Abiding in Christ in the Midst of COVID-19

By Dr. Sanejo Leonard

The past few weeks I have been meditating and practicing lectio divina on a familiar passage in Luke 13, the one where Jesus cries over Jerusalem in his desire to draw the city and its people back to himself. In reflecting upon that scripture, I was drawn to the start of the passage where Pharisees come to him and urge him to leave because Herod wants to kill him. Luke, ever the detailed writer, tips us off in dramatic fashion to the urgency in the narrative by writing “At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you [italics added]” (Lk. 13:31, NRSV).

Whether the Pharisees were trying to help Jesus, or this was a ploy to get him out of their city (probably the latter), the sense of urgency would cause any normal person to react: someone is trying to kill you, do something about it! Yet, Jesus was no “normal” person. While Jesus was both human and divine and struggled with many of the same human emotions we deal with, there was also a sense of calm deep within him, showing his ability to remain at peace despite the fear and anxiety that swirled around him (e.g., remember the story of Jesus asleep on the boat in the midst of the storm in Luke 8:23-25). Jesus’ frequent time spent with the Father in prayer (Lk. 5:16) seems to have contributed to his ability to respond to life’s challenges with a sense of calm rather than the temptation to react. Knee-jerk reactions often reflect ingrained habits, habits and parts of our character that have yet to be transformed into Christ’s likeness and Christ’s character.

Instead of reacting to the Pharisees and their attempt to cause fear, Jesus brings the focus back around to his mission and to others. It is from there that Jesus proceeds to express his sorrow over Jerusalem, desiring to gather her children together in a protective manner (Lk. 13:34), and as such, letting everyone know that his life was not his own; his life was meant to be lived and to die for others.

Jesus’ example shows us that our ability to weather our current storm of a global crisis is in our daily and frequent connection with God our loving Father, and the deep and abiding peace we will find from that relationship. As we grow in our ability to remain or abide in Jesus and his love, the fruit from that abiding will be our ability to love others (Jn. 15:5-12). The fruit will be our ability to respond from a well of peace rather than react from a shallow point of fear and anxiety. Our fruit will be responding with hope that only comes from a God who is bigger than our current crisis than a trust in human ability alone to fight this crisis. It is only when we learn to abide in Christ that our reactions change to thoughtful and peaceful responses because we are deeply rooted in Christ and his love (Eph. 3:17-18). Being the self-proclaimed “fraidy-cat” that I am, I need to remind myself of this practice as much as anyone.

May we this day, this week, and in this crisis learn to abide in Christ and find peace and calm there, and in turn, love and care for others to bring God’s light in the midst of this darkness.

Amen.

Cue Sonny and Cher – It’s Groundhog Day

By Pastor Ben Pitman

Quarantined? Does it feel like the same day over and over and over again?

Cue Sonny and Cher’s “I’ve Got You Babe.” It’s 6:00am, call me Bill Murray, as I am roused to another day and it feels Groundhog Day. Are you telling me, “That is literally my life right now?”

Maybe you are not having a Groundhog Day experience right now where you feel like you are living the same day over and over again, but you have probably felt that way before; chances are, we will all feel it again at some point.

For those who are still catching up to the movie classics of the 90’s, the basic premise of Groundhog Day is that a guy who is a jerk is forced to continue to live the same day over and over until he figures out how to think about other people. Here is the question: who forced him to continue living the same day over again? On one hand, it is because he is mean and selfish, so he has to learn his lesson. When I am stuck in the same day over and over, who is to blame?

Though we are 100% to blame, God has made it his responsibility to work it all out for our good when we came into a relationship with him. Not a moment is wasted, no pain passes through his hand without built in purpose and power for today; in God’s economy no day (no matter how boring and repetitive) goes to waste. While it is true that all things just keep on repeating, and life continues in an endless circle (Ecclesiastes 1:9), it is only true until Christ.

Christ did more for us than set an example for us to follow; he changed the laws of nature. God opened up space and time and entered our world, as something new, the second Adam, Jesus came. In some way, we are all stuck in a rut, but God has offered hope. The late scientist, Stephen Hawking believed that we are entirely stuck, dancing to the tune of our DNA. If Jesus did not come, Hawking’s statement is true. While there appears to be an endless drift towards nothingness in this material world, God is Spirit, and he has offered us the only hope in Christ.

