Good morning, Faith Family:

First of all, a reminder that you can find our Daily Praise Guide on our website at https://faithpei.com/2020/03/23/daily-worship-praise-march-23-29/. I encourage you to use that tool, especially in these difficult days.

One of the things that’s impressing me these days is that we can consume too much news. It is important to know what’s going on, but immersing ourselves in too much can shift our perspective from the eternal large picture. I encourage you to limit your exposure to TV and social media to only what you really need to know, and to counterbalance it with filling your mind with just as much of the things of God.

On that note, our theme this week, both in the Praise Guide and for my message this Sunday, is rest. Psalm 116:7 says—

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

John Greenleaf Whittier, who was a Quaker poet, wrote a poem that was later set to music as a great hymn. You may not be familiar with it; it’s more popular in the UK than here. It’s called “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.” Here are the words to the last two verses of the song; they are a good commentary on Psalm 116:7, so I encourage you to read slowly through them—

Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!

 

Many blessings,

Pastor Jon