Rejoice!

 

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Philippians 4:4

King James Version

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

 For months, well over a year, we have been watching our church services online—virtually. When we participated in our liturgical service, we would record the pieces we did, and Pastor Devo would splice all the pieces together to make a nearly seamless service. On occasion some of the pieces would get shuffled or omitted, which we always took in good humor. I missed hearing the organ. I really missed the interaction with other believers.

Things have changed. Hurray! Rejoice! For the last few weeks, we have attended in the actual sanctuary. At the church and the governor’s, request, we have been wearing masks. This does make recognizing each other a bit difficult at times. But we do get to exchange pleasantries, and more importantly, we do get to actually chat to each other. Almost everyone is full of happiness that they are back in church. They have good news to share about their own accomplishments, their families’ activities, successful medical treatments, and the like. Rejoice!

There are, of course, the usual few for whom nothing has gone well. Their car is acting up: it needs new bakes, maybe a new transmission even. Their shirt-tail cousin lost his lease on his house, or she had a bad time with Covid, or he wants a hand-out, or she won’t leave but wants to continue leaching. Their health is playing havoc with them: the back-ache just won’t go away, or their cancer is still growing after two interminable sessions of chemo.

I can’t tell these poor souls to rejoice! I can rejoice because it isn’t happening to me. But what if it is indeed happening to me? Even then I can rejoice in the Lord! I have the Lord and His promises. I rejoice that He has saved me by His grace! I rejoice that I am looking forward to better things. I can rejoice that He is working things out for me.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!

  

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[1] https://stmichaellivermore.com/blog/rejoice-midst-darkness