CLICK HERE to read the June 25th Thursday Thoughts

This week we welcome guest writer, Kim Sexton.

This week’s scripture finds Jesus continuing to walk with and teach the disciples.  He is reminding them that when people welcome them, they are, in turn, welcoming him.  At ERUCC we know how to provide an extravagant welcome from greeters at the welcome table, then fellowship and finally a follow up letter or call.  In March,  that all got turned upside down with stay at home orders, no school or activities,  and no in person worship.  What we thought might be like a few snow days soon became clear it would be a lot longer. If you think it was hard for an adult to figure out,  imagine being a child.  Suddenly all sense of a routine are gone.  What would welcome look like now?

In the coming weeks we would learn welcome would look like streamed worship services, zoom meetings, packets with worship materials including children’s bulletins, actual snail mail and pen pals as well as God’s Kids Club supply kits.

For me, extravagant welcome means knowing my church family is there for me in uncertain times.  I knew if I needed this,  the kids would need it even more.  I set up a schedule of meeting with God’s Kids Club three times a week at  4 p.m.  At first  I thought , this is great! I can really teach something with some content.  Early on It became pretty clear that what the kids needed was community and to be kids.  So we changed up content and now on Mondays we play games: guess who I am, scavenger hunts and of course bingo or we sing.  On Wednesdays we do crafts or science.  On Fridays we do the upcoming Sunday Sunday school lesson.  They wanted to cook,  so we have decorated cupcakes and made pizza.  I also looked to them for suggestions of topics so we have learned about arachnids, Disney, Pokemon, ERUCC history and mythical creatures to name a few. We have even had guest readers and speakers.

We have 9 families who attend regularly with children ranging in age from 2 years to 6th grade. We extended the welcome to friends of ERUCC and have had three families take us up on the welcome. The kids have welcomed our friends just as they would in person.  I wish you could have heard the excitement in both two year old’s voices when they saw each other over Zoom or how important it’s been for us to celebrate birthdays, mile stones (graduating from preschool or 5th grade, lost teeth or learning to ride a bike without training wheels) and even the last day of school.  It’s been equally important to allow them to talk about their fears and what they are grieving.  We end each session just as we end the thought for the day, with a topic for which they are thankful for or worried about and then go into the Lord’s Prayer.

Zoom God’s Kids Club has allowed us to deepen our faith and connect in a new way.

CLICK HERE FOR JUNE 18 THursday Thoughts

This week we welcome guest writer, Matt Davis.

Social media is a mixed blessing at best as is Facebook’s so-called “snooze button.” For those that don’t know, this feature allows you to remain friends with someone, but not see anything they post for the next 30 days. I admit it. I’ve used it and those of you that haven’t are probably doing a Google search for it right now.

Between the COVID-19 pandemic and most recently, the outbreak of protests and demonstrations against racism and police brutality, things are pretty intense right now. I was recently surprised to see my house and a number of others in my quiet, rural neighborhood targeted with hate literature from the KKK. Like any decent human being, I was outraged, ripped it up and lined my cat litter box with it.

As I continued to think about it in the context of our current events, how certain people in our society are treated fundamentally different than others, I came to a realization. Even here, I have the option to just rip it up and ignore it and go on with my life. After all, they want to “recruit” me and I will gladly tell them to get lost. If I were a member of one of the many groups that are the target of their ire, however, I would have feared what would be coming next. If I were a person of color, however, I could not have so easily ignored it and moved on.

I had a similar realization after Frederick’s March for Justice. It was a wonderful, inspiring, and peaceful march and we were moved by the grief of our fellow citizens for the lives that were lost. We were on our way home after the speakers concluded when we received a text message from the city indicating that some protesters had shut down I-70 in both directions. I said to myself, “Why did they have to ruin a perfectly good march by going out to stop traffic on the highway?” I thought about that in the hours to come and it finally came to me. When they shut down the flow of traffic, the unlucky souls in the traffic jam no longer had the luxury of ignoring the pain those protesters were feeling. They were forced to stop their vehicles to not hit them and saw their pain and anger over injustice firsthand and I think it frightened and angered them. They were forced out of their routines and no longer had the option to look away and ignore these things that have been going on for a long time. Although I still do not think anyone should walk out in traffic on a highway at twilight on a rainy night, for the first time I got why they did it. To do that speaks to a level of desperation that white America does not yet feel. And I wondered why I didn’t see that before.

So my thought for this Thursday is this: our faith calls on us to be faithful witnesses. That requires us to be willing to look. Avoid hitting that snooze button in an effort to avoid discomfort. If you’re confused about why people are upset but want to be part of the solution, a good first step is to not allow yourself the luxury of looking away.

Isaiah 1:15-17 – When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.