"For Such A Time As This” - PCOB Announcement And Devotion For 3/31/2020
o the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
I have two announcements today.
First: Let's do the wave!
We miss seeing your bright and shining faces! Over the next week or so, we will be collecting video clips/selfies/photos of our PCoB friends and family waving to one another! Bethany Hoffer would love to arrange a drive by/walk by filming of you waving from your home or vehicle. If you would be willing to participate in this, please contact Bethany at bhoffer@palmyracob.org or call/text 937-417-5938 to set something up! (Bethany’s family does a lot of walking these days, so you may get called upon if you live close by!)
If you do not live in Palmyra or are unable to come outside, we would love for you to send us a video clip/selfie/photo of you and your family waving to us! Send them to Bethany’s email address listed above.
Second: Lebanon County COVID-19 Testing Sites
The LebTown online daily post yesterday provided the following listing of COVID19 testing sites in Lebanon County. Go to https://lebtown.com/2020/03/30/county-enters-another-week-of-covid-shutdown-medexpress-begins-testing/ for this as well as other COVID19 information pertinent to Lebanon County. Please read this article carefully in order to understand all guidelines for getting tested.
Today’s devotion is written by Pastor Bill Cave. Reflecting on the Psalms, Bill affirms our honest questions and struggles during times of crisis, and suggests that they are the stuff of an active and deepening faith journey. Thank you, Bill, for your insight and wisdom. If you wish to respond to Bill directly, his email address is bcave@palmyracob.org.
Shalom,
Dennis
Scripture: Psalm 30 (esp. vs. 5)
Tears may linger at nightfall, but joy comes in the morning.
Thoughts
Harold Kushner is perhaps best known as the author of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” But he authored another book which the Houston Post described as “Down to earth.... compelling and thoughtful”. The title of that book is “Who Needs God?” In chapter two, entitled “Eyes With Which To See The World,” Kushner references the Psalms and acknowledges that those which he finds to be most compelling are those which “were not written by people of serene, untroubled faith but by people who had to struggle to find where God was hidden in their lives, not by people to whom God was obvious but by people for whom God was the reward at the end of a long and arduous search”.
Kushner identifies Psalm 30 as an example. What follows are a few selected verses from that Psalm:
I will exalt Thee, O Lord, for Thou has lifted me up
and has not let my enemies make merry over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to Thee
and Thou didst heal.
Sing a psalm to the Lord, all you His loyal servants,
and give thanks to His holy name.
Tears may linger at nightfall,
but joy comes in the morning.
Thou has turned my laments into dancing,
that my spirit might sing psalms to Thee and never cease.
I’ve been pondering how Kushner’s insights from Psalm 30 might speak to us during the present coronavirus pandemic. We, too, may be struggling at times with thoughts that God is hidden and cannot be found. But the psalmist assures us that circumstances which produce bad outcomes and lead to despair and confusion, feeling that God is somehow absent, are temporary. Though “tears may linger at nightfall, joy comes in the morning” (verse 5).
Kushner believes that Psalm 30 challenges the reader to accept difficult circumstances not as a reason to lose our faith but rather as an opportunity to find a deeper, stronger and more compelling faith. The challenge before us in the midst of all the protocols for remaining safe during this pandemic, during our times of struggling to find where God might be hidden, is to believe that God is indeed being seen in places and in moments where we heretofore did not expect God to be seen or experienced. May it be so for you this day and in all the days to come.
Prayer
Loving God, our tears do linger at times at nightfall but we thank you for the promise that joy comes in the morning. We praise you for the assurance that you turn our laments into dancing and welcome our spirits singing psalms to you without ceasing. Amen.
Reminder:
If you know someone who does not have email, please call them and offer to read this email to them and share this devotion with them. And, check-in on how they are doing.
I have two announcements today.
First: Let's do the wave!
We miss seeing your bright and shining faces! Over the next week or so, we will be collecting video clips/selfies/photos of our PCoB friends and family waving to one another! Bethany Hoffer would love to arrange a drive by/walk by filming of you waving from your home or vehicle. If you would be willing to participate in this, please contact Bethany at bhoffer@palmyracob.org or call/text 937-417-5938 to set something up! (Bethany’s family does a lot of walking these days, so you may get called upon if you live close by!)
If you do not live in Palmyra or are unable to come outside, we would love for you to send us a video clip/selfie/photo of you and your family waving to us! Send them to Bethany’s email address listed above.
Second: Lebanon County COVID-19 Testing Sites
The LebTown online daily post yesterday provided the following listing of COVID19 testing sites in Lebanon County. Go to https://lebtown.com/2020/03/30/county-enters-another-week-of-covid-shutdown-medexpress-begins-testing/ for this as well as other COVID19 information pertinent to Lebanon County. Please read this article carefully in order to understand all guidelines for getting tested.
Today’s devotion is written by Pastor Bill Cave. Reflecting on the Psalms, Bill affirms our honest questions and struggles during times of crisis, and suggests that they are the stuff of an active and deepening faith journey. Thank you, Bill, for your insight and wisdom. If you wish to respond to Bill directly, his email address is bcave@palmyracob.org.
Shalom,
Dennis
Scripture: Psalm 30 (esp. vs. 5)
Tears may linger at nightfall, but joy comes in the morning.
Thoughts
Harold Kushner is perhaps best known as the author of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” But he authored another book which the Houston Post described as “Down to earth.... compelling and thoughtful”. The title of that book is “Who Needs God?” In chapter two, entitled “Eyes With Which To See The World,” Kushner references the Psalms and acknowledges that those which he finds to be most compelling are those which “were not written by people of serene, untroubled faith but by people who had to struggle to find where God was hidden in their lives, not by people to whom God was obvious but by people for whom God was the reward at the end of a long and arduous search”.
Kushner identifies Psalm 30 as an example. What follows are a few selected verses from that Psalm:
I will exalt Thee, O Lord, for Thou has lifted me up
and has not let my enemies make merry over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to Thee
and Thou didst heal.
Sing a psalm to the Lord, all you His loyal servants,
and give thanks to His holy name.
Tears may linger at nightfall,
but joy comes in the morning.
Thou has turned my laments into dancing,
that my spirit might sing psalms to Thee and never cease.
I’ve been pondering how Kushner’s insights from Psalm 30 might speak to us during the present coronavirus pandemic. We, too, may be struggling at times with thoughts that God is hidden and cannot be found. But the psalmist assures us that circumstances which produce bad outcomes and lead to despair and confusion, feeling that God is somehow absent, are temporary. Though “tears may linger at nightfall, joy comes in the morning” (verse 5).
Kushner believes that Psalm 30 challenges the reader to accept difficult circumstances not as a reason to lose our faith but rather as an opportunity to find a deeper, stronger and more compelling faith. The challenge before us in the midst of all the protocols for remaining safe during this pandemic, during our times of struggling to find where God might be hidden, is to believe that God is indeed being seen in places and in moments where we heretofore did not expect God to be seen or experienced. May it be so for you this day and in all the days to come.
Prayer
Loving God, our tears do linger at times at nightfall but we thank you for the promise that joy comes in the morning. We praise you for the assurance that you turn our laments into dancing and welcome our spirits singing psalms to you without ceasing. Amen.
Reminder:
If you know someone who does not have email, please call them and offer to read this email to them and share this devotion with them. And, check-in on how they are doing.
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