For Such A Time as This – June 23, 2021 – Lori Faiola

To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
 
Today’s devotion was written by Lori Faiola and shared as the devotion at a recent Education Team meeting.  With their encouragement Lori sent it to me to be used as one of our weekly devotions.  It is so well written and so timely that I am sharing it with you today, interrupting our Compelling Vision devotions.  The remaining two Compelling Vision devotions will the shared over the next two weeks.  If you wish to respond to Lori, her email address is: faiola_lori@comcast.net. Thank you, Lori!
 
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. 
 
See this Saturday’s “Weekly Update” email for any new prayer concerns.
 
Thank You:
To all who call others to check in on them and to share our emails and devotions.
 
Shalom,
Dennis

Scripture - Esther 4:14
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance … will arise from another place, but you and [yours] will perish. And who knows but that you have your … position for such a time as this?
 
Thoughts
Recently, I have been filled with mixed emotions. On one hand, I am thoroughly excited about our post-pandemic future. Let’s face it; wearing masks is no fun – no matter what happy caricatures are printed on them. It’s harder to speak, sing, and hear one another when we wear masks. Social distancing is counter intuitive. As humans, we anticipate and enjoy physical contact with others through handshakes, hugs, pats on the back, etc. Sure, a little distance from everyone from time-to-time is nice, but this pandemic has taken social distancing beyond our comfort zones. Still, though, I hope we keep up with the handwashing and avoiding others when we could be contagious with colds or flu. On the other hand, I am also a little concerned about the future.
 
Over the past 15 months, many folks have become disconnected from friends, social activities, and the church. Some have become quite comfortable in this “new normal” of reclusiveness and anti-participatory inactivity. Others are waiting to see what happens next and soon, if not already, may be looking for opportunities to connect – if they feel safe enough to do so. Others want to get back to pre-pandemic behavior ASAP and may feel frustration at the duration of our precautionary measures. These thoughts lead me to question our future as a church as I wonder what this new time will mean for us as a congregation. How will we regain our connectedness with one another and our outreach to those with whom we have yet to connect? Will this pandemic make it more difficult to reach our goals of invitation and inclusion to increase our congregation’s numbers? Is this still a priority for us? How will we move forward?
 
One thing I know for sure is that we must move forward and provide opportunities for connection and reconnection, for participation and inclusiveness, for gathering and reaching out. We must continue to speak the words of Jesus to a people increasingly bombarded with fear, divisiveness, and chaos. We are preparing for a tough time, but perhaps the voices of Brethren peace lovers can be a “relief and deliverance” (Esther 4:14) so that “whoever has ears” may “hear” (Matthew 11:15) the message of Jesus that turns fear into hope, divisiveness into inclusiveness, and chaos into harmony.
 
The book of Esther tells us this: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance … will arise from another place, but you and [yours] will perish. And who knows but that you have your … position for such a time as this?” (4:14). These words from Esther’s Uncle Mordecai remind us that we are in a position to make a difference, and that we must heed the calling of our faith. Now is the time to speak the peace of Jesus in the face of fear, to speak with the courage of Esther and dispel divisiveness, to speak of God’s love to a world of chaos.
 
Brothers and sisters, as we seek to fulfill our commission from the congregation to prepare the way for a post-pandemic path to normalcy, let us be peaceful, courageous, and loving with all, but mostly with those who create or foster fear, divisiveness, and chaos – a very tall order, indeed! But don’t worry, we have an entire heritage of peaceful, courageous, and loving folk as exemplars and guides. Like them, let us continue to follow the way of Jesus, and let us do so joyfully – with celebration and contagious excitement! God is calling; the people are waiting; may it be so.
 
Prayer
Kind, gracious, loving God,
We pray for peace, hope, harmony, and joy. We thank you for your people of peace who provide a rich and supportive heritage for our current work. We thank you for the people of peace who are prepared to be courageous, peaceful, loving, and joyful as we plan for today and our future. We ask that you continue to remind us of your ways of peace and of our calling to bring your people together again. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.