Thursday, April 16

Good morning, dear church!

It is quiet in the neighborhood, and it has been quiet for the last several weeks. On a “normal” morning, there are commuters cutting through our residential neighborhood to avoid the jam lock on Welsh Road (63) on their way to work. On a normal morning, some of them are stopped by police cars hiding in driveways to enforce the traffic rules designed to prevent those shortcuts. On a normal morning, I feel bad for those being stopped by a flashing, howling police car capturing the guilty sinner who now is surely too late for work. I can understand their frustration with the overload on the main traffic arteries. Believe it or not, once, many years ago, I was caught myself in my own neighborhood because I had to run an errand; coming back, I forgot about one of those subtle traffic signs and took an unlawful left turn (imagine that!). The cop wouldn’t take my explanation for an answer and I had to go to the township police headquarters to plead with the officer in charge. It was the only time my protest of a traffic infraction was successful… But none of that is happening right now. It’s very quiet in our neighborhood. No children are walking or running to the school bus. No parents are rushing out of the house to get them there. The quietness of our current time (I know it’s not quiet for all of you, but for many) connects with the theme we have been using as a mantra in our virtual services every single Sunday since we have been under “house arrest”  – that’s how it feels sometimes, doesn’t it? The mantra comes from Psalm 46, one of Martin Luther’s favorite psalms: “Be still and know that I am God.”

I have talked about growing adult faith in recent days, meaning a faith that is not naïve or ignorant of reality, including the less pleasant or downright ugly forms of reality. I believe that one of the most important avenues toward growing deep faith as an adult is stillness and contemplation. Even as I write these words, I can hear some people in our congregation say, “That’s not for me.” And I get it. There are people who need to do something all the time, whose faith is largely expressed in doing wonderful things for people. There are people who have an attention deficit disorder and can’t sit still. I get it. I am, however, just as aware that the practice of listening deeply with our heart and soul, or contemplating a scripture verse, cannot be replaced by any “action”. It comes easier to some of us, yes, but it is absolutely worth the personal investment for all of us. In our world we have gotten used to doing something all the time, being busy, being “in-charge,” and for the longest time the pace of life seemed to increase almost every year. We were running on a treadmill that increased speed every five minutes. Now the treadmill has stopped, and it is eerily quiet, even in the church office. Is God trying to teach us to be quiet and listen with our hearts and souls? “Be still and know that I am God!” It’s no coincidence that the mindfulness movement came along in the last decade because it addressed our very human need to be still and mind-full at a time when “normal life” didn’t give us much of a chance for that. So, I encourage you to practice one of the oldest Christian disciplines: quiet prayer and contemplation time each day. Let me know how it goes. (The St. Peter’s Devotional Book has now a total of 15 volunteers who will contribute to the project. I received a few more willing writers yesterday. Thank you all!) 

For today I wanted to bring to everyone’s attention that we may have folks in our congregation who are being hit hard by the economic downturn of this national and regional shutdown. That is especially true for people who had a small job without benefits or securities to begin with. In my many conversations with people from our congregation I got the impression that, thankfully, this is not the reality many of us are dealing with right now. In fact, I know of a bunch of people who are busier than ever at work. (I am married to one of those people.) These are sensitive issues, but I wanted to make sure that you please feel comfortable enough to reach out to me if you are experiencing hardship so that we can help you in some way. We are not of course in the business of printing money (haha) but our congregation is generous enough to give me a small discretionary fund, and sometimes it helps raise more of those funds if we become aware of someone’s situation. 

Also for today, I am asking your prayers for the following request, brought to us by Lisa Miller, our Administrative Assistant. “My sister-in-law, Donna S., lost her 88 year-old mother, Regina R., to a non-covid related illness.  Donna is the wife of my brother Steve.  They live in Philadelphia. Regina was staying with relatives in Maryland when she was taken alone by ambulance to the hospital on Easter morning.”  This describes the sad part of our reality right now. The elderly who become ill are often alone in the hospital – tended to by overwhelmed medical staff – and are dying without the comfort and presence of their family members and loved ones. This is very distressing. In fact, I know that Steve M. lost his older brother Dave on Monday after Easter, and it was the same difficult situation for him. He could not see Dave again under the current restrictions. May God be with Donna, Steve, and all who are feeling helpless in the face of family loss and gravely ill family members! 

A reminder that we will hold our Bible Study today at 11:00 a.m. instead of noon because I have a conflict. Here is the Zoom invitation for the Bible Study – contact Pastor Wagner.

Finally, remember the Manna Food Drive tomorrow between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. 

Our Sunday service from now on will be fully pre-recorded to avoid technical difficulties. The Sunday virtual service will be posted a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Please enjoy and leave us your comments.  

Today is the birthday of Kyrstyn S. Happy birthday, Kyrstyn!  

Be safe and be well,

Pastor Andreas Wagner