed as you will have spoken prompts when to “repeat as the family of God.” Although “socially distanced” we will be in the Spirit as we partake of The Lords Supper together: an adaptive service for exceptional times!

When we hear of Jesus’ celebrated arrival into the Holy City we are called to expect how quiet our own city streets and church sanctuaries will be this Palm Sunday. Yet, we will welcome Jesus of Nazareth wherever we are because “nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

If you have any joys or concerns please email them to me at mail@kedronumc.org

Please remember your tithes and offerings. They can be sent to Naomi Lee.

This Sunday “tune in” once again on our Facebook page for worship!

We will live stream at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Peace and Grace to all~~~†

Pastor Barry

Ezekiel 37:1-14 and John 11:1-45

A new “normal” continues in the life of our churches. We are still social distancing for the sake of the common good, public health, the extended international community. Worship will be “on line” without the congregation physically present. The work of the church continues in prayer, gifts, service, and witness but worship together is very different for a season.

So, in preparation for your participation in on line viewing, please read and pray your way through the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones revived and the apostle John’s testimony to Jesus raising a three day entombed Lazarus.

God was not finished with a captive and exiled Israel and God was showing us that physical death is not the end. Very dramatic, very powerful statements about God’s purposes and God’s faithfulness.

It always seems helpful to hear from those who lived through trying times like World Wars, The Great Depression of the Thirties, The 1918 Flu Epidemic, The Cuban Missile Crisis, 9/11. First hand witnesses remind us of how they persevered and what helped them overcome. Once again, our scriptures were present then to those in the past as they are now as witnesses to the Living God who goes with us.

We will hear and be reminded of the promise of God, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Death and fear have no hold on us! We are the Church together….in Spirit and in Truth.

This Sunday “tune in” once again on our Facebook page for worship!

The video will live stream at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Blessings during this challenging time!

Pastor Barry

Brothers and Sisters of Kedron,

March 22nd the Fourth Sunday in Lent, our sermon title is The Light Needed To Go On. The scriptures are Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14 and John 9:1-41.

Read ahead and be encouraged! Watch and listen in as you can this Sunday. The video stream will be here on our Facebook page. Go the page at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Also, if you wish to see the latest post from Bishop McAlilly regarding the Coronavirus impact on our churches it can be found here. https://bishopbillmcalilly.com/2020/03/19/keep-alert/

Help each other during the weeks ahead. Pray and do what you can as opportunities unfold before you~~~+

We WILL meet again!

Pastor Barry

Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14 and John 9:1-41

Although we won’t be together in our sanctuaries this Sunday due to the public health concern, we will be together in Spirit and in Truth. And hopefully together in a media world of live streaming worship at 11 am Sunday from my living room! We will effort to video a service of Word and song as you watch in the safety of your own home. LeNoir will hold forth on piano and I will do my best to offer up the scriptures and a message. We may have some other musicians but we will all be practicing “social distancing” and safe public health practices! If you can’t watch then, the service will be posted for later viewing.

What we hope to hear from David, Paul, and John are encouraging words about seeing our way out of darkness and finding the true Light for our way forward. In John 9 there is a huge cast of characters not the least a blind man who will see and seeing people who are “blind.” Ephesians 5:8,9 tells people of faith that they are “children of light” and that “light produces fruit….goodness, justice, and truth.” Psalm 23….you already know by heart!

Read ahead and be encouraged! Watch and listen in as you can this Sunday. The video stream will be here on our Facebook page. Go the page at 11 am. Bookmark the link https://www.facebook.com/KedronUMC/

Help each other during the weeks ahead. Pray and do what you can as opportunities unfold before you~~~+

We WILL meet again!

Pastor Barry

Greetings Brothers and Sisters of Kedron.

This is the day the Lord has made! Rejoice and be glad in it!

Yet, how strange and different not to be in worship and fellowship together. It’s like it snowed ten inches but we can’t see it! I drove to both churches just to greet any possible unsuspecting worshippers or visitors. In the quiet I prayed and imagined “all the people we care for and share our lives with.”

