{"id":6797,"date":"2020-03-14T17:04:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T01:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gracepointephrata.org\/fbc\/?p=6797"},"modified":"2020-12-10T12:01:25","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T20:01:25","slug":"a-note-on-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gracepointephrata.org\/fbc\/2020\/03\/14\/a-note-on-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"A Note on Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Greetings again GracePoint family (Saturday, March 14<\/span>th<\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n

We certainly are experiencing unexpected volumes of change in these days. School closures, church closures, financial shifts, health concerns, and the list goes on. We are faced with the reality of personal emotional weariness which can lead to the extremes of fear or cynicism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The British poet Malcolm Guite in an introduction to one of his poems writes the following.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer does not ignore \u2018the six-days world\u2019 the busy weekday world, the constant cycles of unnerving news, the noise and pain and clamour of daily life, but rather seeks to transpose that dissonance into the key of love. As I worked . . . I realised that I was articulating something I had been feeling for a long time about the damaging and depressing effect of barrages of bad news unprayed through, accumulating as a kind of uninterpreted cacophony in the mind. We need the gift of transposition and the power to hear, however tiny it might seem, the eternal tuning fork that sounds Christ\u2019s love in the midst of things.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/malcolmguite.wordpress.com\/2020\/03\/10\/lent-with-herbert-day-11-the-six-days-world-transposing\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe eternal tuning fork that sounds Christ\u2019s love in the midst of things.\u201d<\/span><\/i> Malcolm Guite is correct that believers in Christ have a higher allegiance and focus than the bad news that surrounds us. God\u2019s Holy Spirit is at work in your life right now to bring that <\/span>\u201ctuning fork\u201d of Christ\u2019s love <\/span><\/i>to the forefront of your consciousness. Remember, the Holy Spirit\u2019s ministry in your life is not to make you comfortable, but to make you mature in Christ. And that maturity often, if not always, comes through vulnerability and seasons of adversity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, as the people of GracePoint Church we should not allow ours, and others, current challenges and experiences to go <\/span>\u201cunprayed through.\u201d<\/span><\/i> Tomorrow is Sunday March 15<\/span>th<\/span> and I would encourage you and yours to focus on worship and prayer at 10 a.m. our regular congregational worship time. Remember, that just because we are not meeting together does not mean that we cease being the church. We are just scattered out in our neighborhoods and communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some suggested items for prayer:<\/span><\/p>\n