Preachers and Pastors all over our county are learning new ways to communicate with the community, who looks to their faith and guidance in these times of crisis. We have gathered together some thoughts from leaders of different churches in communities across Medina County to share in the News this week.
In a video message to his parishioners, Father Paul Cleary from Our Lady Grace Catholic Church in LaCoste, pointed to a banner that was hung shortly before the Archdiocese canceled masses in Catholic churches to avoid spread of the COVID-19 virus.
“This banner is the banner that we hung up prior to the shutdown of communities at large. The banner reads ‘Rise Above Difficulty.’ What an irony…..that was the theme of the scriptures presented on the weekend of the mass that never was.”
“It was hung on the weekend we received the decree to cease mass immediately, and that banner that we hung is now the banner for all of humankind. Little did we know that ‘Rise Above Difficulty’ would become the catch phrase for all of humankind, from different continents, from different faith journeys…..Different people all over the world can now unite under this banner to rise above, and WE WILL rise above the difficulty that our health circumstance is presenting to us at this time.”
In a live stream for the community, Devine First Baptist pastor Dan Newburg, asked us to look at scriptures from a new angle during this time of crisis.
“We have to ask ourselves how to respond to crisis, and how can we look at the example of Jesus to help inform us how we might improve our response to crisis altogether?….When Jesus is presented with crisis of his evident death— and he is unmoved by the fact. He looks crisis right in the eye and calls it for what it is. What gave Jesus that confidence? We ourselves are in crisis in our own ways—and worldwide we are facing a pandemic….We are each dealing with that reality of that crisis in a myriad of ways…”
“We face crisis with the reality of ‘Will I have employment next week? What does the next month or two mean for my small business? How will I make payroll?’” he adds.
“When we look at the text from Matthew 26, and the Last Supper picture, we can look at it from a different angle. We can see the example of Jesus who teaches us what faith is and what it looks like. Faith is not our belief in beliefs; it’s the belief in one true God—who will have the final word…..and it’s because of that knowledge, because of that confidence, because of that hope that we believe and we too can move forward and stare our crisis right in the eye.”
In an online video, Pastor Joyce from the New Fountain United Methodist in Hondo highlights the love for another that shines through in this time of crisis.
She stated that during the Passover feast “Jesus did his best to convey two things to us. One is the unending, unyielding love of the father and the other is his commandment to love one another as he has loved us. Brothers and sisters, over these past few weeks, we have seen so many examples of people doing for others, showing kindness, being merciful, offering to help one another…through our action of love, we have done exactly that.”
