Surely God is my salvation;

    I will trust, and will not be afraid,

for the Lord God is my strength and my might;

    he has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:

Give thanks to the Lord,  call on his name;

make known his deeds among the nations;

    proclaim that his name is exalted. 

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

    let this be known in all the earth.

Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,

    for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 12:2-6)

Greetings Friends and Families of Federal Way UMC, 

This morning I was reading this Scripture passage in Isaiah. I thought about some of the ways we are called to give thanks to God and call on God’s name. We are all in a time of a transition together. There is so much happening in our world and one of the ways we can care for our neighbors and community is to stay home and stay healthy. 

As a people of faith, we have an opportunity to take the time we have to deepen our faith. We can draw water from the wells of salvation. If you don’t regularly read your Bible and spend at least 5 minutes in devotion with God, I highly encourage you to do so. One of my favorite books to use is an oldie but a goody, Oswald Chambers My utmost for His highest is a great devotional. If you have a devotional you use, please feel free to share it in the comments below. That way we can all learn from one another. 

I believe that spending time caring for our spiritual life with God does pour positivity into other aspects of our lives. Just as good nutrition cares for our body and caring for our mental and emotional well being affects our relationship with ourself and others. 

Please take the time to assess this week how you are doing spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. Lord knows we can’t fix everything all at once. But, we can invest in small ways everyday to train our habits overall to become healthier and more in tune with God. I hope you know that I’m praying for you daily. I pray that you are holding our community and world in your prayers as well. 

Worship

I apologize for the poor video quality from our worship service last week. We believe we know why it happened and are working hard to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. We have many amazing servant leaders (volunteers) spending extra time each week to help put together our service with great care. 

This Sunday, Reverend Brian Wood will be teaching about Aldersgate Sunday, he’ll be using Romans 5:1-11 as the grounding Scripture. As you prepare for worship this Sunday, I suggest you read the first five chapters of Romans.

The Rutherford family

We have two weeks left where we can worship with the Rutherford family before they move. If you would like to send any cards or a monetary gift, please email our Staff Parish Relations chair SandyShinbo@comcast.net.

Grace and Peace to you all, 

Pastor DJ