{"id":5742,"date":"2019-03-06T12:08:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T17:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/?p=5742"},"modified":"2019-03-06T12:08:57","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T17:08:57","slug":"letter-from-d-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/2019\/03\/letter-from-d-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from D.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

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March 6, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

My Beloved RISEM Clay (Clergy & Laity),<\/p>\n

Greetings to all the faithful people of the RISEM district!<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(Philippians 1:3-7<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

I purposely withheld from reaching out to each of you as I processed what took place in St. Louis, Missouri at the Special Session of General Conference. I am reminded of the song written by Gordon Light, \u201cDraw the Circle Wide\u201d. This song spoke to me, particularly this line: \u201cDraw the circle wide, draw the circle wide. No one stands alone, we\u2019ll stand side by side.\u201d<\/p>\n

I know many of my brothers and sisters in the Lord are hurting and feel the circle has actually not grown wider but has become more narrower. My heart aches for the church, however, I am encouraged by the words of Dr. Charles Albert Tindley, a song in our UM Hymnal #525 – \u201cWe\u2019ll Understanding It Better By and By\u201d.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We are tossed and driven
\non the restless sea of time;
\nsomber skies and howling tempests
\noft succeed a bright sunshine;
\nin that land of perfect day,
\nwhen the mists are rolled away,
\nwe will understand it better by and by.
\nRefrain:
\nBy and by, when the morning comes,
\nwhen the saints of God are gathered home,
\nwe’ll tell the story how we’ve overcome,
\nfor we’ll understand it better by and by.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We are often destitute
\nof the things that life demands,
\nwant of food and want of shelter,
\nthirsty hills and barren lands;
\nwe are trusting in the Lord,
\nand according to God’s word,
\nwe will understand it better by and by.
\n(Refrain)<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trials dark on every hand,
\nand we cannot understand
\nall the ways of God would lead us
\nto that blessed promised land;
\nbut he guides us with his eye,
\nand we’ll follow till we die,
\nfor we’ll understand it better by and by.
\n(Refrain)<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Temptations, hidden snares
\noften take us unawares,
\nand our hearts are made to bleed
\nfor a thoughtless word or deed;
\nand we wonder why the test
\nwhen we try to do our best,
\nbut we’ll understand it better by and by.
\n(Refrain)<\/p>\n

As we enter the Lenten Journey toward Easter and beyond, I encourage all of us to be the body of Christ, \u201cResurrected People\u201d, as we covenant with one another to \u201cDo No Harm, Do Good and Stay in Love with God.\u201d<\/p>\n

I remain His humble servant-leader,<\/p>\n

Rev. Dr. Andrew L. Foster, III.
\nRISEM District Superintendent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/center>\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 6, 2019 My Beloved RISEM Clay (Clergy & Laity), Greetings to all the faithful people of the RISEM district! \u201cI thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5743,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742\/revisions\/5743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}