Genuine Peace
For this second week of our Advent Series, “Preparing for Christmas,” we welcome back Dr. Bill and Ann Clemmer, International Ministries Global Servants to the Democratic Republic of Congo. They will be sharing with us updates about their work and ministries since their last visit, and what it means to them to have the “Genuine Peace” of God in the difficult and often dangerous circumstances in which they serve.
Thank you for worshiping with us.
If you would like to give toward the work we are doing to share God’s mission at Brewster Baptist Church, please follow this link to our secure online donation page or you can text BrewsterGive to 833-686-6540.
If you would like to connect with us at BBC, please follow this link to our connection card.
This first video is the 8:30 service
Listen to the sermon
This video is the whole service
In light of this reflection, the Clemmers invite us to consider and discuss the following questions that they have been pondering:
- How can acts of kindness contribute to healing in our community in Goma, where people have lost so much, including members of their own family?
- In moments of violence, what practices help us hold onto hope for better days… and how do we balance our own need for security versus our commitment to those we have been sent to serve in Africa?
- How do we reconcile the cries for justice with the yearning for peace amidst warring parties?
- How do we see God’s presence and profess peace in the midst of suffering?
- In the Civil War era poem “Christmas Bells” written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was grieving the loss of his wife, he writes “There is no peace on earth, I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace”, yet he closes the poem with hope, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.” How do we find peace in our world, Congo, Cape Cod, and across the globe, where violence and death are commonplace… yet a loving God prevails?