.
40th
Anniversary Celebration for Three
Members of Bethany Association
.
“The Lord has never
failed to show us His love and mercy
as He’s accompanied us along the way”
It has been a great joy and blessing for us –
Sue Cummins, Jeanne Kun, and Sherry Snyder – to
celebrate the 40th anniversary of our lifelong
commitments to live single for the Lord with
many of our friends and brothers and sisters in
the Sword of the Spirit.
In 1971 each of us made an individual “initial
(youthful) decision” to live single for the
Lord, and over the next few years we frequently
met – along with several other women – to share
and seek the Lord together about how we might
live out our desires. Thus it was that in 1975
we established a sisterhood, living a common
life together. In the summer of 1977 the three
of us, as well as Sr. Dorcee Clarey, made our
lifelong commitments to live single for the
Lord.
By the grace of God, we are still gladly and
faithfully living out the commitments that we
made forty years ago. Any sorrows we experienced
(and there were some deep ones!) during the past
years have been greatly overshadowed and
brightened by the countless joys and blessings
we have known – the Lord has indeed never failed
to show us His love and mercy as He’s
accompanied us all along the way.
We also want to take
the opportunity now to thank all who have
encouraged and supported us over the years. We
are grateful to the Servants of the Word for the
love, prayers, and brotherly support that they
have given to us. Some of them we have known for
almost fifty years now while others are newer
brothers to us, but each have helped sustain us
by the witness of their life and singlehearted
dedication to the Lord.
Here we would like to share
with you a portion of our Statement of Ideal
from our “original” sisterhood covenant that is
now in our Bethany Association Charter. This
statement expresses well what it is that we are
about in living single for the Lord:
We want to
actively search for and seek out God in the
entirety of our lives, embracing a way of life
in which everything that separates us from him
is diminished and all that brings us nearer to
him is cherished and integrated into our
lives, carrying us towards him. We want to let
go of ourselves and be drawn to God alone.
Therefore, we choose a way of life in which we
give up marriage and bearing children – holy
and valued Things – as a freewill offering of
love to God. We choose to take up a life of
prayer, service, and simplicity. We choose all
this in order to give ourselves to God as
freely as possible; to offer our attention,
love, and devotion, to him as fully as
possible; and to exist for his pleasure and
praise. We want to live with undivided hearts
and undivided devotion to the Lord (1
Corinthians 7:34-35).
We are deeply grateful for the calling that we
share together in Bethany Association and the
Sword of the Spirit.
In Christ,
Sue Cummins
Jeanne Kun
Sherry Snyder
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