If you find yourself struggling with meaninglessness you may have bought the lie that our life is doomed to be the same thing over and again. Yet, Jeremiah introduces us to the God who makes all things new by his love and mercy. In the middle of the worst time for Israel, as they were deported to Babylon, the lament of Jeremiah rings truly, “Your mercies are new every morning, great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-24). Jeremiah declared, not in ecstasy or joy, rather from the pit of anguish and despair; almost as if it were blood squeezed from a stone.

God’s will for our lives is not that we would repeat the same days over and over again; rather, like a child wakes up to a new day excited to discover the world, we can awaken to brand new mercies and brand new days.

If it is pain and hurt holding you down, remember, Christ came to give us life, so strive to find mercy for today and stop living under the lies. In a world where there is nothing new under the sun, Christ is making all things new.

Today is not Groundhog Day, but another new day where Christ is alive.

Redeeming the Time

By Dr. Richard Cook

We are living in unprecedented times!   Personally, I have been involved in ministry for fifty years and have never witnessed what we are going through today as a nation, or in the world.  While we may not understand everything we are facing, we can take advantage of the time, rather than waste it.  The Apostle Paul shared valuable information with the church in his letter to the Ephesian church when he said, “So be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do” (Eph. 5:15-17 NLT).  The KJV translated v.16 as “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

We have been given time…time…time that we didn’t have before.  Time to spend in ways we never thought possible.  Time to invest.  Where?  Where have we invested our time during this lockdown?  Let’s make some determinations that we will not allow this valuable time to be stolen by social media, binge watching TV, or other self-centered interests.  What is the most valuable?  What is the most rewarding?  What is God saying to us at this time?  He has given us time and He is asking us to “redeem” that time, not for temporary gratification but for eternal purposes and the furtherance of His kingdom.  So, where are we now in all of this?  Let’s review.  Let’s take time to write in our journals what we are discovering about ourselves and the journey from here to the “new normal.”  Let’s ask ourselves:

1.  Are we ready for change?  Did this time of pause show us anything about the need for change?  Did we discover something about ourselves, our family, our ministry?  Our career?  Our spirituality?  What are those things?
2. Did we spend this time to invest, develop and strengthen family and ministry relationships?
3. Did we take time to pursue the God who pursues us?  Have we found Him to be more precious than anyone, anything, any achievement or identity?  Have we put Him in first place?
4. Have we taken time to refresh our physical bodies?  How long has it been since we honored the Sabbath Day by resting from all our work?
5. What about the projects that we’ve delayed?  Or the necessary chores that we had no time for?
6. Have we put an end to unhealthy habits and developed healthy ones with the Holy Spirit’s help?
7. Did we use this time to develop accountability systems for our lives?

As the book of Proverbs instructs, Wisdom is calling to us to put away things that drag us down, that weaken us spiritually, physically and emotionally; to embrace Wisdom and run from foolishness, foolish people, and foolish living.  Once again, the question before us is, “Are we ready for change?”  If not, we will not be ready for where Wisdom is leading us and what God has in store for us.  There is so much to gain and, yet, so much to lose.  Be a seeker of Wisdom and Understanding.  May we allow the reverent fear of God guide us into the future, resulting in a life well lived!

Get Up!

By Captain John Arroyo, Jr.

Are you waiting on a word from God?

Living in uncertain times can increase your faith because you really do not have the ability to take control of the situation, but can, Only Believe everything will get better.

My life in the military was so structured and planned out that I did not think much about my future because I believed nothing could happen to me. I was a career soldier and, at the time, had fifteen years under my belt, and was sprinting to the finish line of retirement.  However, in an instant, my life and family stability were shaken, and all certainty was lost.

My wife had just lost her little brother in a hunting accident, and both her parents passed away nine days apart. Approximately six months after losing her parents, I was shot in what is known as the second mass shooting on the Fort Hood military base in Texas.

