OCTOBER 2021 EDITION
THE WOODLANDS METHODIST CHURCH
THESENIORPOINT THE WOODLANDS METHODIST CHURCH
PSALM 55
A MESSAGE FROM
“Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught. (vs 1-2a). Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. (vs 22a).” – Psalm 55
PASTOR TO SENIOR ADULTS
LEE BREWER
Written by: Joy Johnston
Wars, pandemics, political strife, natural disasters, economic upheaval, and the list goes on. Not only are all these things happening in our community and world, but as I write I am waiting to hear if dear friends in New Orleans are safe after living through Hurricane Ida while another close friend’s life hangs in the balance as she undergoes surgery. To say the least, it’s been a rough couple of years, and I find myself feeling exactly like the writer of Psalm 55, when he cried out, “Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught” (vs 1-2a). Maybe you’ve felt the same thing recently! It’s easy to think that now is one of the most difficult times in history; however, things really haven’t changed much in the last three thousand or so years since the psalmist composed Psalm 55. Psalm 55 is a prayer for help written in the first person in which the writer is describing how he has been afflicted by a general urban lawlessness and betrayal of a close friend. Both things are all too familiar to us today as well. So where do we turn for hope? The Psalmist knew then and what is still true today – our help is in the Lord our God. Indeed, along with the psalmist, we too can, “Cast our cares on the Lord, and he will sustain us” (vs 22.a). We can trust that God will listen to our prayers and answer us. Like the psalmist so long ago, I too declare, “But as for me, I trust in you, O God” (Psalm 55:23b). We need not despair because God goes with us through these days and times of rejoicing will return.
Yellowstone Travelers
October is a month of variation and anticipation. Leaves begin to change colors; the temperatures begin to cool; and the months of big holidays are on the near horizon once again. Change is literally in the air around us. Changes in our personal life are often less welcome than the changes in nature. Certainly, we often want our circumstances to change, but that is as long as it does not entail US having to change! We would like to change our weight – as long as it doesn’t mean changing our diet. We would like to have more energy – as long as it doesn’t include getting out of the recliner. A perfect example of how we would like things to be is seen in an invention that was popular for decades in America: the vibrating belt machine. Some of you remember them, don’t you? All you had to do was wrap the belt around you and let the machine shake that fat away! No, it didn’t work. In Romans 12:2, Paul tells us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Transformed, changed, into people who think differently so we can act differently. I know very well that the older we get the harder it is to change things. We get comfortable and have things just the way we like them. Yet, perhaps, the Lord is calling us to respond to the world around us and make some changes in the way we think, the way we act, so that others can receive the blessings only we can give by being willing, and able, to change. Looking forward to change,
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Lee