No, I’m not referring to “Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic” but to Remembering, Recovering and Reforming.
Looking at our October calendar, both secular and sacred, three important events are highlighted for me. The first is World Communion Sunday on Oct. 7. On this particular Sunday we at EAMC join with many other Christian churches around the world to celebrate Communion. It is a time to join our hearts and minds with our brothers and sisters from around the globe to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for all of us. As the Apostle John wrote in his first letter: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but also for the sins of the whole world,” (I John 2:2).
The second significant event in October is the town’s 30th annual Autumn With Topsail, October 20-21. In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, we need to celebrate our coming together as a community helping our friends and neighbors recover from their loss. What an opportunity this year to say, “we may be eroded, but we’re not erased; flooded, but not finished”. With God’s help we will rebuild and recover, not just physically but spiritually as well.
This brings us to the third event in October, Reformation Sunday, October 28. Five hundred years ago a young monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of his Wittenberg Church. This simple act began a firestorm within the Roman Catholic Church that became known as the Protestant Reformation. On this Sunday we pause to reflect on the core beliefs of our faith (see our Statement of Faith). As John Calvin once said, we Protestants “are reforming, always reforming”.
So perhaps this October we can remember, recover and reform our way back to God. Knowing that the all-surpassing power of God will sustain us, though we may be “hard pressed on every side, (we are) not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed”.
(II Corinthians 4:8-9).
Rich Pollock is a retired Presbyterian minister. He lives in Topsail Beach with his wife Julia. Both are active affiliates of Emma Anderson Memorial Chapel. Rich happily fills in at the pulpit when a guest minister is unavailable to lead us in Sunday worship.