At times, I am sure many of you have felt like I did then. Everything in your world is instantly shaken, and like the effects of an earthquake – everything appears to be out of order. Possibly, you have thought, “I am in Bible College, how can this happen to me?”  Perhaps you are a teacher or an administrator, and you’re trying to make sense out of a senseless world – but can’t. I understand what you are going through. Friends, the entire planet has been shaken to the core.  As I lay in the hospital, unsure whether I would live or die, not only was I fighting for my life, I was fighting to put it back together. My future was monumentally uncertain.

In Daniel 3:19, we read about the three men who were sentenced to death by being forced into a blazing furnace. However, God did not stop the men from being forced into the fire; He stepped into the inferno with them. God did not stop me from being shot, but He audibly spoke to me and stepped into my tragedy. If you study the scripture mentioned above, you will understand that other men had died in the fire. However, the three men condemned to a fiery death placed their trust in the Lord, and their outcome was vastly different than others who had preceded them.

After I was shot, I did not have a sudden increase or supernatural impartation in my faith. What I did have was a word from the Lord. When I was bleeding on the ground, Jesus audibly spoke to me and said, “Get Up.”

Friends, I have a word from the Lord for you, Get Up!  Shake off the after-effects of uncertainty and begin to live your life fully trusting in God.

Remember, Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Get Up!

To learn more about Captain John Arroyo, Jr. and his experiences, visit his website here: https://www.attackedathome.com/

DESTINY OVER DESERT

By Pastor John Francis

Numbers 14:24 English Standard Version (ESV)

24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

You are prepared for destiny and promise.

As we consider a new way of life during this time of uncertainty, let’s reflect upon Caleb.  There are many things that Caleb must have used to guard his heart.  He was able to have a different spirit after years of walking in the wilderness with those who walked in a negative way.  I am sure Caleb learned what not to do and how not to act by observing the unhealthy lifestyles of those journeying with him.

Yet, God stated that Caleb had fully followed Him.  God saw Caleb’s desire to walk interconnected with Him, and the virtues of God’s heart became the rhythm of his own heartbeat.  The results would be to lead Caleb into the land Promised Land.  The lifestyle that Caleb lived would be the pathway  to bring His descendants to their inheritance.

Let us all be reminded by Caleb of how to walk in difficult times, with difficult people, with uncertainty before us and maintain a focus on the destiny ahead.  Caleb wanted the promiseland.  His desire for the greater thing that was ahead of him, pulled him out of the desert he was in.  During a similar time of having to rethink about how to do life, we must allow God to make the necessary adjustments within our hearts.  Things have changed, and  we are unaware of what will remain and what will be a part of the way of life as it used to be.  We are unaware of what the new normal may look like.

However, we can remember the example we have in Caleb in this season of transition.  We can allow the Holy Spirit to drop creatively into our hearts the desires and concerns of the Father’s heart. There is nothing that God cannot lead us through as He showed through His relationship with Caleb.  We may discover new strengths that God is forming inside us, and we should look for something of His Divine nature that we can focus on that will stabilize us during transitional times.  He will be the source of our strength;  He will be the source of our joy.  He will be that brother that sticks closer than a friend.  He will be our rock, our healer, and our victory.  He will be our focus when things are out of focus.  He will be the calm in the storm. He will also be our comforter.  He has prepared each of us for this moment and He will prepare us for the next.  If we align ourselves with His Spirit, He will always lead us to Himself.  He will lead us to experience Him in ways we never have before.  He has empowered us!

POWER OF TESTIMONY

During a difficult season of ministry that I did not ask for in 2009, I experienced the life of Christ that I would not have chosen for myself.  This is the time when the economy crashed.  Melanie and I pastored a congregation that had just moved into a brand new multi-million dollar building.  Our previous lead pastor retired prior to the crash and we were asked to serve as    lead pastors. When this crisis hit everything and everyone was affected.  I had to pastor a church through a storm that I did not create nor did I ask for.  The pressures were extreme for us and our young family.  During that season of what seemed to be an unraveling in our lives, we later discovered the inner strength that God had forged in us.  He was building stronger foundations of His nature within us that would mark our lives.

