“For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” Jeremiah 31:25
Dear friends,
When another heat wave came as this summer began, I made a quick trip rushing up to Buffalo to sit in my yard, refreshed by a cooling breeze under the oak tree that I climbed regularly as a boy.
The temperature had risen to over 100 degrees in West Deptford and Philadelphia and I was languishing … in fact, I was miserable. So, I looked at the dog … gathered up a few items (forgetting his kibbles) and went on a road trip north.
As a historian majoring in history at the University of Buffalo, I have noticed that throughout the ages humanity has gone through many difficult times when the everyday person “languished.” There have been times when struggles and challenges seemed almost insurmountable. During these years since I became your pastor, we have survived one of the most challenging eras in modern history, the COVID years. But we have come out on top even though many languished, and some of us lost dear friends and family members.
As I am writing this in my backyard with the breeze in my hair … ok with the breeze blowing over me … an airplane is flying overhead, and Tyler just lunged from his comfortable grass bed, knocking my cool drink over, to go after a rabbit whose white tail vanished into the bushes. I hear the birds singing … and I sense God.
Summer is such a unique season on the calendar. I want to urge each of you who might be stressing or struggling with your life or with the world’s realities to focus in on God and God’s ongoing and forever reality. If you pause, you can actually discover God all around you. If you stop to consider the good that each of us has in our lives, you do have the capacity to let the good overcome the challenges. God’s peace goes beyond human understanding, so we just have to allow God to be there for us. As Jeremiah preached, “God WILL satisfy the weary soul” but it does take two to do that dance; we have to be willing to receive the gift of recovery. We need to love and worship God.
So I am wondering how many folks prioritize worship and God during these summer months when vacations and cool drinks consume our lives. How many are partnering with God rather than the world to find the replenishment that is needed?
I just checked my calendar and this coming Sunday at 9:30am there will be a church service filled with joy, welcoming all, worshiping and loving God in air-conditioned comfort at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in West Deptford. Are you excitedly planning to worship God and to be replenished by God’s Holy Spirit?
Pope Leo recently referred to the faithful as pilgrims in faith. When I think about pilgrims I think about bold individuals willing to interact with their world, focused on God and faith. It is my prayer that this summer of 2025 is a season that you can find a renewed connection with God, providing you with a replenishment for your soul that I am sensing right now here in my backyard … birds singing, breeze blowing, faithful dog at my feet, and now a need to refill my cup with ice and raspberry iced tea.
Blessings,
Pastor Dave