Pastor Geri Hamlen
Greetings and welcome to Trinity! It is my pleasure to meet you here in the cyber-world of our website, and if I have not met you in person, I surely would like to. Please accept my invitation to you to join us for one of our upcoming worship services. That's a great way to start to get to know the Trinity family. If you have any questions or would like to know more, please drop us an email at or call the church office, 906/774-2545. We look forward to meeting you!
PASTORS PONDERINGS
As I write this, I am also preparing for the Children’s Time during worship on Sunday, January 24. We are going through the alphabet using a book called Big Thoughts for Little People and this week’s letter is ‘E’ for ‘Eternal.’ Eternity...now that’s a big thought, isn’t it? How can our meager human minds grasp the concept of forever and ever and ever?
I am struggling with how to explain to children that even when we say...Nothing lasts forever...that’s not strictly true. Of course, winter doesn’t last for eternity. This pandemic won’t last forever. Mountains are worn down by wind and rain. Empires rise and fall. Eternity is out of reach for our bodily life, within our sensory limitations.
But there is One who has eternal existence no matter what happens to any and all of us. God will endure...beyond the lifetime of the sun. Past the doomsday of the moon. Through all the generations and even then some.
God doesn’t need us humans to measure and mark the days of existence. We are the ones who need God in order to endure the blinding and bitter truths of this world. We are the ones who need God in order to live through shadows of grief and sickness. We are the ones who turn to God, as our Creator, even to celebrate the birth of new generations and new ideas and new possibilities.
Our grieving and rejoicing are not eternal and yet, I have to believe that in the vast eternity that is God—every cry for help, every prayer of thanksgiving, every whoop of delight from any and all of us is recorded in the heart of God who receives our brief attention with the joy and gentle care of an explorer who has just found the most delightful of all lovely beings—in each of us.
God’s covenant love for us is eternal, and there isn’t anything we can do that will turn aside that holy and vital stream of life-giving refreshment, nurture, and enjoyment. May the eternal power and steadfast love of God be everything you need,
this day and always. Thanks be to God.
Pastor Geri
Holy Spirit, I pray blessings on these people here before you. Protect them and shield them from the sorrow of sickness. Breath hope into them and tend to any pain and suffering they may be feeling. You do bless us with the light of your love and the power of your strength. For that, we give you our heartfelt thanks and praise. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.