Why COVID? Why Now? Why GOD?

Confession time. I have been angry and frustrated over all things COVID for quite some time now. I’ve looked with doubt at politicians and media sources. I have swallowed a few too many conspiracy theories and I have been frustrated. Bottom line, I’ve been doing a lot of asking why. If you’re a regular reader here, you know I’ve posted a few things on this, but I’ve decided, (and I can only do this with the Lord’s help) to stop. You see, in prayer I have seen a new question.

A few weeks ago, in our Zoom Bible study, we got into a good discussion of the permissive will of God. I’ve come to the conclusion that God brings some things upon us and the enemy brings other things upon us, but nothing happens without God’s allowing it to happen. Well today a new thought crossed my mind. Chief among my frustrations with this whole COVID situation has been the inability to worship the Lord with a body of believers, but hear me out, God allowed that to happen. The question then is why? Why would God effectively allow corporate worship to be shut down? Please resist the urge to write me a response to my question. The question isn’t for you. The question is one we, especially we who are church leaders, need to be asking God.

I was going to place some suggested reasons here, but I felt some pretty strong leading not to do that. Instead I urge us all to spend some time on our faces before God asking that question.

Insomnia…

Lately, I’ve been having some trouble sleeping. It’s not surprising given all that’s going on. The dialog going on in my head is the problem. I try to pray but the combination of fatigue and distraction make it difficult to concentrate. I think about all that is going on in the world and all that I am hearing from so many quarters, from the uninformed to the informed that I doubt are telling me the truth. I think of the death toll. It’s small compared to even things like the flu and so I wonder why the lockdown? At the same time, I realize that any loss of life is hard and affects many. I start to wonder if I’ll ever just be able to take my wife to dinner, sitting in a restaurant again, and how in the midst of social distancing if we’ll ever be allowed to worship together. I know it’s only been about a month and a half, but on the other hand it’s been a month and a half. There was a big protest at our capitol here in Pennsylvania. The usual suspects are condemning them, but a little voice in my head wonders if they’re right. I hear business moguls talking about prevention methods that sound more like Nazi Germany or number of the beast than the America I know and want to live in. I wonder who, if anyone is behind this mess and what should be done to them if they’re found out. I think of friends and family in business who will have a very hard time weathering this storm. What can I say? Right now inside my head can be a very scary place, especially in the middle of the night. Add to that the condemning voice that wonders what kind of man of God would be wrestling with this, and you might understand the insomnia.

But it’s about this time that they prayers break through, and I hear other words. “David, David,” (think Martha, Martha, if you’re familiar) “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.” It’s the story of an overwrought hostess, who is trying to get all her ducks in a row when she notices her sister and main helper, Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus, hanging on His every word and Martha is irate, so irate that she goes to yell at the guest of honor. The above phrase was His response to her and, I think, to me. See the bottom line is most of the thoughts above are none of my business. If there is a conspiracy, the conspirators have already been caught by the ultimate righteous judge. He has all of this under control and none of it is my job.

What is my job is the one thing, the thing that Mary chose. Sitting at the feet of Jesus. See what our world needs right now is Jesus. Not conspiracy theories, not panicking preachers calling everything out. No the world needs what (who) it has always needed. We need Jesus and in this time of separation, we need people who are creative and who know the technology, doing what it takes to share His love. In short this is my one thing. In a sea of things over which I am powerless, this is the thing that I can do, so this is what I must do.

After this, I slept.

Isolation…

Okay let’s start with the basics. I’m not actually isolated. I am here with my wife and my son and yet if I want to be vulnerable, and I do, there is something about being told you can’t really go anywhere, and seeing everything that is closing around you that makes one, or at least me, feel almost claustrophobic. It’s scarcely over a week since all this began, and today our governor added at least two more weeks to the “quarantine.” I know it’s all about flattening the curve, and I’m trying really hard to take everything our leaders are saying at face value, but I must confess it’s hard sometimes. On one hand, I’d like to rebel and try to get back to normal, but then I heard today about a young friend in Texas who’s been infected and a friend of a family member in another state, a health care worker who’s also been diagnosed and so I wait and I obey, and forgive me for handing out orders, but so should you.

