“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
—Zechariah 9:9
Dear Sunnyside Community Church,
Blessed Palm Sunday, to one and all. Today we commemorate our Lord’s celebrated entrance into the City of Jerusalem on the Sunday before His crucifixion; that entrance by which He presented himself, unmistakably, to be the Messiah, the Son of David, the Fulfiller of the Prophets words. I trust that the Lord will encourage you with the glorious reality of which that entrance speaks, not only of Jesus being the Messiah, but, of God’s redemptive plan and purpose accomplished in and through this Messiah; of the reality that we have hope in the face of all our challenges because the Savior has come, the King has arrived, the Victory is secured.
We thank the Lord for His continued faithfulness and the confidence we have from His word that he will never leave us, nor forsake us, and that He is sufficient for everything that concerns us. I trust His word continues to be your daily bread and that prayer is a place of encouragement for your own mind and heart and ministry in the lives of others as we uphold one another before God’s gracious throne.
One thing that we are especially thankful for this morning is that THE NO PARKING SIGNS ARE UP; THE TRUCKS ARE GONE! As everyone knows, this has been an on-going concern for a couple years now. But this last week, an ODOT crew came through and installed the signs prohibiting the parking of any vehicle 7’ or taller. We thank the Lord for this answer to prayer. We thank the officials at the Oregon Department of Transport for responding to our concerns and requests. And, we thank all of you who took action on this issue, writing letters, sending emails, making phone calls.
Please continue to pray for the general encouragement of our church family, and indeed, for all God’s people, as this situation continues on. Pray the Lord to uphold our hearts in peace and joy in Christ as we endure this extended time of being separated. The Lord is teaching us just how precious our comings together are, whether as a congregation or one with another.
Pray the Lord’s blessing on all the efforts that are being made to carry on the work of His church; all the efforts being made by local churches to continue ministering to their members and to their communities. Pray that the preaching of God’s word, however that is carried out, would be effective for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
Pray for the leaders of our nation; for the President and Vice President, for governmental leaders at all levels, for health officials, for one and all charged with the responsibility to give leadership to our nation in this time. Pray for wisdom and discernment in making the momentous decisions that they are called upon to make; for the encouragement and strength of their hearts and minds to bear up under this protracted situation. Pray that the Lord would work in their hearts to direct them to acknowledge Him in all their ways.
Thank you, one and all, for your continued, faithful support of one another. I continue to be encouraged as I hear of people connecting with one another, reaching out to check on one another and help however they can. I appreciate the cards and texts that you have sent to me and to our family. They encourage us greatly.
Also, thank you for your continued faithfulness in sending in your contributions. The Lord has bountifully supplied this last month. We thank Him and we thank you.
Thank you to all who have been seeing to the cleaning of the church building. We appreciate your faithful and conscientious service.
As you are well aware, I’m sure, the restrictions on gathering have been extended, at least, until the end of April. So, at least for this next month, we will not be gathering, but will continue to be posting our Sunday morning worship service online.
Some “gatherings” do continue, however. The men’s Monday morning prayer group has been gathering via ZOOM. We will be meeting again tomorrow. There was quite a group of ladies that “met” Thursday evening and enjoyed a time of sharing and prayer. It’s great to see these things happening. If you would like to be a part of these meetings and do not know how, please reach out to Julie or myself.
One thing I want to let you know about. On Friday we will be posting a “Good Friday Service.” The focus will be on the events surrounding and including our Lord’s Crucifixion. There will be music and Scripture reading and a short message. This is an opportunity for you to spend some time reflecting on this most crucial event that is the keystone of the Christian faith.
Again, I want to express my appreciation for those who have taken on additional work during this time to help facilitate the on-going life of our church family. Thank you to Julie Urback and to Brent Stapleton for their extra efforts.
May the Lord bless you with peace and joy and hope in the week ahead. May He grant you wisdom in all your responsibilities and opportunities. May you know the encouragement of His Word and the empowering of His Spirit to walk faithfully with Him. May He empower you so that in every respect our Lord may be glorified in and through your life.
In the Love of Christ,
Pastor Guy