For Such A Time As This 4-8-20 – Karen Haldeman
To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
Love Feast:
Tomorrow evening we focus our attention on the drama of Jesus last meal with his disciples before his death and resurrection. You will receive an email with the video link by 6:45pm. We are asking as many as are able to begin the video at 7pm, so that we can share this experience at the same time. We hope you will find the service very meaningful. Please refer to Monday’s email (03/06/20) for preparation instructions for this Love service.
For Those Who Want to Make Their Own Communion Bread and/or Communion Soup:
For communion bread, there is an instructional video on our denominational website that can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/BHmbss1PKt0.
For our Love Feast Soup, here’s John and Carol Grace’s recipe, adapted for our most recent church cookbook, Bountiful Harvest, Volume V. Please adapt as needed with ingredients and cooking implements you already have in your home.
Love Feast Beef Rice Soup (3 quart batch)
1 1/2 pounds Eye of the Round Roast, well-trimmed
4.5 ounces Carolina Long Grain Rice
12 ounces Swanson Beef Broth
12 ounces Swanson Chicken Broth
Salt & Pepper per instructions
Water per instructions
COOKING THE BEEF: Cut roast across grain into one inch slabs. Put beef in pressure cooker and add 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and 2 1/2 cups water. Cook for 30 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure. When beef is cooked, separate beef into small pieces with 2 table forks. Strain broth through sieve and again through cheese cloth.
MAKING THE SOUP: In 5 quart roaster oven, or large pot on stove top, combine for soup: Beef pieces plus beef broth from cooking the beef, 12 ounces beef broth, 12 ounces chicken broth, 12 ounces water, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Bring the above ingredients to a slow simmer, then add rice. Cook for about another hour or until rice is soft. Note: Can freeze any leftovers.
Prayers Requests:
Folk have been asking about a Living Cross this year. We will announce a plan in Friday’s email. For now, however, we need photos of our Living Crosses from the past. Many people like to take group and family photos in front of the cross. If you have some pictures to share, please email them to Rachel at rwitkovsky@palmyracob.org by Friday afternoon.
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.
Today’s Devotion:
I am thankful to Karen Haldeman for providing today’s devotion. Karen invites us into an experience of holy wandering. If you wish to respond to Karen directly, her email address is kbhaldeman@verizon.net.
Shalom,
Dennis
Scripture - Hebrews 11:8 (The Message)
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left, he had no idea where he was going.
Thoughts
The biblical story of Abraham and Sarah’s journey from their long-time home to a destination about which they had no idea is fascinating. And a bit unnerving. It’s hard for those of us who like to be settled to imagine what it was like to uproot their entire household (belongings, servants, livestock) and leave home without a known end point in mind.
If you think about it, we all are on a similar journey these days: our familiar routines, relationships, and work & school schedules have been uprooted, and we don’t know when it will end or even what the “end” will look like. Maybe we feel a bit like Abraham did when he and Sarah wandered to where they would end up.
This reminds me of an ancient practice of holy wandering, called peregrinatio. In her book The Soul’s Slow Ripening, Christine Valters Paintner describes it as “an invitation to let go of our own agendas and discover where God is leading.” That is what many ancestors of our faith—like Abraham and Sarah—did, and they were commended for it (Hebrews 11:39). They discovered that “the way is made by walking” (to quote Antonio Machado).
Next time you are outdoors for a walk around your yard, take a few moments to consider what “holy wandering” might look like in April 2020. What agendas are we being invited to let go of? How might God be leading us right now? As we walk this uncharted journey over the coming days and weeks, let’s be on the lookout for signposts of fresh ways to communicate with each other, of ideas for letting go of what is not needed and living more simply, and of unexpected encounters with the God who guides us in our times of unknowing.
Prayer
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” (Thomas Merton)
Love Feast:
Tomorrow evening we focus our attention on the drama of Jesus last meal with his disciples before his death and resurrection. You will receive an email with the video link by 6:45pm. We are asking as many as are able to begin the video at 7pm, so that we can share this experience at the same time. We hope you will find the service very meaningful. Please refer to Monday’s email (03/06/20) for preparation instructions for this Love service.
For Those Who Want to Make Their Own Communion Bread and/or Communion Soup:
For communion bread, there is an instructional video on our denominational website that can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/BHmbss1PKt0.
For our Love Feast Soup, here’s John and Carol Grace’s recipe, adapted for our most recent church cookbook, Bountiful Harvest, Volume V. Please adapt as needed with ingredients and cooking implements you already have in your home.
Love Feast Beef Rice Soup (3 quart batch)
1 1/2 pounds Eye of the Round Roast, well-trimmed
4.5 ounces Carolina Long Grain Rice
12 ounces Swanson Beef Broth
12 ounces Swanson Chicken Broth
Salt & Pepper per instructions
Water per instructions
COOKING THE BEEF: Cut roast across grain into one inch slabs. Put beef in pressure cooker and add 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and 2 1/2 cups water. Cook for 30 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure. When beef is cooked, separate beef into small pieces with 2 table forks. Strain broth through sieve and again through cheese cloth.
MAKING THE SOUP: In 5 quart roaster oven, or large pot on stove top, combine for soup: Beef pieces plus beef broth from cooking the beef, 12 ounces beef broth, 12 ounces chicken broth, 12 ounces water, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Bring the above ingredients to a slow simmer, then add rice. Cook for about another hour or until rice is soft. Note: Can freeze any leftovers.
Prayers Requests:
- Elaine Hoffer asks for prayer for her sister-in-law, following a trip yesterday to the ER for COPD complications. She was released to return home with some additional medications for treatment.
- Jose Aponte asks for prayers to surround him tomorrow afternoon as he is considered for compassionate release.
Folk have been asking about a Living Cross this year. We will announce a plan in Friday’s email. For now, however, we need photos of our Living Crosses from the past. Many people like to take group and family photos in front of the cross. If you have some pictures to share, please email them to Rachel at rwitkovsky@palmyracob.org by Friday afternoon.
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.
Today’s Devotion:
I am thankful to Karen Haldeman for providing today’s devotion. Karen invites us into an experience of holy wandering. If you wish to respond to Karen directly, her email address is kbhaldeman@verizon.net.
Shalom,
Dennis
Scripture - Hebrews 11:8 (The Message)
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left, he had no idea where he was going.
Thoughts
The biblical story of Abraham and Sarah’s journey from their long-time home to a destination about which they had no idea is fascinating. And a bit unnerving. It’s hard for those of us who like to be settled to imagine what it was like to uproot their entire household (belongings, servants, livestock) and leave home without a known end point in mind.
If you think about it, we all are on a similar journey these days: our familiar routines, relationships, and work & school schedules have been uprooted, and we don’t know when it will end or even what the “end” will look like. Maybe we feel a bit like Abraham did when he and Sarah wandered to where they would end up.
This reminds me of an ancient practice of holy wandering, called peregrinatio. In her book The Soul’s Slow Ripening, Christine Valters Paintner describes it as “an invitation to let go of our own agendas and discover where God is leading.” That is what many ancestors of our faith—like Abraham and Sarah—did, and they were commended for it (Hebrews 11:39). They discovered that “the way is made by walking” (to quote Antonio Machado).
Next time you are outdoors for a walk around your yard, take a few moments to consider what “holy wandering” might look like in April 2020. What agendas are we being invited to let go of? How might God be leading us right now? As we walk this uncharted journey over the coming days and weeks, let’s be on the lookout for signposts of fresh ways to communicate with each other, of ideas for letting go of what is not needed and living more simply, and of unexpected encounters with the God who guides us in our times of unknowing.
Prayer
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” (Thomas Merton)
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