Greetings in Christ!
Happy October! I’m sure you have noticed that the leaves are starting to change color and there is a chill in the air. The smell of burning leaves and wood smoke will soon permeate our neighborhoods. No other time of the year do I think more about the changes of season than Autumn. It reminds me of Ecclesiastes chapter three. It begins, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Of course, now I’m going to have the song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” in my head the rest of the day, but that’s ok.
And so the scripture goes on with a list. I’ll name a few. “A time to be born, a time to die. A time for love, a time for hate. A time to scatter stones, a time to gather stones together. A time to kill, a time to heal. A time for war, a time for peace.” While reading this scripture and these dual statements, I can’t help but ask, is there really a time for hate, killing, and war? I think of something I’ve said to our kid more than once. It’s never ok to hit someone! If I mean that on such a seemingly small level, I have to also believe that it’s not ok for those larger versions of hitting.
But then, I think of what Jesus said more than once. In John 16, he said, “In this world we will have trouble…” and also Luke 17, “Things that cause people to stumble are sure to come…”. So what we can take from this is, it’s never ok to kill or hate. But in this world, at least right now, hate will happen, war will happen. But we can take heart, Jesus said, I have overcome the world! And like the scripture, (and the song) says, there is a time for peace, and it will come again. Maybe someday, we will all learn to get along in this crazy world.
Right now, you may be experiencing some sort of trouble. You may be in pain, whether physically, emotionally, or even spiritually. You may be experiencing a hard time financially. Or maybe there is a bad situation where it feels like it will never end. It will. Peace in your life will come again. In the meantime, I pray you will open the Bible and seek the comforting words of Jesus when he said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” So I encourage you to keep seeking, and you will find what Jesus truly means when he says, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Peace and blessings always!
Pastor Brian
First United Methodist Church, Hudson, MI 