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Dear Friends,
As I prepared for this week’s sermon on the topic of fear, I came across a little story shared by John Pavlovitz, a writer and former pastor who lives in Raleigh. He recounted how, in the early days of Covid-19, while shopping at a large retailer, he witnessed two women arguing. It seemed that they had come upon the last package of toilet paper in the store. You may recall the scarcity of toilet paper in 2020 and how that impacted people.
Pavlovitz shared that one woman asked the other woman to split the package, that she only needed a few rolls. The other woman just laughed, put the entire package in her cart, and walked away. Knowing nothing about either woman’s life or faith, Pavlovitz reflected on the interchange later through his own lens of faith, which led him to this thought: “If I trust God, then I need to trust God when it’s most difficult to do so – and why is fear such a part of our belief system?”
Sometime after this grocery store incident, Pavlovitz found an online deal on bulk toilet paper. He purchased 200 rolls and began delivering them throughout his community. If he heard of a need, or just saw someone walking past his house, he’d offer them a roll or two. It was a way for him to find some sense of control, to exercise his faith in the face of significant personal and cultural fear.
As we travel this journey of life and faith, each of us must contend with the juxtaposition of fear and faith. We must consider what it looks like to acknowledge our fears while leaning into our trust in God’s presence and provision in our lives.
This is what we will consider this Sunday as we reflect on these words from Isaiah, and these from John. I hope you will join us for worship at 9:30 or 11:00, in the sanctuary or online. We’ll sing and pray and enjoy fellowship with one another, as well as hear an update from our team that recently returned from a visit with our mission partners at Renguti Academy in Kenya. I hope to see you Sunday.
Take care,
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