In his Easter sermon, our pastor Paul Zazzo reminded us of a profound truth taught in the story of Joseph: God can use harmful things to bring good. Paul challenged us to consider our own lives—what in our life is happening to us right now that God intends for good?
It’s a thought-provoking question for the middle of a pandemic. Can God use such a heart-breaking and anxious time in our lives for our blessing?

We are talking about God, so the answer is very clear: of course he can, and he will! It may be extremely hard to see, while we’re in the middle of this trial, how God is working for our benefit, but we have the wonderful assurance from God’s Word that he is in action, using all of life to fulfill his plan.
Our life together at FPC is a prime example. Two years ago, FPC was a different church from the one it is today. Our numbers were dwindling, and our congregation was discouraged. Our leaders knew we needed change but recognized how hard it would be to alter the way things had been done for decades. We compared making necessary changes to turning an aircraft carrier—something that had to be done slowly and carefully.

But, thanks to the pandemic, we were forced to make some quick adjustments. This Easter, our congregation had options: we could come to worship in person or watch the livestream at home. We could come early and be inside, worshipping with our glorious organ and the Hallelujah Chorus, or we could participate later, sitting on the lawn in the sunshine, singing praise to God with the band. Being here in person was wonderful, but we reached great numbers of people at home thanks to our ability to livestream. Our equipment, our crew, our ability to be outside and to livestream our services skillfully came to us because of the challenges of a pandemic!

God works in wonderful and often surprising ways to bless his people! If we have eyes to see, we are surely going to see more!