Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren, Shenandoah District

Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren, Shenandoah District Pleasant Valley Church is a home for everyone to come experience God’s love, grow in faith, and support one another through life’s ups and downs.

Join us Sundays at 9:30 am for Sunday School and 10:15 am for worship.

Yesterday we learned about creating ripples of kindness in an actual pool brought in by Ms. Brenda! A simple act of kind...
09/14/2026

Yesterday we learned about creating ripples of kindness in an actual pool brought in by Ms. Brenda! A simple act of kindness can make a bigger impact than we realize. And to help remind us? Bracelet’s that say WWJD- What Would Jesus Do? never go out of style and is always a good reminder to stop, think, and choose kindness.

Day One: The City That Prized What ShowedPastor Harry tells of driving his son Harrison home from school when the boy an...
09/14/2026

Day One: The City That Prized What Showed

Pastor Harry tells of driving his son Harrison home from school when the boy announced he had finally figured out why God could use his father to do great things. Harrison had learned about Balaam's donkey that day: if God can use a donkey, God can use anything, even you. It was not exactly the compliment it sounded like, but it is close to the whole argument the apostle Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 1, minus the joke and minus the donkey, in a city that would not have found either one funny.

Corinth had been leveled by Rome in 146 BC and left in ruins for a century, then refounded by Julius Caesar in 44 BC as a fresh Roman colony on the isthmus between two seas. Trade moved through it in both directions, and money moved with it. What grew up in that soil was a city that prized what showed: rhetoric, public benefaction, status, reputation you could point to. It was a city built the second time almost entirely around visibility.

Paul tells us exactly what two groups in that city were shopping for. Jewish hopes wanted proof of power, a messiah who looked like a messiah, someone who would break the empire's grip the way the prophets had promised: visibly, decisively, now. Greek expectation wanted sophistication, an argument tight enough and a teacher polished enough to survive the marketplace of ideas that ran through that city as steadily as goods ran through its harbor. Paul had neither one to offer. He had a man who had been executed by the state.

We are not so different from Corinth. We build our own scoreboards too: the resume that shows well, the platform that draws a crowd, the church that looks like it has its act together. It is worth asking, before we go any further into this passage, what our own city is shopping for, and whether we have quietly started shopping for the same thing.

This week we will walk through Paul's argument slowly, from the scandal of the cross to the surprising claim that closes the passage: that the very thing Corinth found foolish is, to those who are called, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Begin today simply by noticing what your own eyes have been trained to look for.

Scripture: "For Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:22, WEB)

From the Sermon: "Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom."

For Reflection: Question 1: What were the "signs" and "wisdom" that Corinth's culture prized, and what does our own culture prize in their place? Question 2: Where have you found yourself shopping for a faith that shows well rather than one that is simply true? Question 3: Who in your circle is quietly measuring their worth against a scoreboard the gospel never asked them to keep?

Prayer: God who sees behind every scoreboard, we confess how easily we are drawn to what shows well and how quickly we look past what simply is true. Open our eyes this week to the difference. Teach us, like Paul, to bring you exactly what we have, even when it seems too small or too plain to matter. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who was executed by the state and raised by your power. Amen.

Day Five - Desperate for God HimselfDevotionalThe stanza's last line summarizes the whole desperate plea. Behold, I long...
09/13/2026

Day Five - Desperate for God Himself

Devotional

The stanza's last line summarizes the whole desperate plea. Behold, I long for your precepts. Ta’avah is the same root used for hunger, for craving, the kind of longing that keeps you up at night.

Notice, too: not one of these eight verses actually asks God for information. Teach me. Lead me. Turn me. Give me life. Those are the requests of someone who wants a person near her across an ordinary day, not a manual.

Recall Moses at the bush that would not burn up. The story turned on one small detail: Moses noticed. He was curious. He said, I will turn aside and see this great sight. He could have walked past it, half noticed and forgotten. His curiosity put him in the one place where God was ready to say his name out loud. How curious are we? Somewhere along the way, a lot of us traded curiosity about God for information about God.

This week the rain came, and just as fast, most of us went looking for the next desperate prayer before we had even said thank you for the last one. So carry this out of the week: not the desperation that only knows how to ask for the next outcome, but the desperation that keeps turning back toward God himself, one more time, whatever the weather happens to be doing, because it still believes God is there to be turned toward.

Scripture

“Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness.”

Psalm 119:40, WEB

From the Sermon

“The psalmist never asks God to fix a circumstance. He is desperate for God, not merely for what God can arrange.”

