Pastor Paul Edwards with a meditation from Psalm 27 and Isaiah 40.
The sermon which Pastor Paul refers to in this video is: “Some Reflections, Growing Out of the Recent Epidemic of Influenza that Afflicted Our City,” delivered in the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church on Sunday, November 3, 1918 by the Pastor, Rev. Francis J. Grimke.
The sermon is here: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=emu.010002585873&view=1up&seq=2
From Samuel Shaw’s A Welcome to the Plague:
“I beseech you, Christian, be not content to say you have chosen God for your chief good, but pursue after him as such, without grudging, and without ceasing, longing to be as much one with him, in a participation of divine perfections, as our created natures are capable of. Maintain a holy and secret striving of soul towards this blessed object continually, as a thing moves towards its center, as a soul ought to endeavor to accomplish its own perfection; stand not gazing upon a heaven to come, but labor to draw down all that peace, joy, love, purity, which heaven is, into your own souls, by growing up into the life of God daily.”
At 10:00 am this morning we will gather around our radios or computers or tablets for worship. I have prepared this family worship guide to enhance our worship today. Use it either before or after we participate together in worship at 10:00 am.
Call to Worship
The Psalm Reading: Psalm 31:9-16
9 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble:
mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing:
my strength faileth because of mine iniquity,
and my bones are consumed.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies,
but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance:
they that did see me without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side:
while they took counsel together against me,
they devised to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord:
I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand:
deliver me from the hand of mine enemies,
and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant:
save me for thy mercies’ sake.
Pray: Express your fears, anxieties, and concerns to the Lord. Pour out your heart to him. Seek his face and ask for him to hide you in his shelter during this time of trouble.
Sing
Pray: Pray for the needs of the world around you: family members, neighbors, medical workers, governing officials, those who are suffering financially, and those who are sick. Ask the Lord to sustain, provide, heal, and guide. Ask him to give his people endurance, wisdom, and hope.
Listen to today’s sermon:
I am praying for you by name. Please let me know what specific needs you or your family may have so that I can pray more efficiently.
May you know the peace and presence of our risen Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, on this Palm Sunday.
