Pastor Wayne Chung

 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

A young soldier wrote home from overseas and he said, “Mom, things are tough here and we’re praying and God is helping us, but let me tell you what I want when we get home. I would like to have one of those big dinners, and then I’d like for us to just sit around and talk like we used to.”  Is he saying, ‘Home!  I wanna go home!?’

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!  What is your plan for this year’s Thanksgiving?  Look forward to having a big dinner with your loved ones at home?  What are you thankful for this year?

I give thanks to God for those who come to their church home week after week to worship and fellowship as God’s family.  Worship is our way to honor God by expressing our gratitude for all God’s blessings.

What does come to your mind when you hear the word “home?”   I almost hear the words like love, security, peace, family, comfort, care and more.  Home is a place we can always go to, especially when we are sick, hurt and tired.  It is a blessing to have a place to go.  How comforting it is to know that there is someone who is waiting for us!  We, Friendship United Methodist Church, continue to be a home for everyone, especially those who feel hurt, lonely, alienated, and forgotten.

Thanksgiving stops when we take things for granted. Let us give thanks by not taking anyone and anything for granted. We give thanks to God for the gift of friends, family, home, and the church home.  Most of all, we are thankful for the One, who always shows the same love and care, especially to those who go through difficult times of change.

Just as the seasons in nature change, so do the seasons in our lives.  Our circumstances never stay the same.  Actually, everything in this world is passing and changing.  Transition is not always easy, especially when it involves loss, pain, and sorrow.  Yet even then we can be thankful for the fact that God does not change.  God remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.  That is the reason for our comfort and the basis of our hope even in shifting seasons of life.

“To everything there is season,” says Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, “a time for every purpose under heaven.”  Seasons may come and go.  For believers, however, every season is a season to be grateful since God does not change but remains the same.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Wayne

Email:  leadpastor@friendshipmethodist.org
Phone:  (410) 257-7133