This Wednesday: Modern Worship Collective @ 7 pm

(Dinner @ 6:30 PM!)

Dear Friends,

There are a lot of problems in the world around us. The nature of our globalized and connected world means we are constantly presented with images of people suffering. It can all seem overwhelming, can’t it?

I know a lot of folks who have said to me recently, “I just don’t pay attention to the news these days. It’s not good for my health.” I get why they say that. It’s extremely frustrating to see all sorts of bad things happening—and to see bad people getting away with bad behavior, without any consequences.

I think part of the reason the relentless news cycle is so disheartening is because we feel helpless to do anything about what’s happening. But is that really true? Is there nothing we can do?

I hope you’ll come to worship on Sunday to reflect with me on a story about a time Jesus was confronted by some suffering people in the temple. We’ll see how he reacted to the situation, and consider whether there’s a lesson in there for us. Perhaps there’s a pathway out of frustration for us all!

With hope,

Hardy

Please join us immediately following the Sunday service for our Coffee Hour

(in-person in Trinity Court or online via Zoom).

bit.ly/SVPCCoffeeHour

Theme for Sunday

“It’s more complicated than that, some will say. Most social problems are complicated, of course, but a retreat to complexity is more often a reflection of our social standing than evidence of critical intelligence. Hungry people want bread.”

Matthew Desmond, Poverty, by America

John 5:1-9

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The ill man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a Sabbath.