Grace and Peace to Our Bethany family and visitors.

I welcome you with the love of the Lord who is in total control and pray that all is well with you and your loved ones.  I am thankful to God for the current discussions on racial matters driven by the unwarranted brutal killing of George Floyd. I give God thanks for bringing something good out of bad! For using George Floyd’s death as the catalysts for bringing the much-overlooked truth that we are all created in the image of God. As such equality is a right and not an assumption of privilege based on skin color. I encourage you to take part in discussions on these issues wherever the opportunity presents itself; to be proactive rather than inactive and at all times with an attitude of love. 

As we continue in this world where ‘Covid 19’ occupies most of prime-time news, and the loss of life and economic consequences are catastrophic, join with me in giving God thanks! Due to the diligent oversight and leadership of our Governor, the virus while spiking alarmingly in other states is now at an all-time low and under control in New York. That’s an amen in the making!  Businesses are slowly but readily coming out of forced hibernation to embrace a new way of doing business.  And what goes for businesses also go for the business of the church which has not changed since its inception by its head Jesus Christ, which is to “go and make disciples”.

Many of you are curious and anxious in both a negative and a positive sense about the reopening of the church, and that’s to be expected. Some are anxious and curious, you aren’t yet ready to return and are wondering if our current worship forum, will come to an end when in-church worship resumes. To you I say, “take heart”, zoom is here to stay and will only get better not end. As the song goes “we can’t go back to the way we use to be”. Some are curious and anxious and are wondering “how long Oh Lord, how long before we gather together again, I can’t wait’.  Well “take heart” too, we will resume within the foreseeable future but with minimal capacity in compliance with the rules of both our Governor and our Conference.  Our church council has been diligently meeting to discuss the protocols to be put in place to facilitate this. We have seen your response to the recent survey and all concerns will be weighed, balanced and considered in the final outcome.

I want to thank all of you for your continued faithfulness in your online presence and in your giving and am delighted to see the regular presence of friends and congregants who had moved to other states and outside of the country on our online worship.  Do be reminded that we welcome you all not only for worship but to our bible study offered twice on Wednesdays as well as our hour of prayer. Please check the calendar activities and you will see the time posted.

I am thankful for the Food Ministry that currently operates as a food pantry giving out ‘grab and go’ bags of food items to meet the needs of our immediate community.  I am thankful for the steady growth in our bible study groups.  I am thankful for the leadership of the class system and the care you are extending to each other.  And I am excited about our future… about the possibilities that God is opening up for us to be a borderless church.  God is doing a new thing! So we will dream big and prepare ourselves for what lies ahead. There are no limits to what we can achieve for God’s purposes through using all the creative abilities that God has blessed this church with.

And now I leave you in the best Hands, that of God, and remember:

“My Hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.  On Christ, the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.”

My love to all, God bless.

Pastor