Aug 19/20, 2023
From the Pastor’s Desk : Pastor Karen Quan
Dear brothers and sisters of RCAC,
“Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he’s done.” Phil 4: 6
This has been our Memory Verse during the month of July for Bible Time (the Children’s Ministry Sessions that parallel the Worship Services). So simple, yet so challenging to put into practice.
Together with the kids, we traced the lives of Ruth, Hannah & Samuel. We saw over and over again that God provided what was needed. Whether that was for the individual, for their family and how it blessed their greater community. Our personal God stepped in and recognized personal needs. He further met those needs and demonstrated the great lengths to which he would care for his people.
The verse begins with a negative command “Don’t worry about anything”. It’s not a suggestion or just a good idea, it warns us, “Do Not do this…” As Paul writes, he knows full well the frailty of our humanness. But he does not leave us with just a negative command as the sentence continues with “..instead pray about everything.” Knowing that our human nature will often fail, Paul instructs us to replace worry with prayer. God inspires Paul to write in such a way that the quiet act of praying strengthens our souls by turning our attention away from ourselves and instead re-directing our attention to God.
Further, we are commanded again, “Tell God what you need & thank him for all he’s done.” God knows that our human nature is to complain but rather than allowing ourselves to indulge, he again redirects us to focus on himself & what he’s done in our lives.
While children are often perceived as care free, I actually feel that this was a very timely verse for us. As the WHO declared COVID 19 over as a Global Health Emergency (as of May 5, 2023), we continue to live with managing the effects of this health threat. This generation of kids have witnessed the worry/fear/confusion of all the adults in their lives and experienced first hand the weight of uncertainty. We continue to see the cautiousness of some kids when gathering and the impact of a lack of opportunity to navigate social situations due to few interactive experiences.
What a joy it is to be able to teach kids from an early age what to do when worrying comes. There is a fine line between “Thinking” about a matter and how easily that can cross over into “Worrying”. Scripture prepares us that worrying will come but when it does, God has given us a way to deal with it. Our Almighty God invites us to talk to him about everything: every concern, difficulty or challenge. We get to go directly to God & tell him what we need and in his time, he will show us how he responds.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Karen Quan