Dear Friends,

I'm looking forward to seeing you in person or online on Sunday. Our 8:00 and 10:45 services will take place as usual, and a Children's hour will start at 10:30. This week, we will have some refreshments after 10:45. This is made all the easier because, as I write, two port-a-potties have just been delivered to Trinity. I've never been so glad to see one in my life.
The church is now even more available to all who need a space to pray, work, gather, and meet. We have power and internet. We have some potable water for drinking and two gorgeous port-a-potties. I hope you will contact me or any of the Trinity clergy if you need anything. Please continually review this Hurricane Helene blog. You can easily access it on the church's website homepage. We are making continual updates here. You can subscribe to the blog to be notified of a new post. Those with immediate financial need should contact me directly.
Below, I briefly reflect on an aspect of the past week and the many weeks to come.
Scott+
Strong

There’s a phrase I hear a lot these days in Western NC. I’m not sure of its origin, but I think it began in Boston after the bombings at the marathon there several years back—Boston Strong! The phrase rallied a community from despair and speaks to the need and the desire not to let life's worst have power over you. The phrase brought hope in Boston and appears wherever life beats a community down. It's shown up here in Asheville this week—Asheville Strong. I hear it spoken, read it in the media, and see it posted around our beautiful city. I get it. It is a word of hope. Yet I need to say that it's also okay not always to feel strong. This has been a tough week. I don't always feel strong, and I know others who feel the same. Maybe the feeling only lasts a few hours, just for an afternoon, a day, or two. It's time to find a good friend if it never goes away. Yet, as a follower of Jesus, it's okay to remember we follow a God who, in the words of one great hymn, is "the help of the helpless." I don't mind admitting that I am one of the helpless, and I lean on a God who abides with me in all things; because of that, I have the strength to hope. And because of that, I have the strength to believe that our community will indeed rise again.
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