For Reflection

What is the difference between being desperate for what God can do and being desperate for God himself, and why does the psalmist land on the second?
When was the last time you turned aside for God simply because you wanted to know him more fully, not because you needed something from him?
Whatever circumstance you or someone you love is desperate to see change this week, how could you help each other keep turning toward God himself, and not only toward the outcome?

Prayer

God, we long for you, not only for what you can do for us. Meet every desperate prayer in this room, whatever we think we are asking for, with more of yourself. Not just the rain, and not just the dry ground. Yourself. Amen.

Day Four - Confirm It, Take the Shame AwayDevotionalMore desperately still: confirm your promise to your servant. Confir...
09/12/2026

Day Four - Confirm It, Take the Shame Away

Devotional

More desperately still: confirm your promise to your servant. Confirm comes from the Hebrew verb for standing something up, for establishing it. And right beside it: turn away the disgrace I dread.

The psalmist names his own fear outright: being on display as someone who trusted a promise that did not hold. That is not weakness. It is the fear you only feel inside a real relationship, having trusted someone who might not come through.

You do not dread disgrace over a rule you memorized. You dread it over a relationship you have staked something real on. Anyone who has prayed for rain and watched clouds pass by understands this. Anyone who has prayed for a child, a job, a diagnosis, and waited, understands this too.

If you have ever felt embarrassed for having believed God for something, this verse says that fear belongs in prayer as well. Bring the fear of disgrace to God, rather than quietly protecting yourself from it by expecting less.

Scripture

“Fulfill your promise to your servant, that you may be feared. Take away my disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.”

Psalm 119:38-39, WEB

From the Sermon

“You don’t dread disgrace over a rule you memorized. You dread it over a relationship you’ve staked something real on.”

For Reflection

Why might the fear of disgrace, the fear of having trusted a promise that does not hold, actually be evidence of a real relationship with God rather than a lack of faith?
What promise have you staked something real on, and where is the fear of disgrace keeping you from naming that hope out loud?
Who around you is carrying a quiet fear of having believed for something and come up empty? How might you sit with them in that, rather than rushing to fix it?

Prayer

Faithful God, we confess the promises we have staked our hearts on, and the fear of disgrace we carry when the waiting is long. Confirm your word to us. Take our shame away. We trust you not because we have proof, but because we have staked something real on you. Amen.

Day Three - Turn My Heart, Turn My EyesDevotionalThen the stanza turns desperate. Turn my heart toward your statutes, an...
09/11/2026

Day Three - Turn My Heart, Turn My Eyes

Devotional

Then the stanza turns desperate. Turn my heart toward your statutes, and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes from worthless things. The Hebrew verb, natah, means to bend, to physically redirect, the same word used elsewhere for pitching a tent beside someone.

This is not a request for better priorities, a New Year's resolution kind of prayer. It is a request for nearness: to move close enough to camp beside God and stay there, the way we used to pitch our tents close together at church retreats, near enough to hear each other in the night.

And tucked inside it is grace. Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life. Quicken me. Be gracious to me. The turning is not only away from something. It is toward life itself.

What would it look like this week to ask, not for a better to-do list or more willpower, but simply to be turned, bent, redirected toward nearness with God?

Scripture

“Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.”

Psalm 119:36-37, WEB

From the Sermon

“This isn’t a request for better priorities. It’s a request for nearness: to move close enough to camp beside God and stay there.”

For Reflection

Natah, to turn, is the same word used for pitching a tent beside someone. How does that image change what it means to ask God to turn your heart?
What worthless thing has your gaze been fixed on lately, and what would it feel like to ask God to simply turn your eyes rather than white-knuckling your way to better habits?
Whose tent could you pitch yours beside this week: someone who needs the nearness of a person, not just the correction of a better plan?

Prayer

God who pitches your tent beside us, turn our hearts toward you and away from what does not last. Turn our eyes from what is worthless, and give us life in the turning. Draw us near enough to camp beside you, and let us stay. Amen.

Day Two - Teach Me the Way, Lead Me the PathDevotionalThe stanza opens with words for the road. Teach me, Lord, the way ...
09/10/2026

Day Two - Teach Me the Way, Lead Me the Path

Devotional

The stanza opens with words for the road. Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees. That word for way, derek, is the ordinary Hebrew word for a road, a course, the distance between where you are and where you are headed. Two verses later it narrows to nathiv, a path, the kind of trail you would walk on foot rather than the wide road you would travel by. And in between them sits binah, understanding, which in Hebrew is not a spectator's word. It is not standing back and getting the concept. It is closer to the discernment you can only get by moving through something, the kind of understanding a farmer has about weather that a forecast cannot give you.

