Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My heart is grieved at the violence done to citizens who are being mistreated by immigration officers who are rightly aiming at detaining illegal immigrants. I understand that the topic of the killing of Renee Good in Minnesota is polarizing – because there is a presumption of guilt on one side and a presumption of innocence on the other. I understand that Immigration officers are seeking to do what is right. But still, there are repeated acts of injustice against immigrants and citizens that are taking place in the name of the pursuit of justice. So my heart is grieved.
As I taught the children at HBtoo! the other night, you can’t undo something that you have done. Perhaps you can on a word processor, or you can delete a text, but it is a general rule in life that you can’t undo something you have done. You can’t unsee something that you saw. You can’t unhear something that you heard. You can’t think something that you have thought. So how do we deal with the evil that is without and within?
For the evil that is within, we need to avoid doing the wrong thing to begin with. We need to avoid seeing things we shouldn’t see. We need to hold our tongue so that we don’t say something in anger. We need to refuse to listen to gossip (which I define as something that would ruin the reputation of another, without them being present to explain/defend themselves). We need to guard our hearts and minds – and not fill them with filth.
For the evil outside of us – there are at least two types – ones that we commit and ones that others commit or the evils that just happen (like a natural disaster). For the ones that we commit: We need to repent. We need to turn back to God and seek forgiveness. We need to commit to doing what is right moving forward. We need to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us to do what is right. For the evil outside of us that others commit (or that just happen) – we need to cry out to God for justice. We need to cast our anxieties on him because He cares for us. We need to call evil what it is, “evil!”. We need to turn to our Lord and tell him how we are feeling. We need to grieve when there is loss, looking forward to the day when tears will be no more.
How are you dealing with the evil without and within?
Please continue to pray for the nations of Israel/Gaza and Ukraine/Russia and Sudan. Here is a suggested list of prayers if you are at a loss for words in how to pray: https://send.org/story/hh_pray_for_ukraine. And https://worldrelief.org/blog-prayer-for-israel-and-gaza/ And here are other prayers for peace in general: https://worldrelief.org/prayers-for-peace-in-the-world/ Thank you for kneeling on behalf of the people of Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Gaza and Lebanon, and Sudan, and taking a stand (or a knee in prayer) against the forces of darkness in this present age.
Further announcements can be found in the weekly spotlight. And other church wide announcements can be found in our weekly bulletin.
For Prayer:
1. From Bishop J.C. Ryle – “To be prayerless is to be Christless, Godless, and in the high road to destruction…It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small.” Please join our Wednesday night prayer meeting (7:45 – 9:00 pm) even if you can’t participate the whole time.
https://zoom.us/j/758587937?pwd=aS9sZUdxcm1janNNM2I2aXJ6Smx2QT09
Meeting ID: 758 587 937
Password: 030086
Join by phone: +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
2. We’d be glad to pray for you. If you need prayer, you can submit your prayer request via the following link: https://www.cbcgl.org/pray/
In Christ, your servant, SDG,
Pastor Nathan Willems
Associate Pastor of CrossPoint Community – A Ministry of CBCGL