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Over the past several weeks, the cases of Covi have continued to increase throughout Kentucky. As a result, Governor Andy Beshear has asked that all Kentuckians take the next 30 days seriously and to take measures to help flatten the curve once again. Due to this request, the Lead Team and I have entered into a conversation about what Wesleyan Heights Church might do to help. After much prayer, thought and conversation we have decided that it is in our best interest, as Christ Followers, to once again stop in-person worship gatherings through August 9. We will continue to live stream our worship gatherings on Facebook live and have the recording of the worship gathering posted by Monday evening on our website, www.wesleyanheights.org.  At this time, we hope to resume in-person worship gatherings again on August 16.

I know these times have been very difficult and it is frustrating to not be able to attend worship in person. I leave you with the words of Bishop Leonard Fairly:

“However, we make these decisions not as a people who are without hope, but as a people whose hope is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ. It is this hope which reminds us that in Jesus Christ, death does not win and no midnight can last forever. As long as Jesus is the light of the world, there always remains a light that no darkness can put out. It is with this faith, determination, courage and hope in the future (which in times like these can seem to be in jeopardy) that we press on toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus knowing, We will get through this together. We will get through this by continuing to do what is necessary.”

Over the next 30 days, may we join together in praying 30 different Psalms.  I would encourage you to pick these Psalms at random but write them on your heart and pray them with your soul.  As the old spiritual says, “We shall overcome.” 

Grace and Peace

Pastor Kaury C. Edwards

• All people must wear masks when entering the building. If you do not have a mask, one will be provided. 
• Upon arriving, you will be greeted with hand sanitizer.
• Refreshments will not be served in the narthex through July.
• We ask that people do not linger in the narthex and visit, but you promptly go to a seat in the sanctuary.
• Seating in the sanctuary has been modified to social distancing specifications from the CDC. Blue Xs on the pews will indicate where you can sit and maintain social distancing from your neighbors.  Also, some pews will be closed from seating.  Families from the same household may sit directly next to each other.
• There will be an offering plate on a table in the narthex for people to place their tithes in and there will be no offering taken up during the service.
• We ask that you use the bathroom at a minimum because the bathroom must be sterilized after each use.
• We will not have a nursery or childcare available on June 7^th, but our nursery and childcare will resume on June 14^th
• Concluding the service, we ask that you leave the sanctuary quickly without stopping to visit one another. We know this will be difficult, but we must think about the safety of all people.
• The Order of Worship will be altered for this time but will not be permanent to accommodate social distancing practices.
• Pick-up choir will take a sabbatical through the months of June and July
• The church will continue to remain closed for all other activities, groups, and meetings outside of Sunday morning worship through July.

Please pray for our church as we continue to look for new opportunities to boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and to help the most vulnerable during this time of constraint, isolation, and social distancing. 

“The Work of Christmas.”

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and the princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers,

To make music in the heart.

May the work of Christmas manifest and show through our lives this Epiphany!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kaury

If you have been in my office, you might have noticed that I have an icon of Patrick on the wall. I must admit that I did not fall in love with him because of the rowdy celebration that goes on in the USA on his special day. I came to love St. Patrick because of his evangelistic spirit and the way he risked everything to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the terrible barbarians in Ireland.

These Irish barbarians had kidnaped Patrick at age 16 and forced him into slavery, but after 6 years of bondage Patrick had a vision from God and managed to escape. From there he became a priest and eventually led a team of 20 families to Ireland to the very people that had put him in bondage to share with them the life and light of Christ.

This story always makes me pause and reflect on how the sharing of the Gospel allows healing and restoration to take place. Might you join me this month in striving to share the Gospel with 1 person this month to better celebrate the man, the myth, and the legend of St Patrick.

For many of us, we were drowning in a sea of financial debt and endless lists of gifts to buy. We struggled to find the connection between our Christmas to-do lists and the story of Jesus’ birth.

An overwhelming stress had overtaken worship and celebration.

The time of year when focusing on Christ should be the easiest was often the hardest. Somehow, this had become the new normal.

So, in 2006, three pastors, Chris Seay, Greg Holder, and Rick McKinley, decided to try something different. They called it the Advent Conspiracy movement, and came up with four tenets—Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All—to guide themselves, their families, and congregations through the Christmas season.

The movement started small—just a handful of churches who would try this experiment and make the Advent story personal again. That first Christmas they got creative, changed their traditions, and ended up raising enough money for a water-well in West Africa.

The news spread quickly, a book was written, videos were created, and along the way a revolution was born.

Over the last decade, thousands of churches have celebrated with more relational traditions, partnered with more organizations, and have channeled more resources to the poor, marginalized, and forgotten. 

Advent Conspiracy is about the entire body of Christ at work in the world. As we worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all, something begins to happen that is greater than any single person, church, or denomination. As the Church, we are telling the story of Jesus to the watching world.

