For Such A Time as This – November11, 2020 – Dennis Lohr

 To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
 
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. 
 
Concern Updates

• Linda and Aaron Whitman are reporting a lessening of symptoms from the coronavirus.They are deeply thankful for the gifts of food and encouragement over the past weeks.
• Jeanine and Marlin Houff are reporting a lessening of symptoms from the coronavirus.Jeanine’s health continues to improve. Marlin has been moved from ICU to Intermediate Care in the COVID-19 unit at Hershey Medical Center, where he continues to receive excellent care.They are deeply grateful for all the prayers and gestures of support that have sustained them over the past weeks.
• Let us continue to hold the family of Nancy Hartman in our thoughts and prayers, following Nancy’s death this past Sunday evening.
  

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.
 
Shalom,
Dennis
 
Scripture – Hebrews 11:39-40
Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
 
Thoughts
These verses conclude the 11^th chapter of Hebrews, where the author has reviewed a long list of Old Testament characters who faithfully followed God and trusted in God’s promises.  But he acknowledges that they did live to see those promises fulfilled – yet they trusted.
 
There is so much happening right now that seems unresolved.  Some of it involves the national and world stages, and some of it is closer to home, personal, involving ourselves, our families, and our friends.  We long for resolution, for peace, for wholeness, for healing, for community.  These are the things that God promises.  Yet they can seem so elusive, so fragile, so far in the future.  How long, O Lord?
 
But the verses above claim that God provides something better than the satisfaction of realizing any given promise.  Herein lies an important spiritual truth – we are part of a bigger story, a story that began long before we arrived, a story were our contribution is essential, and a story that may not be completed in our lifetime.  Yet together, across time and space, we are all made perfect.  We are all part of God’s fulfilling of God’s promises to all of God’s creation – past, present, and future. 
 
Therefore, we are not alone!  In the opening verses of Hebrews 12, the writer proclaims:
 
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…
 
This is not a quick and easy answer to whatever challenges you (or we) might be facing.  Important spiritual truths are rarely easy answers.  They require pondering.  Stew on the idea that though they “did not receive what was promised… God had provided something better… so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.”
 
Prayer
Gracious God, teach us the holy art of being in the moment, fully present and fully alive, but with the grace and strength that comes from knowing that others have been here before, that others will one day find strength in our stories, and that you, O Lord, are in the midst of it all, tying us together, and moving us all toward perfection.  Amen.