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There is a Balm in Gilead

September 25, 2019

From the region of Gilead, Israel, near Jericho, came a rare perfume that contained balsam (a species of pine) that is noted in ancient texts as a cure for pleurisy, pneumonia, epilepsy, vertigo, asthma, and coughing. The balm of Gilead was traded throughout the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The prophet Jeremiah in troubling times questioned:

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?”

The African American spiritual responded in troubling times centuries later:

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole…There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul…”

The healing balm of Gilead is the love of Jesus. With the love of Jesus, we are healed by pursuing what endures, by pursuing the eternal, we are shaped and healed by what we pursue. As Jesus said:

Make for yourselves purses that do not wear our.”

Luke 12: 33

So we are healed by investing in the eternal; we are made whole by pursuing eternal values. Using the Prayer of St. Francis as a guide, we believe that hatred, injury, discord, doubt, sadness, despair, and darkness are passing away. And the eternal value of love, pardon, union, faith, joy, hope, and light will endure for all time.

Invest in your lives wisely.

Filed Under: Canon Donecker, Latest News

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Click here for the 17 January bulletin Click here for Communion Under Special Circumstances Click here for a Second Sunday at Six Announcement Click here for the January-February Halo Newsletter
All Saints Episcopal Church


The Reverend Canon Paul C. Donecker

The Reverend Canon Paul C. Donecker

Click here for Canon Donecker's December Report
All Saints Episcopal Church
PO Box 119
129 N. Market Street
Selinsgrove, Pa 17870 AllSaints@ptd.net
570-374-8289
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