Dear Middletown Reformed Church Family and Friends,

Grace and peace to you on this stormy Friday. I hope you are staying safe and dry as Tropical Storm Fay moves into our area.

Earlier in the week, I sent the blessing below to a few people in our congregation. For the unpredictable times in which we live, and as a means of encouraging us for our way forward in faith, I wanted to share it with all of you. 

“For The Time Of Necessary Decision”

by John O’Donohue, from To Bless the Space Between Us

The mind of time is hard to read.
We can never predict what it will bring,
Nor even from all that is already gone
Can we say what form it finally takes;
For time gathers its moments secretly.
Often we only know it’s time to change
When a force has built inside the heart
That leaves us uneasy as we are.

Perhaps the work we do has lost its soul
Or the love where we once belonged
Calls nothing alive in us anymore.
We drift through this gray, increasing nowhere
Until we stand before a threshold we know
We have to cross to come alive once more.

May we have the courage to take the step
Into the unknown that beckons us;
Trust that a richer life awaits us there,
That we will lose nothing
But what has already died;
Feel the deeper knowing in us sure
Of all that is about to be born beyond
The pale frames where we stayed confined,
Not realizing how such vacant endurance
Was bleaching our soul’s desire.

Come this Sunday expecting to receive a blessing from God. We will gather online at 10:15 AM to chat with one another, and then worship together at 10:30 AM. Our music was recorded in the Sanctuary, featuring Nancy Scharff singing “Thy Word” and “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” for our Sermon-Prayer-Reflection. Judith Daugherty on piano plays “Prelude in B Minor” by Chopin. I am preaching from Isaiah 55.10-13 and the Gospel of Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23 (The Parable of the Sower) and my sermon title is Holy Ground. 

Indeed, as we continue to mark time in this pandemic, May we have the courage to take the step Into the unknown that beckons us; Trust that a richer life awaits us there . . . knowing that God’s steadfast love and enduring grace surely travels with us on our journey.

In gratitude for the privilege of being your pastor and the holy call of loving you,

Pastor Trish