For Such A Time as This June 3, 2020 – Tim Speicher

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

Announcements:

This year's Lebanon Expo Brethren Disaster Relief Auction that has been has been canceled because of the coronavirus crisis.

Help us celebrate Father’s Day! We are putting together a Father’s Day slide show similar to but slightly different than our Mother’s Day tribute, as part of our virtual service.  You can help by sending us a:

• Video--Take a short video of yourself sharing a brief (one or two lines) memory or message about someone important to you.
  
• Photo--Send a photo of someone to add to the slide show (current or past photo)
  

Email or text your drawing or photo to Rachel at rwitkovsky@palmyracob.org by noon on Friday, June 19.

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 Bill.  If you would like it included in our Sunday Worship sharing and prayer time, please share it with Bill that week by Friday morning.

Joy for:

Steve & Michele Gottshall on the birth of their grandson, Weston Steven Gottshall on June 1 to their son Aaron and his wife Sandra.

Pray for:

•  For peace to follow justice in our country.
• Carol Hoke
•   Linda Whitman

Thank You 

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

Today’s Devotion

I am thankful to Tim Speicher for providing today’s devotion.  If you wish to respond to Tim directly, his email address is pastorspeicher@gmail.com.

Shalom, Dennis

Scripture - Galatians 5:22-23 (CEB)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.

Thoughts

In this time of enhanced guidelines and rules of behavior and hygiene, it is refreshing to be reminded that the essence of our faith is not regulated.  Still, understanding how each of these Spirit fruits operates can be a challenge when our natural reactions and reptilian instincts strongly lead us elsewhere.

I have generally reflected on these fruits of the Spirit as qualities a believer is to embrace as one relates to others, to community, etc.  Recently a Benedictine monk was interviewed about the Covid-19 pandemic.  The final question from the reporter was: What advice would you give people on how to handle themselves today?  His answer surprised me and woke me to another consideration of these faithful fruits.  “I would encourage a person to be gentle and kind with himself/herself.”

Wow!  A simple and obvious directive so easily overlooked.  Don’t be so hard on ourselves.  The encouragement has always been with us.  “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!”  From 1 Corinthians 13, I have always presented “Love is patient, love is kind” with the interpretation that when you are patient with yourself you are more able to be kind to others and vice versa.  As you are kind with yourself you are more able to be patient with others.  I shared this with every couple in premarital sessions and it applies universally.

I am grateful for the Benedictine monk who reminds us of this crucial starting point of our daily journey.

Prayer

O God, thank you for the gift of others in our lives that we need not journey alone. Thank you for the simple observations of faith that cut through the myriad of feelings and concerns of daily life.  Give me renewed strength for the time that is ahead but do not let me ignore of preciousness of now, for this is the only time that love can be alive.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.