Dear MPC Family,
I hope this letter finds everyone well. During these strange times, I suspect such a greeting carries various connotations not normally thought about. We’ve had quite a doozy of a time over the last few months.
Now that we are meeting regularly again, as a church, that light is a little brighter at the tunnel’s end. I think many of us can agree that we were a little giddy when we got together once again on 17 May. It was so wonderful to see all ya’ll face-to-face once again! Coming up this Sunday (7 June), we will once again begin partaking of the Lord’s Supper. And, I have to say, it has been too long since we communed together with the Lord in the sacrament. We’ve not yet started back Sunday school, the evening service, or our Wednesday night fellowship. Although, the session is eager to get these things going as soon as feasible. Lord willing, we’ll see Sunday school and the evening service kick back into gear relatively soon. Also, the women’s Bible study is kicking back off, and Sharon has the lead on that with a Nancy Guthrie study. All the ladies interested in that please contact her so you can join in.
Congratulations to our new graduates (Madi, Missy, and Grace)! It was fun coming out to your “drive-by” graduation! I’m not sure if the “drive-by” will become a new trend, but it was great seeing the church family come out in celebration of your achievements. May the Lord’s blessing be upon you as you move forward from here, following the Lord.
As we look around at our nation, we can see that we are very blessed in our small town here in Alabama, in that we’ve avoided certain ill-advised policies of various governors, mayors, etcetera. Blessedly, we’ve avoided the resulting riots that have been in the headlines lately. We are blessed in that. It seems most folks around here just want to continue on with their life in peace. That’s a good thing, and we’re all doing our best to do just that in a safe and peaceful way (Romans 12:18). I think most people in our country hope for the same, and, in many places, things are quickly heading back to normal. However, not everyone is so blessed at this time. After all the restrictions and shutting down businesses and so forth in our country, with all the anger building with people so locked down and their freedoms curtailed, the fuel was in place for an explosion, just lacking the spark. The spark seems to have occurred with the death of George Floyd. Now, with the riots and looting going on all over the country for days now, some folks are a little nervous, even here in our quiet town. As a result, I know many of us have been doing ammunition counts and function checks of our weapons, and we have wisely put things in order so that we can defend our families and our neighbors against those who would harm them (Nehemiah 4:14; Luke 22:36). We are also blessed to have a solid chain of first responders here in town. They’ve been doing a great job over the past few tense months. And, I think we, here in Monroeville, have reason to be confident in our Mayor and City Council, Law Enforcement, Fire, EMTs, and other such public servants dedicated to the good of the people of our town and county (Romans 13:4). Let’s remember these good folks in our prayers and show them our support. Let’s also keep the rest of our nation in prayer—for peace to be reestablished across the land.
I wanted to put a plug in for a website that I regularly visit, which is called The Gospel Coalition (TGC – thegospelcoalition.org). This website has some wonderful articles written by Christian men and women in various fields of the ministry. In its “About: Foundation Documents” page, the site is described: “We are a fellowship of evangelical churches in the Reformed tradition deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures.” The staff, council, and authors of this web ministry include familiar names such as Tim Keller, D.A. Carson, Ligon Duncan, Kevin DeYoung, Kathleen Nielson, John Piper, and Scotty Smith among many, many other writers. If you are looking for something very relevant to read and make you think (and by “relevant,” I mean updated regularly, addressing what is going on in the church and the world from a Christian, Biblical, Reformed point of view), this is a great, great resource.
As we move on into the warmer days of summer, I pray the Lord’s blessing be upon you and yours. Remember, as God’s people, we can praise the Lord with the psalmist, confidently saying, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2).
See ya’ll around,
Roger