Last Christmas Wesleyan Height Church joined this movement and were able to provide aid to the women of Fresh Start. This year I encourage you to join me again in sacrificing an extra 10% of all the money you are planning to spend at Christmas time and give that to the church in a special Christmas offering. A portion of the money given this year will go to help the Mary Kendal Home.

Are you willing to conspire with me this Chirstmas?

I also remember my mom and dad going out of their way to clean the house and buy certain foods that would make the guests/family feel welcome. Me and my brothers were even coached (and sometimes threatened to an inch of our lives) to be on our best behavior.  Translation, no fighting or wrestling and avoid particular hot button or shameful topics of discussion.

In addition to my Texas and family holiday memories, I always recall this scripture:  And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:44-47 ESV). I am reminded that when we come together we get to live into one of Wesleyan Heights’ core values of WELCOME. We get to enter into fellowship with people we love and people we try to love. We get to see the beauty of unconditional love and selfless hospitality. I wonder what that might look like for Wesleyan Heights Church if we began to see every Sunday gather of worship in the same way we do Thanksgiving or other holidays. That when we come together in Sunday mornings it is a beautiful WELCOME of the other - where they are moved from being the other to being part of the family.  What if our Sunday mornings were a true reflection of a day in which we celebrate all God has done, is doing, and will do. A day of feasting and fellowship. A day of WELCOME.

Today, more than ever we need this reminder. All too often, we, “good Christians”, get caught up in the polarities of the world. We look for what makes us better or worse, right or wrong, richer or poorer. On World Communion Sunday, though, we are reminded that we are one in Christ at the table.

We also allow ourselves to be divided over our doctrinal conclusions and preferences. We allow ourselves to become divided on what we might think about baptism, worship style, and music preferences. On World Communion Sunday, though, we are able to move past our theological and doctrinal arrogance that separates us and remember that, “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” -Galatians 3:28

We also become lazy and selfish in the way we serve Christ in the world. We allow our fear, anxieties, and hectic schedules prevent us from being bold witnesses of our faith in the world. On World Communion Sunday, though, we are reminded of our missional call to join with all who proclaim Christ as Lord to invite others to experience God’s good new, God’s justice, God’s grace, and God’s new life. I’m reminded of the words of Shauna Niequist: “To those of us who believe that all of life is sacred every crumb of bread and sip of wine is a Eucharist, a remembrance, a call to awareness of holiness right where we are. I want all of the holiness of the Eucharist to spill out beyond church walls, out of the hands of priests and into the regular streets and sidewalks, into the hands of regular, grubby people like you and me, onto our tables, in our kitchens and dining rooms and backyards.” This can only be done by the oneness of the global church serving God together, recognizing the Christ that unifies us in each person, and the willingness to move boldly in love into the world.

I must admit I dream about Wesleyan Heights a lot. I hope, think, and dream about all that God might do with us that belong to this crazy tribe called Wesleyan Heights. I am hopeful and excited about next week, next month, next quarter, and next year. This is because I truly believe that this tribe is special, unique, and full of the power of the Spirit.

This September we will have the opportunity to dream big together. We will enter into a time of thinking, hoping, and dreaming about what God might want to do with this tribe. This September, God is inviting us all to evaluate our lives, our finances, our schedules, and our hopes for Wesleyan Heights and ask the question, “what can I do more?” Then, we will be given the opportunity to respond.

How might God be moving us to become more welcoming to the stranger, more engaged in corporate worship, deeper into the word of God, and engaged in the witness and justice of the world?

I have the privilege of pastoring a singing church. Week after week, when we gather for worship the sounds of God’s precious saints wash over me as I stand on the front row and prepare to preach. There have been several occasions when I have stopped singing in order to listen. On almost all of those occasions, the sound of our church family singing brought me to tears. Not because they are great polished individual singers, but because we sing corporately to a great God.

I know that the men and women around me are singing to God while they are struggling in their marriages, fighting cancer, and feeling the uncertainty of job loss. I have come to realize that worship isn’t just something we do; it does something to us. Our worship does not only have a vertical aspect as we lift our voices to God, it has a horizontal aspect as we sing for one another. I believe this is what Paul had in mind when he admonished the Ephesians;

“… be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph. 5:18-21).”

And again in Colossians 3:16;

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

When the church as a whole sings, there is “speaking one to another” that admonishes and encourages us corporately in the faith. In this sense, we might even say the loudest sound in a room should be the congregation. In Christ, we are one body. Demonstrating that reality in worship requires that we actually be able to hear ourselves, and hear one another singing alongside us. It is a corporate affirmation that says we are one, and we believe what we are singing regardless of where we are spiritually or emotionally as individuals! 

This is why our church family must lean heavily towards congregational singing. Americans and Westerners are accustomed to professional-quality and performance-oriented music. And so many worship services are dimly lit, with the band cranked up so loud that you cant even hear yourself sing, much less those around you.

As the church navigated the turbulent waters of the 21st century, God has given us a means of unity. God has given us a way to experience God’s truth, love, grace, and mercy. My we sing to God and to each other. May we WORSHIP!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kaury