Upcoming Events
Worship on Sunday’s at 10:00 AM, followed by Fellowship Coffee Hour
Worship is recorded and posted on our YouTube Channel
Sunday School is at 10:00 AM. For information contact [email protected]
Weekly Prayer Group is on Wednesday’s at 10:00 AM. For information contact [email protected]
Bread for the World’s Offering Letters – March 27, immediately following worship
Adult Education Program – PSALMS begins February 6 for 8 weeks
Ash Wednesday – March 2, Lenten Vespers every Wednesday during Lent
Centering Prayer – Thursdays, March 3rd through April 7th at 7:30PM on Zoom
God is in the Details
A dear friend of mine passed away recently. We were seminary classmates and lived in community. We were also neighbors in the married couples’ apartments, both of our families with very young children.
We didn’t really hang out together except one summer when we drove in daily to Philadelphia State Psychiatric Hospital to do our summer of Clinical Pastoral Education, a summer of chaplaincy, group process and clinical work/therapy. Every day for eleven weeks. Lots of talks in the car, going and coming home.
What came to mind after learning of Ed’s passing after his many back operations and pain, then pneumonia, was not the educational agenda of that summer. No, what I remember best are the particulars, the surprises that bring a smile and stay with you long after. When you think of those you love, and those who touch your life and you theirs, isn’t it in the particulars?
When we sing “What a Friend we Have in Jesus,” we might be thinking of salvation history and Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well we should. But might we not also be reminded of the particulars – when we felt we had no other friend in the world (though it may not be true, but we were sinking so low under troubles) except Jesus, close by, listening to our pain, comforting us.
Love is in the particulars.
Ed taught me how to play tennis on the seminary’s clay court. It was one of the hottest summers Philadelphia had in a long time and it was the Bicentennial. The musical “1776” captured it – “It’s hot as hell in Philadelphia city!”. Hot and humid. But still, we played tennis and he encouraged me. Ed took me to my first major
first major league baseball game at Veterans Stadium that summer. Our seats were so cheap and high up that we could see the pilots better in aircraft passing over the stadium then we could see the players on the field. The seats were so tight and steep that when you sat down it felt like you were still standing up.
Friendship in the particulars. A feeling of nostalgia rises up like a warm Philadelphia summer evening, brings a smile and a comfort.
St. Paul writes in the great “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13 that “now abide faith, hope and love, these three. And the greatest of these is love.” Love and friendship reign in the small particulars of our lives: the way we treat one another, the small kindness, empathy, and the freedom of respected boundaries. A smile can brighten your entire day and a long-carried hurt that is shared is the greatest gift a friend can give or receive.
They say, “the devil is in the details,” but even more, God is in the details.
While we are still in the winter cold and indoors it is a good time to reflect on the people in your life. Winter invites us to look at the seasons of our life and to remember the particulars of love and friendship.
God is in the details.
Winter Blessings,
Pastor Bill Damrow
Reverend Dr. William J. Damrow, Pastor