He is the maker of our destiny. As we submit ourselves to Jesus, He lives boldly within us. As He was with Caleb and with Melanie and I, He will lead and carry you through!

Essential Worship

By Pastor Melanie Francis

Scripture Focus: Micah 6:6-8

Central Thought: What does God require of you?

My third daughter was born on May 1, 2002. I remember calculating her graduation year and thinking how cool it would be to be the Class of 2020. We talked about that often through her years of schooling. When we greeted the New Year in January I heard countless messages proclaiming the year of perfect vision. I wanted to embrace that title, but it felt off. Three months time has brought much clarity to my hesitation. I now firmly believe this year will not be marked by perfect vision but by refocus. This pandemic has brought our world to a standstill, sending us home like we are all in “time out.” Even our houses of worship are closed. It brings us to the point of questioning, a point of re-evaluating, hopefully a point of refocusing our faith. This process of refocusing should cause us to ask, “What is essential to my worship?” and “What does God require of me?”

These are not new questions. Humanity has been asking them for generations and finding different answers, some right and some wrong. Consider Cain and Abel. They answered the same question differently. God honored one and corrected the other. Unfortunately, Cain did not respond well to that correction. My prayer is that we respond well to the correction or refocusing of our perceptions of worship during this season of individual and corporate reflection.

The Essence of Essential Worship

My husband and I have pastored for more than two and a half decades, which provides at least some context and experience with common perceptions of what God requires in worship. Many worship by performing religious duties such as attending church, singing in the choir, serving in the nursery, tithing, praying for others, teaching a class or small group; the list can go on and on. While all of these activities are good, and essential to the function of a church organization, they are essentially works flowing from our worship, not worship itself. This nuance can be easy to miss. In fact, James addresses it in James 2:14-26, so we can be assured this struggle is not new to followers of Christ. That doesn’t change the fact that our current worship paradigms have shifted significantly in this time of “sheltering in” requiring us to ask and answer the question again.

The Biblical Essence of Worship

Micah, an Old Testament prophet, asked the question as well. He struggled with the concept of essential worship in his culture. Of course the worship paradigm in Israel and Judah was different at that time. Instead of singing in the choir or writing a check, worshippers in Micah’s day brought a calf, dove, wheat, or oil to be offered as worship before the Lord. I guess it was a little more difficult in his day to “pass that plate.” Micah knew, through the prophecies that God had given him, that a time would come when his people would no longer be able to come to the temple and offer their worship. He struggled through these really important questions in Micah 6:6-8. What does God require? How can I worship him now?

Micah 6:6-8 What Does the Lord Require? 

6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,

    and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7 Will the Lord be pleased with [will the Lord accept] thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8 He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness, [steadfast love]

and to walk humbly with your God?

I love the answer Micah reaches. He realizes it doesn’t matter the size of the offering brought to the temple. God doesn’t care about a herd of rams or barrels of oil. He doesn’t even ask us to sacrifice our firstborn. God is not counting the hours we spend in a church building each week, monitoring our tithing to the penny, analyzing our fasting, or keeping a checklist of the ministries we lead. His concerns are different. What pleases God, what God requires, is different. According to Micah, God requires that I “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with my God” (vs. 8).  Will this require some action from me? Yes. Do these activities need to be completed inside a church building? No, which is quite relieving since we cannot be inside a church building worshipping in our traditional, cultural expression right now. Knowing this allows me the freedom to continue worshipping while corporate gatherings are on hold.

Micah redirects his audience to consider what God really required of them. According to the prophet, God already told them what is good and they kept doing other things anyway. Did you ever wonder why? It seems the things God required were even harder to perform. It is so much easier to measure my time, sacrifices and gifts than to measure qualities like justice, kindness, and humility. It is easier to serve when someone organizes an event and tells me where to go and what to do, and of course, it doesn’t hurt if it is fun and I get to spend time with people I like. This isn’t bad, but in this season of refocusing, I will need to be more intentional with my personal worship.