Part of what makes this hard is I have a ministry that I love, and it seems as if most of that has been at least temporarily been stripped away. Oh I am still able to do my online services and zoom for now and for that I am grateful, but today I got two calls thanking me for writing my sermon in manuscript form and mailing it out to my congregants without online capabilities. Today our governor issues a shelter at home order for the county my church is in so now I have no access even to my own office to make the copies and mail them. Our district leadership said recently that it is unlikely that we will be able to meet for Easter, nursing home and hospital visits and pretty much visits in general are out of bounds now as well. I’m concerned for all the small business owners in our community and for loved ones whose jobs are affected, and even for my own status if weeks turn to months. I have to tell you it’s been tough inside this head of mine at times.

It’s about this time that I started to think of my friend Tom. Tom is one of the campers at a camp I do for adults with special needs each year. That camp is a highlight of my year and a highlight of the camp is always the talent show. In it that campers will sing or do a skit. Well Tom loves to sing, and he almost always picks the same song, Rend Collective’s song More than Conquerors. The chorus of the song repeats one word over and over again.

VICTORIOUS

Tom shouts that word so loudly that I assumed the recording did it as well. Well today I listened to the song and realized the band does not shout the word at all, but maybe I need to. The fact of the matter is Tom is extremely confident that God will be VICTORIOUS and he shouts it for all the world to see. That is Tom’s declaration and I want it to be mind. God can and will overcome this and everything else. My anxieties, fears and frustrations are pointless. I need to take a cue from Tom and remember, Jesus wins and I am one of His. We will be VICTORIOUS. Remember we are not really isolated. I am more blessed than many, my loving wife is here, my son is here and I have so many others as close as a phone call. Even in a season of “social distancing” I am surrounded by loved ones and I have the technology to be with them even when I can’t be with them. Even more than that I serve a God who has promised never to leave nor forsake me. We are not alone. We need to be in prayer first and foremost. Beyond that, we need to make the effort to connect. We need to give some of this time to the people with whom we can still be physically present and we need to creatively reach out to the rest. Maybe we need to disconnect from some the things that are dragging us into feelings of isolation, and make the effort to connect in whatever way we can, whether it seems ideal or not. Except for a few rare exceptions (and we should be seeking those people out), isolation is a choice. We serve a God who has promised to make all things work for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Maybe instead of fear and stress and anxiety, we should spend our time seeking God’s purpose and living it out.

You’re not really isolated, and in Christ, you’re never alone. So the first step is to pray and then let’s follow Tom’s lead. Shout it from the rooftops. Let’s be VICTORIOUS!

Kickin’ It, Old School

So I’ve been working on technology to get my services out via technology during the COVID quarantine. So far I’ve recorded sermons and posted them to youtube, embedding them into a service order. My internet both at home and at the church is pretty spotty, so I am relatively sure Facebook live, etc won’t work well for us, plus, is is just me or have all the work from homers really put a drag on the internet? We also did a prayer meeting via Zoom last night which went okay but there’s a learning curve there for sure. I will say I was most grateful that Zoom extended the meeting for free last night which was most appreciated. We’ll be subscribing to Zoom shortly. So overall technology has been helping a great deal and we have had some success, but there is still one problem. I have a fairly large percentage of people who are not online at all. How can I extend services to them? Now some might say well if they’re not online they need to catch up or get overlooked. If you think that way, shame on you. These people who are not on technology are some of the same ones who built this church up and mad it what it is today.

I love these folks and I was at a loss. I thought about trying to do some sort of drive-in church. That still could happen, but I’m concerned by the time I get the technology, the quarantine will either have passed or the restrictions will get worse. Like I said I was at a loss but over the course of the night, I had a thought. I have a few ladies who are “shut-ins.” We send them the bulletin, and they always tell me that they read it voraciously. And that’s when it hit me, the solution doesn’t have to be technological. Sometimes the easiest solution is the best one. I tightened my notes into a readable “sermon” and mailed it to all the folks without internet. It should arrive in their homes on Saturday, just in time for Sunday. Is it perfect, No, but it will work for now.

Sometimes the best solution is the Old School solution.