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About this post: We want to stay connected! This blog post is part of a series of daily devotionals for this season. Read them, share them, and pray that they bring God's peace and love to our communities. To sign up to receive text notification of these posts, text zpc to 39970. We welcome your comments and questions each day.

Good morning ZPC. Jan and I are really missing our face to face encounters with all of you, in the Gathering Space, at worship, at our different ministries, and for us senior saints, at Second Half Adventurers. We are truly looking forward to the time we can all gather together again.

Jan and I have been members of ZPC since 1986. (We joined at an extremely young age). We have been Sunday school teachers, active in the Great Banquet community, and have served as Deacons and Elders.  What a blessing.

Today's Scripture: Psalm 133:1

In Psalm 133:1 David tells us, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in unity." As I read this I noticed the close relationship between the words UNITY and commUNITY. Unity was first mentioned in 2 Chronicles 30:12, when Hezekiah wrote, "The hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind." Later in the New Testament we read in Colossians 3:14, "And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." And Romans 15:5-6 says, "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I looked up the word unity and one meaning I found is: "we come together for a common purpose or action." We are all going thru these difficult times confined to our homes, but we don't have to go through them alone.  That's where the commUNITY part of this message comes in. We often think of communities as people who are physically brought together with a common purpose. These days we are strongly discouraged from being in close proximity with each other. But with all the modern technology that we have today, we can still share each others burdens and rejoice in others joys. Although we are separated physically, we can still come together in prayer and encouragement as the Body of Christ. We are in this together.

In 1624, John Donne wrote "No man is an island." Human beings (that's us) depend on one another. We need to be a part of a community to thrive. There's a wonderful song by Hezekiah Walker which states "I need you, You need me,  We're all a part of God's Body.  You pray for me, I'll pray for you"... If you have a chance please listen to it.

What a wonderful time to come together in UNITY and live in commUNITY. We must believe that God is in control and things will rebound and change for the better. How about the words of George Burns who said "I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life." The rest of our lives; may it be spent in UNITY with the Spirit and in commUNITY with the body of Christ.

Activity

For this weeks activity, I suggest we get on the phone and call someone we haven't talked to in some time. Jan and I recently had two such conversations with old friends from our past, and both ends of the line were blessed. Who might come to your mind???

Prayer

Father,
Thanks for our unity in you. Help us all to be an encouragement to all as we live in community as the Body of Christ.
Amen

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