DS Family Blog March 17, 2020

March 18, 2020

On March 17th Ontario’s Premier, Doug Ford, announced the closure of all bars and restaurants (except for take-out), movie theatres and other public venues – including places of worship, if the gathering is more than 50 people.

On my way to the office, a song was playing on UCB that was so ironic, in the light of our present situation. The song: “Take Me Back” by Cochran & Company, is a great tribute to the foundational role, going to church plays in our lives.

The song’s chorus declares:

“I want to go to church, To the place that feels like home,
To the people I can depend on
To the faith that’s in my bones.
Take me back
To a preacher and a verse,
Where they’ve seen me at my worst
To the love I had at first
Oh, I want to go to church

It was ironic to be listening to those lyrics, as I was heading to the office, to write this communique, informing everyone that at least until the end of March, there would be no public services or groups meeting at Desert Stream.

For the next couple of weeks, or until further notice, there will be no public gatherings at DS except for Celebrate Recovery on Monday nights. That means that for the next short while, there is no youth or Jr. High’s on Wednesday night and no ladies or men’s prayer on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

In the meantime ,we as a staff are still here to serve you. Please join us on Facebook for church on Sunday. We will be doing a Facebook Live broadcast on Sundays, including some worship and a message.

In addition, we have worked out schedule of daily video blogs, that we will post on Desert Streams Face Book page starting Wednesday March 18. We are firmly convinced by faith that we are ALL overcomers by the blood of Jesus Christ. That is why we want to add some faith and encouragement into your daily life to combat the fear and anxiety being marketed daily on every news outlet.

Let us remember the words of scripture, that we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony! So let us testify that Christ is King, and that we are his beloved children, who can rest in the midst of the storm, knowing full well that He will never leave us or forsake us.

So, until we can “go to church” once again, let us do all that we can to speak life and hope to our neighbours, and encourage each other often, while we all do our part to participate and follow best practices for the safety of all, until this present pandemic has passed.

We love you and we are praying for you all.

Check back in with us tomorrow.

Pastor Kevin.