For Such A Time as This – November 25, 2020 – Dennis Lohr

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 To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
 
Devotion Emails During Advent
Everyone receiving this email should have received a digital copy of our 2020 PCOB Advent Devotional.  Those in our directory that do not receive emails should have received a printed copy by mail.  Additional printed copies are available for pick up in our church building.
 
I am very excited about this Advent resource and look forward to being guided and inspired by those who have shared their thoughts, stories and gifts with us.
 
I am not planning to send devotional emails during the weeks of Advent and Christmas.  Unless they are urgent, joys and concerns will be shared in our weekly update emails and in our Sunday worship services. 
 
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 or Pastor Bill. 
 
Thank You:
To all who call others to check in on them and to share our emails and devotions.
 
Today’s Devotion:
I have written today’s devotion, which announces our worship theme for this Advent and Christmas season.
 
Shalom,
Dennis
 
Scriptures
Luke 2:6
While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.
 
Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
 
Thoughts
Advent begins this Sunday!  Advent is the season of waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus.  We are familiar with waiting.  It is a normal part of life.  It can be stressful, but experience teaches us that active waiting is much better than passive waiting.  As a young man I told someone that “I couldn’t wait until…’’  I didn’t matter what I couldn’t wait for.  He replied, “You are wishing your life away.  Live each day to its fullest.”
 
Our worship themes for Advent this year will remind us of what people in the Bible did while they were waiting for something to happen.  They didn’t just sit around waiting.  They waited, but they did waited actively and with purpose.  Their active waiting included listening, moving, tending, and singing.  Their active waiting prepared them to hear in the midst of silence, to imagine peace in the midst of conflict, and to proclaim with delight and surprise a good news for all people. 
 
Yes, waiting can be hard.  My “I can’t wait for!” list can get long.  For Mary, finally “the time came for her to deliver her child.”  In the meantime, she had much to do and the words of the ancient prophet came true, especially, when I think of the their long journey to Bethlehem, “they shall walk (or ride a donkey) and not faint.”
 
Whatever you are waiting for… what can you be doing now to make both the journey and the outcome even better?  May God join you and guide you while you actively wait.
 
Shalom,
Dennis
 
Prayer
Gracious God, teach us the art of active waiting, the discipline of purposeful patience, and the joy of holy anticipation.  Renew our strength, our hope, and our spirits.  Fill us with quiet confidence in the persuasive persistence of your grace and love in our lives and in our world.  Amen. 
 
 

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