I also watched a live steaming Facebook worship service from Goosepond UMC pastor Eric Ross. Jamie Brabham, singer and guitarist, was the only other one onscreen playing hymns. I think they broadcast from Eric’s house! I was blessed!

Hope you tuned in to a worship service somewhere (or will). LeNoir has been sick but watched Woodmont Baptist this morning. They did not gather as a congregation but the pastor preached and also had musicians.

There are many ways to worship until we return together at our respective congregations. And we may attempt our own FB service next Sunday! The technical details have to be worked out! If not that, we will look at other alternatives!

In any event, I will be sending out a worship “memo” later in the week. And I encourage all to find ways to support one another and “bear each other’s burdens” during this time of national emergency. Pray for one another and be well!

More later during the coming week. “Fear not!”

Peace and Grace,

Pastor Barry

Brothers and Sisters,

It’s hard to imagine cancelling worship and fellowship but this comes as we are in a declared National Emergency and our Bishop is following the advice of health professionals both national and local. We want to be in solidarity with our fellow citizens of nation, state, and local communities. We want to support our health care personnel as they care for thousands affected.

As Sunday morning and other times of worship, study, and fellowship come and go, know that “this too shall pass.” “Fear not.” We will gather together again in due time. Avail yourselves of worship services broadcast on social media, tv, and radio. Commit to prayer during times you would have been together with others in prayer.

My intention is to be outside at both churches this Sunday (9:30 at Kedron; 11 at Locks). This is in case some might appear not having been aware of the cancellations. I will remain for prayer outside and then will go inside to pray in silence as a hope and promise to return soon as the church together in worship.

Peace and grace,

Pastor Barry

Exodus 17:1-7, Romans 5:1-11 and John 4:5-42

The past few weeks have been a challenging time for most of us. And out of those challenges of tornadoes and coronavirus and other personal demands and anxieties, we may well have looked upward with a host of heartfelt questions. Thanks be to God who is patient and allows for questions.

The Exodus is not going well for the Israelites. No water! They complain. Moses feels threatened by the people. God is asked questions! In John 4, a Jewish Jesus exchanges questions with a Samaritan woman who has had a rough life. By the end of that conversation she is bearing witness about Jesus to her neighbors!

Questions lead to answers, and answers lead to actions and new life. And even if the answers are less than clear or slow in coming, knowing that God loves us (Romans 5:8,9) strengthens us in the waiting for answers. We will need strength because waiting often drains us of energy and weakness on every level creeps in. God knows us and keeps us even in our weakness.

And so we wait……..but never alone!

Let’s be together this Sunday each seeking and requesting that living water that refreshes.

Pastor Barry

Genesis 12:1-4a, Romans 4:1-5; 13-17 and John 3:1-17

This past week has been most difficult on many, while on others unaffected directly by tornados or the coronavirus, a persistent anxiety hasn’t gone away. And those two current threats may just lie in the background to other personal crises of sickness, divorce, financial strain, work stress, and personal conflict!

I would think that most people of faith are helped by praying, reading the Psalms, and being in fellowship with other Christians. We do have these spiritual resources which comfort and strengthen us.

And another source of meaning and purpose in the midst of struggle are the scriptures which reveal God’s The Big Picture! This Sunday’s texts show us God’s work and plan for all the ages. Abraham, Moses, righteousness by faith not works, and the New Birth should also be a comfort and strength when death, destruction, fear, and anxiety come knocking on our door.

These passages don’t answer in detail all the cries of our hearts but do put into “eternal perspective” what we go through in life whether good, bad, or just plain overwhelming.

In the final accounting of all that happens…..there is the Good News. John 3:16 wins! Come to worship Sunday and find comfort and strength and purpose and meaning. And these are to be shared together in community!

Blessings for the week~~~~+

Pastor Barry