For Such A Time as This – April14, 2021 – Audrey & Tim Hollenberg-Duffey

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 Pastor Bill that week by Thursday evening. 
 
Joy Filled Gratitude
Dear friends of Palmyra COB: My heart is full of thanks to you for your many prayers and expressions of support over these past four months since my hip surgery.  I have started to stand on both legs to learn to pivot in and out of a wheelchair.  I praise God for keeping me safe through a journey of surgeries and infections since 2016.  I will continue with Rehab and hope to be home in several weeks. - Jill Keyser Speicher
 
See this Saturday’s “Weekly Update” email for any new prayer concerns.
 
From Sunday’s Sermon – Be Quick to Listen and Slow to Speak
“Perhaps going forward, as a congregation that has been formed by the gospel’s call for peace, we could imagine and offer classes or workshops, for all age groups, to learn and practice the skills of listening and effective, relationship building dialogue and communication, and offer structured opportunities to practice and become more skilled at really talking with and listening to and understanding one another…  If any of that dream resonates with you, if you could imagine something like that as being part of our short- or long-range planning, then please share your thoughts and ideas, and willingness to help, with me.
 
In Response to Sunday’s Sermon
Numerous people have responded with interest and an offer of involvement.  If you would like your name added to the list, you can respond to this email accordingly.
 
One person shared this link to the article “What Great Listeners Actually Do.”
https://hbr-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/hbr.org/amp/2016/07/what-great-listeners-actually-do
It is well worth reading!
 
Thank You:
To all who call others to check in on them and to share our emails and devotions.
 
Today’s Devotion:
“Compelling Vision” is our denomination's effort to identify a shared vision that can foster unity in the midst of great diversity and dividing differences.  A thirteen session Bible Study has been developed to undergird this statement.  We are using pieces of the Bible Study in our weekly devotion email.
 
Shalom,
Dennis

 
Compelling Visions Statement
Together, as the Church of the Brethren, we will passionately live and share the radical transformation and holistic peace of Jesus Christ through relationship-based neighborhood engagement. To move us forward, we will develop a culture of calling and equipping disciples who are innovative, adaptable, and fearless.
 
Session 2 – Together: What binds us together in Christian community?
 
Scriptures
1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
 
Colossians 3:1-4, 12-17
So, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
 
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
 
Reflection – Audrey & Tim Hollenberg-Duffey
Both texts for this week’s study are about forming and maintaining God’s community.1 Peter 2:9-10 names the purpose and origin of God’s community, while Colossians 3:1-4, 12-17 names how a community chosen by God should act.
 
1 Peter 2:9-10 contains several allusions to Hebrew scripture. First is a reference to the titles given to the Israelites upon their arrival to Mount Sinai. Before giving the ten commandments to the people, God consecrates the people, calling them a priestly kingdom and a holy nation (Exodus. 19:6). Second is a reference to the prophet Hosea who symbolically named his children to represent both God’s judgment and God’s restorative power. God commands Hosea to marry a “wife of whoredom” as a metaphor for Israel’s unfaithfulness to their God. When they have children together, he names one Lo-ruhamah, which in Hebrew means “not pitied” (Hosea 1:6) and another Lo-ammi (Hosea 1:9), which in Hebrew means “not my people.” However, when God reveals plans to restore Israel, their names are changed. God will have mercy on Ruhamah, and the ones God had called “not my people” would once again become God’s people.
 
In using these allusions to Hebrew scripture, the writer of 1 Peter wishes to convey a similar purpose to the new community gathered together in Jesus’ name. Those who believe Christ Jesus are people of a new exodus, having been freed through God’s mercy from slavery to sin and death. They have likewise been consecrated and brought together to be God’s people. At one time, they had nothing of significance to bring them together, but through Christ, they became a people with a sacred bond. As such, they are a holy community, consecrated like those who were first brought out of Egypt by God’s mighty hand. Both the Hebrew people and those who bear the name of Christ are beneficiaries of God’s salvation. Faith in Christ means adoption into a heritage, a family of God’s chosen ones.
 
The Colossians text likewise reminds followers of Christ that they are holy and beloved of God. The author of this letter tells us that we have the responsibility to reveal Christ through our living. In doing so, we maintain the bond established by our new calling–our common heritage. The community that is gathered together in Christ’s name is a gift. Its strength and unity are the responsibility of the ones who have been brought together. We maintain the bond by clothing ourselves with attributes that build each other up: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience (3:12). For this to be possible, we need to disrobe the things that weaken our bond: anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language, and dishonesty (3:8-9).
 
Those who have already received mercy through Christ Jesus should be quick to extend mercy to others. And if there is any question about the attitude of Christ that binds us together, it is Christ’s love manifested in his peace. A community that becomes one body is filled with gratitude, which spills over into genuine praise of God the Father.
 
Sending
Holy Spirit, vivifying fire, and gentle breath, come and abide in us.
Renew in us the passion for unity,
so that we may live in awareness of the bond that unites us in you.
May all who have put on Christ at their baptism,
unite and bear witness together to the hope that sustains them.
Amen.
 
From the World Council of Churches materials for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021.