Dear Friends and Family of RRUMC,
I MISS ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!! It really is that simple. I remember my first Sunday here back in July of 2011. One of the first things I said from the pulpit was that I was a hugging pastor and, if this church was not a hugging church, I was going to teach you how to become one.
I so miss all of your hugs and your handshakes and your smiling, warm faces. I cringe when I think of what the “new normal” may look like after all of this is in our rearview mirror.
Even if we are allowed to hug and shake hands after this, which I find hard to believe at this point, will anyone even feel comfortable enough to do that? I just presided over the graveside service of Wally Hagen yesterday and, because of COVID-19, the only people there were me, someone from the funeral home, Wally’s two sons, and one daughter-in-law. Wally was such a wonderful and friendly man. He would have had many people there if this were our old normal but things are different now. The family does want to plan a big celebration of life service for Wally sometime in the future, but for now that is all we could do. It broke my heart because I love Wally so much.
So, as we go through these stressful and uncertain times, I am reminded of the greetings that Paul wrote to so many of the churches he started as they were going through difficult and distressful times.
The greeting from 2 Corinthians is especially applicable to our current crisis. Please hear this greeting as if he wrote it directly to you.
Paul says this, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”
He knew their troubles. He knew their sufferings. He also knew a Savior who offers compassion and comfort and salvation all while they were going through their troubles and distressful times. We too can take comfort in the same message roughly 2000 years later, as our feelings are much like those of the church at Corinth.
My prayer is that, as you go through your troubles, your stress, your uncertainty and pain, you would still know that comfort, compassion, and salvation that have always been available to you through Jesus Christ. May you find peace in the midst of the storm.
Peace and Blessings,
Rev. Daniel F. Bogre