Good Friday morning Church Requel!
I get asked all the time by family and friends... and even just casual acquaintances: "How is the church doing with Covid?"
My answer is always the same. I would never have chosen this path. I would never have believed that we could be doing well with it. I should have always believed that God would bless us, but who could have predicted our past year? Then I proceed to tell the story of all those who have become a regular part of our worship experience each week. I tell of the traveling Perdue family. I tell of the Causley family from England and of the Buckley family from Virginia.
And about Wendy from Alabama. This week's story must include Wendy, because this week we will all be singing together her original song, "Mercy House." Several months ago, Wendy sang her new song for us. The reaction of every person on the praise team was identical: When can we sing that song? Well, now we know the answer - this Sunday! Many of us have been excitedly editing and composing our versions of the song back and forth online. I believe as of this morning we are now on our 4th version. The song has taken on a life of it's own in our hearts this week.
Honestly, it's not all that surprising. The song's message speaks so much to our hearts in this time of global pandemic. "Are you lost? Are you hurting? Forgotten and alone? Are your burdens too heavy? Does everything you do turn out all wrong? It's ok to feel like giving up, just know you are loved, so loved. Come to Mercy House." I don't know about you, but my heart melts when we come to the bridge, "All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him. In His Presence daily live."
Thank you Wendy for becoming a part of Church Requel. Thank you for the blessing of your song written so many miles away from where many of us live, yet so close to all our lives.
Sunday Stream. For those watching the worship service online, you can watch from our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/ChurchRequel or you can watch on YouTube - https://youtu.be/IwSGbbxvYf8
Sunday Sermon. We will wrap up our 1 Peter study, which we have been in most of this year. If you'd like to prepare your mind for our sermon, you can read 1 Peter 5:1-7. We will be talking about "How To Live A Significant Life." I plan to share with you 3 ways to make your life count. What do you think those ways might be?
The Songs We Sing. Here is the list of songs we plan to sing this coming Sunday morning: "Praise Him Forever" by Chris Tomlin; "Holy Water" by We The Kingdom; "What A Beautiful Name / Tremble" by Hillsong and Mosaic; "Mercy House" by Wendy Kriegel; and "Everyday" by Hillsong. Brandi will lead our communion time. Brian will lead our prayer time.
Ministering To Our Neighborhood. One last thing... and I'm really excited about this... Don Angel has agreed to live up to his name and be an angel to those in our congregation and in our neighborhood. He is taking on the challenge of helping out the needy. This past week he secured a used refrigerator (the old one gave up the ghost), and is in the process of filling it AND emptying it! Last week we had a donation of a dozen and a half gallons of whole milk. He didn't rest until he got it all distributed. Not an ounce went bad. So here is the upshot. If you want to help meet the needs of those in our congregation and those in our neighborhood, talk to Don! He is going to make it happen!
Believe it or not, I have so much more to write to you, but I will leave something for next week. Our leadership team is up and running and making exciting plans to come back stronger than ever in 2021! Buckle up! It's going to be a FANTASTIC year!
Love you all much, Pastor Mark
