LUMC remains shut down through at least June 4th to all church and non-church related activities. Please join us on LiveStream Sunday services at 9:00 a.m. or Zoom bible studies Tuesday mornings at 10 a.m. and Thursday evenings at 7 p.m., or Adult Sunday School classes, or the LUMC Kids’ Page, or the Covid-19 Zoom Support Group on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. Check the website at www.lansdaleume.org for more details.
My library is currently in storage in Souderton, PA. I’ve never had a separation from my books for this extended period. I miss them. I’ve photographs of the shelves to remind myself how to organize the books once we’re reunited. Weird, I know! I imagine myself “thumbing through” the racks and a few books I’d like to have here in Bethlehem right now. That phrase “thumbing through” hooked my attention.
There’s a book somewhere in that storage bin of ours with the title Thumbing Your Way Across America. I’ve long forgotten where I picked it up, probably in New York. Anyway, it’s a guide to safe hitchhiking. Something about the writing made it appealing. It was a good read, as they say. The adventurous spirit can be quite attractive.
During the Zoom Bible Studies, my weekly adventurous learners and I have been thumbing our way through the Psalms. Each passing psalm we’ve studied has added gobs and gobs of words and phrases to our glossary of trust, hope, and loyalty as we simultaneously thumb our way through Pandemic 2020.
I cry out to you, O Lord, hear me!…I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy!…The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…For you are my rock and my fortress, and for your name’s sake, you lead me and guide me…Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!
So many examples of psalms that help us manage the tension and anxiety of pandemic panic are available to us! Thumbing our way through the Psalms is a means to thumb through the pandemic with a smidge of confidence in the God who never leaves or forgets us, never sleeps on watch, never pulls away in disgust when we’re afraid, never snickers at our frailty, and never lets us go.
Be well!
PB!