Essential Worship in 2020

How can I apply this right now, in 2020, during my coronavirus isolation? How can I worship in a way that God requires while obeying the directives of my state? Do Justice:  do I have any responsibility to the elderly and weak around me? How are my actions (hoarding, going out, gathering) impacting those around me? Is it right that people should endure poverty due to this illness? What about the businesses that will close or the families who will lose their homes? What can I do about this? Love Kindness: ask, how am I acting toward the people in my home? What about the people in my neighborhood? Am I serving anyone beside myself right now? Walking Humbly with God: ask, am I relying on God’s leading right now? Am I following him? Am I sure I have all the answers? Am I willing to accept a change in my plans? It’s Your Turn: How are you applying this right now? Justice: what are you doing to establish justice? Kindness: how are you demonstrating kindness? Walking humbly with God what does it look like for you to walk humbly with God?

Does this mean I won’t return to my Sunday worship routine when the shelter in place is lifted? Of course not. Corporate celebration of God’s goodness and Christ’s sacrifice are an important expression of my faith. Serving in my Christian community allows me to be more effective; my works united with the works of others bring synergy as we labor together to proclaim the kingdom of God is near. Learning together with others sharpens me and the other Christians with whom God has surrounded me to share in life and faith. This is all good, and perhaps a separate blog.

Next in Series: Essential Faith, Essential Community

Compassion, Not Sacrifice: Same Mission, Different Strategy

By Dr. Brandon Kertson

I have been reflecting on Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:13, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion and not sacrifice.’” Sacrifice spoke of the dominant system of worship of the day. People followed the system thinking it is what pleased God. An orchestration of religious acts that served to help people feel secure in their standing before God.

Jesus rarely just speaks words, rather he also lives them out. In the next series of stories after Matthew 9:13, there are numerous miracle stories where the marginalized are included, the strangers are welcomed, and the poor are empowered. First, Jesus heals a woman with a hemorrhage (Matt 9:20-22). This hemorrhage made this woman economically poor because it ran up her doctor’s bills. It made her poor in spirit because she would have been perpetually unclean and unable to enter the temple to participate in sacrifice (Lev. 15:19-30; 21:20). Finally, it would have made her socially marginalized because touching other people or being intimate with a lover would have made them unclean as well. Jesus has compassion on her, heals her and she is restored. Next, Jesus heals two blind men and next a mute demon-possessed man who have similar holistic needs that are met by Jesus’ compassionate healing touch. Jesus goes outside of the constraints, outside of the normal way of doing things and meets these individuals where they live, because they would never have been allowed in the halls of worship.

A summary text in verse 36 brings the word compassion back into purview telling us that when he saw these marginalized, he felt compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. It was this feeling of compassion for the holistic distress of the forgotten that led Jesus to say to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest.” This context gives whole new meaning to what these workers are supposed to be doing in this oft quoted mission passage!

Why am I writing this blog at this moment at this time?

I am sure you have been as inundated with covid-19 news as I have. News and the expectations of daily life have been changing on an hourly basis. In the midst of the chaos our rallying cry should be: our strategy changes, but our mission does not. The original goal of the sacrificial system was to connect people with God, but when it had served its usefulness, people were slow to move to new strategies to fulfill God’s mission of reconciliation.

Perhaps we have been too in love with our systems of worship rather than trying to extend compassion to people in need through other strategies. Many churches have been employing new strategies to move church online during this pandemic, but my fear is that we are simply moving the same system of worship to a new environment and not asking, “How do we meet the needs of people that are hurting, excluded and alone?” Rather we are simply asking, “How do we keep people coming?”  During this time of crisis, we need to find new ways to minister and my prayer is that it will help us to learn what God means when he says, “I desire compassion and not sacrifice.” May we be challenged during this season to not get caught up on a specific methodology as being pleasing to God, but a true heart of worship – compassionate obedience that leads to transformed lives and transformed communities.

Why Do (Seemingly) Bad Things Happen to Good People?

By Professor Bryan Darrell

Why do (seemingly) bad things happen to good people?

It was early in 1998 when I received a phone call from my mother that my oldest sister, Julie, was being taken off of life support. As the victim of a double brain aneurysm which doctors could not fix after a three-hour operation, she would pass into the arms of Jesus later that evening. She left behind a loving husband, five-year-old son, and four-year-old daughter.

