Dear Middletown Reformed Church Family and Friends,
Greetings of peace to you, beloved one of God!
Allow me to extend a deep note of gratitude to Elder Angela Hank, VP Lisa Leidecker, Tom Martucci, and Deacon Jamie Zeller for leading worship and preaching last Sunday while I was attending worship at the Community Church of Keyport.
You know what? When I looked at my watch and saw it was 10:30 AM, I whispered a blessing to you all, and then, didn’t think one more thing about it. Because I trust our leadership at MRC to be faithful to the preaching of the word and to the worship of God. I am so grateful that as your pastor/shepherd I have this confidence in our leaders, and, of course, in our God. Something you will hear me say quite often is, “God’s got you; God’s got us.” To me, this is just a given in life, a non-negotiable truth.
Yes, all the time
I look forward to worshiping with you at 10:30 AM this Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. As Tom is away on vacation, Nancy Coffin will lead us in our hymns and sing the Anthem “As the Deer.” I am preaching from Exodus 12.1-13; 13.1-9 and Luke 22.14-20 — a difficult Hebrew Bible text about the first Passover night and Luke’s recounting of the Last Supper — and my sermon title is In Remembrance.
One last plea: We have a booth at Middletown Day tomorrow where we will share God’s unconditional love with the folks of our community. We will also have sand art for the kids! I would be grateful if you are able to volunteer an hour tomorrow at our booth from 1 - 6 PM so that Jamie and I can have a break. Please let me know if you are available.
Of note: We are, once again, walking in the CROP Hunger Walk this year. We have a page where you can join the MRC team and make a donation at https://events.crophungerwalk.org/cropwalks/tricia-sheffield. Thank you for your generosity. We are called to love and feed one another!
May God’s grace and joy surround you always. You are loved!
In gratitude for the privilege of being your pastor and the holy call of loving you,
Pastor Trish