Others > self

So, today I read about a pastor in Virginia who decided that "God was bigger than this virus" and held church on March 22nd because as a preacher felt he was "essential because he talks to God."  This pastor died on Sunday from COVID-19.  His wife is also sick.  Sometimes I think Jesus must feel like this:

I have also read all sorts of nastiness directed at our governor for placing these restrictions on us, "even though the virus isn't even really here." GUYS. That's the whole point - stop movement in the state so it also stops. PREVENT people from coming into contact with one another so that in a few more weeks we can be grateful that because of these precautions PEOPLE DID NOT DIE.  

Ok. So some of our freedoms have been squelched for a while.  But if one person stays alive because we waited to go out on our boats, don't you think it is worth it?  Sorry for my rant tonight, but when Christian people claim that God won't let us get sick because we have some claim to holiness that nobody else has, I call BS.  God does not will for people to get sick, or for hurricanes and earthquakes to cause all sorts of tragedy.  Humans have free will, and often we don't use it for good.  The consequences of our actions are often due to our choices....and we can't pin that on God.  

But God does have a will in every circumstance. The idea that our freedom matters more than someone else's life is rooted in selfishness, and greed, I'd say.  That is so far from Christ-like thought. Christ challenges us to be sacrificial in love, to love our neighbors as we want to be loved. It is about submission to something larger than "me" and "what I want." God is bringing something new to life in humanity right now, and if we are so focused on what getting what we want, we are going to miss out on God's new thing.  

I've spent some time with one of my spiritual favorite's today, Father Richard Rohr.  He has a magnificent way of talking about this very thing: 

"The spiritual experience is about trusting that when you stop holding yourself, Inherent Goodness will still hold you.  When you fall into such Primal Love, you realize that everything is foundationally okay. Foundational love gives us hope and allows us to trust "what is" as the jumping-off point toward working together for "what can be."  The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus shows us what's fully possible. God will always bring yet more life and wholeness out of seeming chaos and death."

Perhaps, rather than looking at our situation as limiting, we can look at it as life-giving.  This is a resurrection perspective - one that eagerly awaits God to bring something new into being.  When we truly embrace the vastness of God's love and covenantal relationship with us, we realize we don't have to prove that our God is "bigger" or "stronger" because none of that matters.  What matters is the realization that everything is held in God's love, and that this embrace fundamentally changes our desire from me to we.  

We have just come through the hardest and most beautiful week of our Christian journey - from the Hallelujah's to the cross, to the empty tomb.  For Jesus, it was not about him....it was about us.  So, if you find yourself feeling really frustrated with the way things are currently, that is understandable. If you are struggling with all this social distancing, you are not alone.  My prayer for us, though, is really simple. May we do as Paul challenged in his letter to the Philippians:

"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God,    did not regard equality with God    as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,    taking the form of a slave,    being born in human likeness." (Phil. 2:5-7)

Trust me, friends, I want this to be over just as much as you do.  But, in the meantime, in this Easter week, let's focus our hearts and minds on being Christlike, humble and love-centered. Let's come together as the Body of Christ, focused not on self, but others, and courageously launch into the fullness of God's possibilities.

Pastor Devon