My world was rocked and I was wrecked.

As I packed the car to begin the drive to South Dakota for the funeral, I began wrestling with some questions that many of you have already wrestled through during the tough times in your life. “Is God really good?” “Does God really have my best interests at heart?” “Why is life not really fair sometimes?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” These are not the questions to be asking in the midst of the grieving process, because no answer will suffice at that time. But after the funeral and burial of my sister, the Bible was searched for possible reasons why bad things happen to good people. While there is certainly much more that can be said about this topic, here’s a few things that may help you in the midst of your affliction.

1. God may allow affliction in our lives to provide an opportunity to manifest his power. In John 9:1-3, the disciples asked Jesus why a particular man was born blind. Their assumption was that either the man sinned at birth or the man’s parents had sinned. Jesus rejected the idea that all suffering must be a punishment for sin, and he answered, “This happened so that the power of God may be seen in him.” God’s power may be manifest immediately through healing or over time through the slow spread of a disease rather than a quick spread. Look for the display of God’s power in the midst of affliction.
2. God may allow suffering in our lives to demonstrate genuine faith to other creatures, whether spiritual or physical. The first two chapters of Job reveal to Satan and Job’s wife that Job served God out of genuine love, not because it resulted in God’s blessings. If we turn away from God in the midst of our affliction, we are telling those watching us that Christianity doesn’t give any better answer than any other ideology. God needs people today who will love and serve him because he is worthy of their devotion, not because it pays to do so.
3. God may allow affliction in our lives to remove our boasting. Affliction reminds us that we are not self-sufficient and we need to rely upon God. Paul mentions this regarding his “thorn in the flesh” requests for removal in 2 Corinthians 12:7.
4. God may allow affliction to demonstrate to others what being the “body of Christ” means. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 tells us that we are all related to each other through Christ as a human body is made up of different parts. We need each other. A suffering Christian needs to experience the compassionate love of Jesus through the actions of other believers. Suffering also allows other believers the chance to express Christian love to those in need. In order to give us opportunities to minister, God may allow affliction to strike another member of the body of Christ. May God give us the spiritual eyes to see, ears to hear, feet to walk towards, and hands to help those who are suffering in our communities. Reach out to your neighbors and ask if they need any help with anything.
5. In theological terms, God may allow affliction to help believer’s sanctification. Affliction can refine someone’s faith (1 Peter 1:6-7). It can create intimacy with God (Job 42:5). It can help the believer stop sinning (1 Peter 4:1-2). It can produce perseverance (Romans 5:3-4; James 1:3-4;    1 Peter 5:10). Affliction gives the believer opportunities to imitate Christ (1 Peter 2:23, 3:17-18).

The biggest impact in dealing with the loss of my sister has been in the area of ministering to others who have lost their siblings. Being caught up in grieving didn’t allow vision of the bigger picture, but it is now in view for me as God saw it back then. Over the past twenty plus years, 5 of my high school friends have had to deal with the loss of a brother or sister before their expected time, and they have turned to me for help.

Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us that the secret things (or secret motives) belong to the Lord while the things (or motives) that we know belong to us and our children forever. We may not fully understand our afflictions on this side of heaven, but God does. He has our best interests at heart, and I have learned much through my affliction that I could not have learned any other way. God is good even when we don’t fully understand. That has to be enough for now, until we see Jesus face to face.

Christianity is Not About Sundays

By Pastor Brendan Bagnell

We are now entering our fifth week since President Trump issued a national disaster declaration. Immediately following that declaration, we began streaming our Sunday services in an online-only format.

We initially hoped this online-only format would only last a week or two. At that time, we certainly expected to have in-person Easter services. As we enter Easter week, not only are we aware that we are going to have our first online-only Easter service, we are planning online-only services into May.

However, we know that we will be meeting again, in-person on Sundays very soon. That is not in doubt — it is not a matter of “if”; it is just a matter of “when.”

As we navigate this new and unique season, I have been thinking of what we can learn. God obviously knew this season was coming, and He has allowed it to happen. I don’t pretend to know the fullness of “why” God has allowed it to occur, but I do believe there are lessons that God wants us to learn about Him and His purposes.

