You know the saying well that there’s
no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.
When I was doing my clinical work at the University of Tennessee
Hospital one of the chaplains liked to say, “How come you can’t find a
Christian in an Emergency Room?”
He made a good point. It was a Level 1 trauma center. Plenty of life or death cases came through
the doors. And everyone wanted to avoid death. Plenty of prayers for miracles of life for
lost causes went up from that place. If
people were truly Christians, he reasoned, they’d be far more accepting of
death. After all, we’ll all get our turn
in a pine box, or an urn.
This is not to suggest that I think we
should take things like the coronavirus lightly. But it does call on us to recognize
reality. Most people live like this life
is all there is. They focus short term
on day-to-day needs. They focus on their
ability to provide for themselves. And
they tend to think of themselves first, even if that comes at the expense of
community.
Look at people’s shopping habits the
last several days. I haven’t really been
in the stores but Facebook posts look like many stores have shelves that are
empty. Good luck getting bleach and
toilet paper and soap and all that. What?!? Why all this sudden buying? Has the population of our nation just now
started washing their hands? Is toilet
paper something they’ve just discovered and now everyone suddenly wants it?
When people hoard they’re afraid
there’s going to be a shortage. They
believe production won’t be able to keep up with demand. And if things do run out they are making sure
they have it. Too bad about others.
Our gospel reading was from the Sermon
on the Mount. There Jesus teaches a very
different perspective. He teaches a very
different outlook on life.
Key to it are verses like Verse 26,
“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not more value than they?”
And Verses 31-33, “Therefore do not worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or
‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things’; and indeed your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
Jesus is not saying to lay around and
be lazy. He is not saying we should be
irresponsible. But he is saying that God
has this. God’s in control. Don’t worry overly much. Basically, your life focus should not be on
earthly needs and concerns. Your life
focus will be on what God is doing.
In the mid-week Lenten services we’ve
been using a video series that reviews things from the Small Catechism. Last Wednesday we looked at the Apostles’
Creed. The video pointed out that most
people focus their lives on what they are doing. Conversations in coffee shops are about work
and travel and friendships. That’s where
our focus tends to lie. But what if
conversations were about what God is doing?
Or perhaps more theologically correct, what if conversations were about
what God has done for us? That would be
a whole different set of conversations.
I believe the only conversations about
what God is doing in the last several days have been those who are saying the
coronavirus is some sign for the end of the world.
As we’ve been reading through Matthew
this year we have delved into 1st Century context behind the
text. Many people have complemented me
on the richness of understanding this provides.
That’s nice. But what is that
really saying? While it’s interesting,
it makes sermons into a version of a program on the History Channel; but
without all the cool graphics, and a deep rich voice narrating in a confident
style. Perhaps it helps us gobble up
information about the biblical world, and that is intellectually
stimulating. And these are good things
for a sermon. But does it move our
faith? Does it help us to bring about God’s
kingdom? Does it help us challenge the
evil that so cleverly works its way throughout our society? That clever evil that has us talking all
about ourselves rather than what God has done for us? That clever evil that has people – who like
to think of themselves as Americans in the land of the free and the brave –
selfishly hoarding things.
This is one of those rare times – and
it will not last – that has us actually facing something real. We take off the mask of our daily lives,
scurrying around worried about basically irrelevant things, and look at reality
with open eyes.
Being a pastor in the United States
today feels more like trying to market faith to people who have lots of options
about how they want to spend their time.
And in that market you try to have a voice, a product, that can attract
some portion of it. You try worship
styles, musical styles, dinner church models, programs,… you name it. All just trying to be heard. You have block parties, use gimmicks, social
events, hands-on service projects,… all sorts of things to appear like you’re
fun and worth looking at.
People feel no real need to actually
build their lives around God’s will. It
is that way always. It’s not unique to
Americans in this century. It seems to
be human nature that as soon as we can we want to turn to ourselves rather than
God.
One of the best – no, let’s call it
“delightful” things about the gospels is the way the disciples are all too
human. They fail. They have inside information – direct contact
with Jesus and his teachings and they don’t get it. The stories of Holy Week are coming and we
see that the disciples fold at the slightest breeze.
The good news for us is that despite
how fickle we are God still loves us.
God wants to be with us. God
wants us to live knowing that we are loved by him. God does not want to condemn us.
Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the
Mount are challenging, but they are also loving. They are inviting us into a life of relevance
each and every day – not just when there’s a crisis that makes us change our
routines.
May we use the days ahead to stay
connected to the truth of what we are doing.
May we remember that we are God’s.
May we remember that God has all things in God’s hands. Whether things are easy or hard, whether the
pandemic ends slowly or quickly, whether the stock market goes up or goes down,
whether you run out of supplies or not, even whether you live or whether you
die, you are safe in God’s hands.
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