A Note from Pastor Bill

Dear Saints:

So how are you doing with “Fay-who-won’t-go-away?” Although effects in the Metro Orlando area have been minimal, that has not been the case over on the coast. A tornado ripped through the Barefoot Bay community, damaging fifty some homes and leaving around six of them uninhabitable. How do people there make theological sense of such a tragedy? How do we?

Psalm 107 states, “they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.” Are we then to assume that God sent the stormy winds of Fay directly upon the good folks in Barefoot Bay? Or is there another explanation? John Wesley would have encouraged us to use reason as well as scripture in thinking this through.

If you watched Tom Sorrells, Channel 6 meteorologist and St. Luke’s member these past few days, you got specific information about the threat of tornadoes as a result of the feeder bands from Fay that were moving onshore in Brevard County. Advances in forecasting and understanding tropical systems have made it possible for us predict locations for possible severe weather. Few would still assume that God is pointing some kind of finger of fate at unsuspecting communities and commanding stormy winds to blow lives apart.

This week in worship we will focus on the third aspect of the Wesley quadrilateral: reason. How does it inform our faith? How do we claim it as a gift from God? How do we intentionally employ it in the Wesley Way of doing theology?

In other news, check The Southwest Bulletin on Thursday for a feature article about our HopeSpring campus and the exciting things that are taking place in our ministry initiatives in the Horizon West community.

Looking forward to day without Fay soon!

Bill