NOVEMBER 2021 EDITION
THE WOODLANDS METHODIST CHURCH
THESENIORPOINT THE WOODLANDS METHODIST CHURCH
NEW SEASONS
A MESSAGE FROM
LEE BREWER
Written by: Susan Kent
Just a few weeks ago we opened the Sanctuary space up for a few hours to give our church the opportunity to write a prayer or copy a scripture as an act of blessing the new Sanctuary space. For months we’ve been gathering in Wesley Hall while seeing the signs and hearing the sounds of construction. In addition to updating the fire sprinkler system, we have taken the opportunity to update the audio/video system, the flooring, and even add some stained glass. While walking towards the Sanctuary that morning I stopped to visit with two incredible women (one being my grandmother!) and we decided to go in to the Sanctuary together. How exciting to see the space that we’ve been waiting on, even if it was bare to the bones. It seems odd, really, to be in a state of waiting. To be in a place where there is both great excitement for what is to come and also what will be different. Our Sanctuary renovation season is a bit like real life though, isn’t it? We have been in a season of waiting. Waiting for COVID to no longer be part of our daily vocabulary. Waiting for our ability to come and go whenever and however we want. But waiting is the season in which God does some of His best work! This is the season when He opens our eyes to possibilities we never dreamed of and opens our ears to words we didn’t know were coming. This is the season when God prepares our hearts with gratitude for all that He has done, all that He is doing, and all that He will do in the future. Looking around at the concrete floors and bare walls of the Sanctuary, I was excited to read all the prayers and the scriptures that people had already written. I walked with my sweet friend, Natalia to one of the walls and she wrote the passage she had chosen to bless the Sanctuary and then we took a selfie together! As we look to this new season and embrace the waiting, I’ll share the scripture passage that my sweet friend Natalia wrote as a blessing in the Sanctuary: “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live, I will praise my God to my last breath.” Psalm 104:33
Happy Thanksgiving!
PASTOR TO SENIOR ADULTS
It’s November, the eleventh month of the year. This year is almost over. We are thinking about holidays, turkeys and presents already. November is also a time when we often look back and think of the year behind us, the holidays past, and wonder where it all has gone. It is both a time of anticipation of what is to be, and rumination on what is behind us. We think about “not yet,” and “what if.” There are choices all of us make that we wish we could take back. There are questions in our mind about how different life would be if we had turned left along the way instead of right. And, we consider the sins we have committed that have changed our lives and the lives of others. Yet, I want to give you a reason to let go of the past and to look forward in this month and the end of the year. We may give ourselves over to the negative in these next two months, or we can claim the promises of the mercy of God and rejoice in these new days. Isaiah 43:25 tells us, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” If God lets go of our past, we can do the same, and find the joy in each day of this season of celebrations. I am truly looking forward to sharing this month and season with you!
Lee
Photo credit: Jean Drummond