Notice what the psalmist is not asking for. He is not asking God to explain the destination. He is not asking for the whole map. He is asking to be taught the way, led on the path, given the kind of understanding you only get by walking with someone.

That is a request for companionship on the road, not a request for a photograph of where the road ends up. So many of our own prayers ask God for the ending: how will this decision turn out, will this diagnosis resolve, will this relationship heal. What is actually being offered, again and again, is a guide for today's stretch of road.

Ask yourself where you have been begging God for the destination when what is offered, and what you actually need this week, is a teacher for the next mile.

Scripture

“Teach me, Yahweh, the way of your statutes. I will keep them to the end. ... Direct me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them.”

Psalm 119:33, 35, WEB

From the Sermon

“That’s a request for companionship on the road, not a request for a photograph of where the road ends up.”

For Reflection

Derek, the road, and nathiv, the narrower path: what is the difference between asking God for a road and asking God for a path, and why might the psalmist move from one word to the other?
Where are you asking God to explain the destination instead of asking to be taught the next step of the way?
Who could you walk beside this week, not by handing them the whole answer to what they are facing, but simply by staying present with them on the path?

Prayer

Teacher and Guide, we so often want the whole map. Teach us instead the way, lead us the path, and give us the kind of understanding that only comes from walking with you. We will take the next step, and trust you with the rest. In Jesus’ name, amen.

What a special treat to have this wonderful trio share their beautiful gift of music with us during worship! ❤️ We are s...
09/09/2026

What a special treat to have this wonderful trio share their beautiful gift of music with us during worship! ❤️ We are so thankful for the blessing they were to our congregation and for the opportunity to worship together through song. What a beautiful reminder of how God can use our gifts to bless others! 🎶🙏

Day One - One Long, Desperate PleaDevotionalHow fast a week can change what we are desperate for. When Pastor Harry firs...
09/09/2026

Day One - One Long, Desperate Plea

Devotional

How fast a week can change what we are desperate for. When Pastor Harry first drafted this sermon, Smith Mountain Lake was down eight feet, boat lifts stuck out of the water, crops thirsty for rain across the Valley. By the time he preached it, the rain had come, and come, and come, and most of us were desperate for it to stop. We were still desperate. Just for something different.

That same desperate motion runs through Psalm 119:33-40, the hey stanza (the fifth letter) of the longest chapter in the Bible, a hundred seventy-six verses built as an acrostic, eight verses for every letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Back in July, with our youth headed to the mountains, we sat together further along, in the nun section, with the verse about the lamp and the path. This morning we are earlier in the walk, earlier in the alphabet of somebody’s whole life with God.

Read the stanza slowly and notice how much of it is verbs aimed at God: teach me, give me, lead me, turn my heart, turn my eyes, confirm your word, turn away my disgrace, I long. Almost every line is in desperate motion. Nothing here sits still. Even the longing named outright in the last verse is its own kind of motion, a leaning of the whole body toward something it is missing and needs but does not yet have.

This week we will walk through the stanza's requests one at a time. Before we do, sit with the whole of it. This is not eight separate items on a prayer list. It is one long, moving plea, and it is allowed to be honest about wherever your own desperation happens to be pointed today.

Scripture

“Teach me, Yahweh, the way of your statutes. I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart.”

Psalm 119:33-34, WEB

From the Sermon

“That’s not eight separate requests stacked one after another. It’s one, long, moving plea, the way water is now moving in our valley from the ridge to the river.”

For Reflection

What changes about how you read this stanza if you hear it as one long, moving plea rather than eight separate requests, a single desperate reaching rather than a checklist?
What are you desperate for this week, and has what you are desperate for changed even in the last few days?
Who do you know whose desperation has shifted recently, worried about one thing last week and something else entirely now? How might you pray with them through both?

Prayer

Lord, we come to you honestly desperate, even when we are not sure what for. Teach us to see our many requests as one long reaching toward you. Meet us in our motion, and lead us, one step at a time, toward your presence. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

09/06/2026

The choice to look closer at the strange ignites divine connection. God's introduction to Moses isn't a title, but a resume of faithfulness. Trust is built on past relationships. Listen to the entire message https://youtu.be/rWSA6bgZxbg

09/05/2026

Moses faced an impossible task. When asked God's name, the answer 'God of your ancestors' wasn't enough. Why? Because in that world, a name was a description of character. Listen to the entire message: https://youtu.be/rWSA6bgZxbg

Address

91 Valley Church Road
Weyers Cave, VA
24486

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 2pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 12:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 12:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 12:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 12:30pm
Sunday 9am - 12pm

Telephone

+15402349921

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