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Greetings Calvary Bible Church Family,

We are now a full two weeks into the shut-down due to the Coronavirus pandemic. I say shut-down in reference to physically gathering together as a church family. In that sense we are shut-down, but we have definitely not shut-down in terms of drawing together as a church family in other ways. I have been so blessed by all the phone calls, emails, and text messages going back and forth amongst our church family. We need to stay in touch while not touching, and God has blessed us with lots of technology for doing just that.

In the last letter we (CBC elders) sent out, our plan was to cancel all church gatherings for the next two weeks. Well it is obvious that we are going to have to continue those cancelations until further notice. In the mean time we will continue to have the sermons posted on the CBC website by Sunday morning so that we can still get into God’s Word with our church family. As Stephanie, Ike, and I gathered last Sunday morning, I was blessed to think about many of you gathering together with your own families at that time. I was also especially concerned for those of you who might be alone. We want to do all we can to help you connect with your church family.

Speaking of Sunday morning worship, I would like to encourage you to put a little time and effort into a basic plan for making your worship time as meaningful and beneficial as possible. This could include a simple order of worship like we have on a normal Sunday morning. Feel free to create your own, but the following might work well for this coming Sunday.

  • Opening Prayer
  • Songs of Worship (feel free to Youtube these if it’s helpful, but make sure you sing along!)
    • Behold Our God
    • Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me
    • It Is Well With My Soul
  • Scripture Reading: Psalm 46
  • Sermon (available on the CBC website)
  • God at Work
    • Share what stood out to you about the teaching from God’s Word
    • Share praises and prayer requests
    • Spend time in corporate prayer

I would encourage you to make this as participatory as possible for your family. Assign the different parts of the worship service to family members gathered together. It doesn’t have to be formal, but it should be intentional.

We don’t know how long we will be in this crisis. We don’t know how severe things will get medically, or financially. What we do know is that God is in control. He is sovereign and He is working out His plan for our good and His glory. I came across two verses that really stood out to me as especially relevant to what we are experiencing right now.

“It is good for me that I was afflicted,

That I may learn Your statutes.”

“I know, O Lord, that Your judgements are righteous,

And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”

Psalm 119:71 & 75

How can it be good to be afflicted? How is affliction an indication of God’s faithfulness in our lives? Affliction, or suffering is good when it drives us closer to the Lord. When through our suffering the eternal begins to outshine the temporal, that is a good thing! We know that affliction is part of God’s faithfulness in our lives because as Paul says, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

My prayer is that God is using these afflictions to draw us closer to Himself, both individually and corporately as a church family.

God Bless,

Pastor Ron and CBC Elders