There is one lesson I believe the Lord wants us to learn. It is how dependent we, as Christians, have become on Sunday services. This is not to say we shouldn’t have Sunday services. Instead, we need a reminder that Christianity is not about Sunday.  It’s about our relationship with Jesus.

Too often, we relegate our faith to our religious activities. Now, when those activities are interrupted, we can experience a sense of disconnection to God. That sense of disconnection is an indication that our dependency was placed on the wrong thing. Sunday is an essential aspect of our relationship with God, but it is not the foundation of that relationship.

The Gospel teaches us that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two (Matthew 27:51). This symbolized the removal of the separation between God and His people. It also ended the need for religious rituals to commune with God.

Today, because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can come boldly before the throne of grace, where we will receive mercy (Hebrews 4:16). We can even do it when it’s not Sunday! We can do it when we can’t come together in-person on Sunday. In fact, we can do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year.

I want to encourage you today. If you have sensed a disconnect in your relationship to God, take a moment right now and meet in-person with Jesus. He requires no social distancing. In fact, He wants to meet with you more than you want to meet with Him.

If we as Christians learn to grow closer to God during this unique season when we have to be separated from each other, when we come together again, it won’t be like it was. It will be better! The reason it will be better is because we will be better because Jesus makes us better! That’s what Christianity is all about.

Controlled Chaos

By Dr. Sanejo Leonard

I have never been able to run or run for very long. I’ve always wanted to be able to run, but in the past when I have tried to run, I usually stop after a few seconds, quite winded, wondering why I wanted to run in the first place.

For the past couple of years, I have been challenging myself to incorporate even a light jog for a minute or so into my walking to help build up endurance. And over the past few months I have been able to work up from one minute to over 20 minutes of jogging, which is quite an accomplishment; a big feat, until I tried to run outside. All this time I have been walking and jogging mostly inside, on a treadmill, in a climate-controlled room. I controlled my speed and the temperature, and I would prop up my tablet and watch Netflix shows. All in all, I found that jogging wasn’t so hard.

But lately I have had to jog outside now that all gyms and the fitness center at my complex are closed during the current COVID-19 crisis. I have dismayed to learn that jogging outside is a whole other challenge. I can’t control the weather, the road and its condition, or the wild turkeys that seem to get in my way and slow me down. I can’t control where and when the hills are, and I can’t control others who are out jogging and who seem to want to jog a little too close to me. In choosing to be outside, I am at the mercy of the conditions around me and I have to learn to adjust. The road feels harder on my body than that soft treadmill and the air feels as cold as the Artic. The hills seem more steep and the turkeys and other creatures more scary as one never can predict how animals will respond to humans. In my journey outside, I am reminded of how much I am no longer in control.

We as humans like and need some semblance of control, some form of order to our often chaotic lives. Yet, it is humbling to realize how little control we have over most things. In our current global crisis, much is out of our control. Life and death, our need for human contact and relationship, and even the basic necessities of food, shelter, and medical services all seem out of our control (who knew that toilet paper could become so rare and valuable!).

In Genesis 1:1-2, the beginning of everything, it reminds us of who is in control: “In the beginning God….” That phrase alone is enough to reassure that despite everything else, God has always been and is firmly in control. Verses 1 and 2 continue by saying that God “created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (NIV).

The words “formless and empty” that are used to describe earth in verse 2 come from the Hebrew tohu and bohu. Tohu means formless and bohu is believed by scholars to mean the opposite of order, or chaos; out of control (sound familiar?). In the beginning of everything, God brought order and control to chaos and those things that were unformed. His Spirit hovered over or controlled the waters, and out of the chaos, the darkness, and the unformed mass, God brought creation. God made the impossible possible because He is God. God brought order to chaos, and God was and still is ultimately in control.

Problems and life’s disruptions of our sense of order help us realize that there is very little we can control: our actions and reactions to others, our care for ourselves and others, and our love of God—these are the things that are in our control; everything else is tohu and bohu.

Yet, it is in this moment of fear that we need to be reminded of who God is. In this time of desperation, we remember who the source of all life is. In this time of chaos, we can surrender control to the one who is.