“For Such A Time As This” - PCOB Devotional For 3/18/2020
To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
As we navigate this time of uncertainty, isolation, dislocation, anxiety and stress, our staff, retired pastors and others are providing a daily devotional for our reflection and encouragement. Thank you to those who will be sharing their thoughts with us. If you know someone who would like to be on our church email list, have them email Gail at gwagner@palmyracob.org to give us their permission. Please feel free to share these devotions with those who do not have email addresses. I have composed today’s devotion. I pray it brings hope, blessing and peace.
Shalom,
Dennis
“Peace, Be Still”
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’
Thoughts
Sally and I love to do jigsaw puzzles. As you can imagine, we approach each puzzle with a plan, sorting pieces by color and shape, assembling the easier parts first, and then filling in the open areas of background, sky, water, land and trees. We can usually complete a 1000-piece puzzle in a few hours. Last weekend Sally was in VA and I was hunkered down at home with Sunday services cancelled. I found an old Big Ben puzzle, that was part of my Grandmother Lee’s collection, and began sorting and assembling. It was a picture of huge sailing ship in the midst of a vast sea. It took longer to complete than normal, even if Sally had been here, as over three fourths of the puzzle was sea and sky. Also, the majority of pieces were not interlocking. The slightest bumps constantly caused pieces to separate. It was tedious work.
What caught my attention was the puzzle’s name: Before the Driving Wind. As I patiently worked on this difficult puzzle, I remembered my sermon months ago about headwinds and tailwinds. Though we prefer the tailwinds, the winds that push us forward, it is the headwinds, the winds that make things harder, that make us stronger. Throughout the day I monitored the news regarding the epidemic that has been impacting our world and now our lives, and I could feel the “driving winds” picking up, so to speak. I thought of my Grandmother Lee and all the challenges that she faced in her long life. Surely, she knew both the blessings of easy days and the struggles of hard times, yet her spirit and her faith remained strong. Her faith was at the center of her being. And I thought about Jesus in the boat with his disciples, at rest while the storm raged, completely at peace. And I thought about how Jesus was able to calm both the storm and his disciples. “Peace, be still.”
Life, as we are accustomed to it, has changed dramatically in the last week. We don’t know if this storm will pass quickly or remain with us for a while. We don’t know what challenges it will bring or what losses we will sustain. But what we know is that even though the days ahead may force uncomfortable levels of physical isolation and bring personal hardships upon us, we are not alone. Jesus, the Christ of Faith, and the Body of Christ, as we experience it in each other, surrounds us. We are not alone.
As I worked hard on the puzzle, my son Noah passed by, paused to look, and noticed a shape pattern in the how the pieces were ordered in the puzzle. He helped me to see the pattern as well, which helped me in assembling the picture. Perhaps a lesson is this: When the winds blow hard and seem against us, look for the patterns of our lives. When life challenges the routines of our days, what are the deeper things we have learned to depend on? Faith, family and friends, these three, all reminding us that we are not alone.
Prayer
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When the world is tossing me like a ship upon the sea, Thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me. Amen.
As we navigate this time of uncertainty, isolation, dislocation, anxiety and stress, our staff, retired pastors and others are providing a daily devotional for our reflection and encouragement. Thank you to those who will be sharing their thoughts with us. If you know someone who would like to be on our church email list, have them email Gail at gwagner@palmyracob.org to give us their permission. Please feel free to share these devotions with those who do not have email addresses. I have composed today’s devotion. I pray it brings hope, blessing and peace.
Shalom,
Dennis
“Peace, Be Still”
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’
Thoughts
Sally and I love to do jigsaw puzzles. As you can imagine, we approach each puzzle with a plan, sorting pieces by color and shape, assembling the easier parts first, and then filling in the open areas of background, sky, water, land and trees. We can usually complete a 1000-piece puzzle in a few hours. Last weekend Sally was in VA and I was hunkered down at home with Sunday services cancelled. I found an old Big Ben puzzle, that was part of my Grandmother Lee’s collection, and began sorting and assembling. It was a picture of huge sailing ship in the midst of a vast sea. It took longer to complete than normal, even if Sally had been here, as over three fourths of the puzzle was sea and sky. Also, the majority of pieces were not interlocking. The slightest bumps constantly caused pieces to separate. It was tedious work.
What caught my attention was the puzzle’s name: Before the Driving Wind. As I patiently worked on this difficult puzzle, I remembered my sermon months ago about headwinds and tailwinds. Though we prefer the tailwinds, the winds that push us forward, it is the headwinds, the winds that make things harder, that make us stronger. Throughout the day I monitored the news regarding the epidemic that has been impacting our world and now our lives, and I could feel the “driving winds” picking up, so to speak. I thought of my Grandmother Lee and all the challenges that she faced in her long life. Surely, she knew both the blessings of easy days and the struggles of hard times, yet her spirit and her faith remained strong. Her faith was at the center of her being. And I thought about Jesus in the boat with his disciples, at rest while the storm raged, completely at peace. And I thought about how Jesus was able to calm both the storm and his disciples. “Peace, be still.”
Life, as we are accustomed to it, has changed dramatically in the last week. We don’t know if this storm will pass quickly or remain with us for a while. We don’t know what challenges it will bring or what losses we will sustain. But what we know is that even though the days ahead may force uncomfortable levels of physical isolation and bring personal hardships upon us, we are not alone. Jesus, the Christ of Faith, and the Body of Christ, as we experience it in each other, surrounds us. We are not alone.
As I worked hard on the puzzle, my son Noah passed by, paused to look, and noticed a shape pattern in the how the pieces were ordered in the puzzle. He helped me to see the pattern as well, which helped me in assembling the picture. Perhaps a lesson is this: When the winds blow hard and seem against us, look for the patterns of our lives. When life challenges the routines of our days, what are the deeper things we have learned to depend on? Faith, family and friends, these three, all reminding us that we are not alone.
Prayer
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When the world is tossing me like a ship upon the sea, Thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me. Amen.
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