For Such A Time as This May 28, 2020 – Dennis Lohr

To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,

On Vacation Next Week!

I have scheduled a vacation for next week – beginning this coming Monday through next Sunday!  Travel is not really an option right now, so I will be enjoying staying at home, working on some small projects, and spending some time in my wood shop.  It will be good to get out of my head and into my hands for a bit.  One perk is that next Tuesday, June 5^th, is Sally and my 38^th wedding anniversary!  (I hope I did the math right!)  That’s a long time for her to put up with me!  Sally is awesome!  I love her so, especially when she laughs and rolls her eyes at me.  We will get to spend the day together and that will be awesome too!  If you have any pastoral care needs next week, Bill and Bethany, and Gail, will be glad to assist you.

Next Sunday, June 3^rd, is Graduation Sunday!

Every year we celebrate our graduates on the first Sunday of June.  We are particularly excited to do that this year as many celebrations have had to be cancelled.  True to our tradition, we have invited a guest preacher to talk with our graduates and us about these important times of celebration and transition.  Since this will be a virtual service our speaker invitation possibilities were not limited by travel concerns.  Our guest speaker this year is Becky Ullom Naugle, the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries for the Church of the Brethren.  Some may remember her preaching here a number of years ago.  She will be speaking to us from her home near Elgin, IL, where our denominational offices are located.  Bethany, Rachel, Bill, and some of our graduates will be leading the worship service. 

Summer Melodies!

You are invited to participate in our 2020 Summer Melodies Series, blessing on us during Sunday worship starting June 21 through September 20.  The church welcomes solos or duets, instrumental or vocal (accompanied or acapella).  These can be recorded at church by arrangement with Jeff Clouser and Rachel Witkovsky or can even be recorded by you in your own home and emailed to Rachel.  Please keep your special musical offering to one or two people and if recording in person at the church please adhere to all the safety protocols set forth by the church.  If interested, please respond to this email with your name, available date(s), song selection, arranger/composer, and the name of accompanist if using one.  Thank you.  Keep a Song in Your Heart, Jeff

Joys and Concerns

If you have a joy or concern you would like us to share and pray about, please call, text or email it to me.  If you would like it included in our Sunday Worship sharing and prayer time, please share it with me that week by Friday morning.

Thank You: 

To all who call others to check in on them and share our emails and devotions.

Today’s Devotion:

I have written today’s devotion.  I seem to be on a role this week, finding inspiration from Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  My sermon on Sunday is based on a text from Philippians as well.  I hope you find this devotion to be helpful.

Shalom, Dennis

Scripture - Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.  Let your gentleness be known to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Thoughts:

I don’t like getting advice from someone who doesn’t really know what they are talking about.  But Paul catches my attention here.  Paul has experienced great hardship.  In fact, Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter.  So, when Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” he is giving that advice as someone who knows that rejoicing is not always our first reaction to the difficulties that come our way.  Yet Paul is not suggesting that we rejoice because of hardship, but that we rejoice in our Lord.  Paul reminds us that our “Lord is near.” 

Sometimes the dark clouds of struggle obscure our ability to know and feel the spirit of Christ.  So, Paul invites us to pray, focusing on what we are thankful for and telling God what it is that we think we need.  Sometimes we just need to put into words the worries and fears that are swirling in our minds.  God is a safe one to talk to.  Often our first attempts to verbalize our fears and frustrations are awkward and come out in ways that we later regret.  But God is safe.  We cannot tell God anything that God has not heard before – even if it is anger and fear. 

Do you know what God does with our honesty?  God hears it.  It does not offend God.  God does not get angry and abandon us.  God does not argue with us.  God hears it and accepts what is on our hearts and our minds.  God lets us get it out.  And then something different begins to happen… to us.  The swirling begins to settle down, and peace, the peace of God, which is often hard to understand, wraps gently around our hearts and minds, settling us down, making us gentle, not weak, but gentle and strangely stronger.  We feel it and others can see it.

Prayer:

Thank you, O God, for being my closest confidant, my trusted friend, my wisest counselor, my rock and my peace.  Amen.