1 Peter 5  Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you  ² to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it-- not for sordid gain but eagerly.  ³ Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock.  ⁴ And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away.  ⁵ In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."  ⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.  ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.  ⁸ Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.  ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.  ¹⁰ And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.  ¹¹ To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.  ¹² Through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.  ¹³ Your sister church in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark.  ¹⁴ Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. 

            Yesterday as I talked to people after worship I noticed that there is a lot of anxiety going on in our congregation.  Some are anxious because of sickness, or upcoming doctor’s appointments.  Some are anxious for our congregation and for the two evangelism projects that will soon be on us.  Others are anxious because of job situations, or car problems, or just the stress of everyday life.  Add all these together and it makes for a congregation that is anxious enough for everyone.

            So what are we to do with all this anxiety?  Well, some of us will find out answers starting tomorrow.  The car can be fixed, the evangelism projects will come and go.  For those that have doctor’s appointments or are awaiting test results, the anxiety is present until the appointed time.  Even then it may not go away.  But that doesn’t mean you have to shoulder all that burden by yourself.  As Peter writes: “ ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”  There are things that we as humans cannot handle, and so all the more we should depend on God to help us with those burdens.  As a community built around the love of Christ, we too can support each other, offering to shoulder some of that burden when it is possible. 

            For those of you that are currently feeling anxious about one thing or another, know that we all are praying for you.  For those of you that are able to shoulder a little bit of someone else’s anxiety right now, say an extra prayer for yourself and for them, that they may find some comfort and release of their anxiety.  Finally, remember that there is nothing in this world that God cannot handle.  As hard as it is to give it all over, he is indeed the one that can bear the most.

In our prayers this week:  Ann, Robert, Charles, and Scott.

Update on Robert:  Alice called this morning and his scan results showed that he has no cancer anywhere! 

God’s Peace,