Stormy Sea Breaking on a Shore by JMW Turner (1845)
This is the third Sunday of being sheltered-in-place here in Chicago. A cold, blustery, overcast day in March. I am finding Sunday to be the best day of the week for me during this time of lockdown. Perhaps it's because it is the Lord's Day. Not that the rest of the days of the week do not belong to God, but that it is the day set aside for us to rest in our resurrected Lord Jesus whose love and power remain with us to this day. This rest in him and his promises is especially needed during this Covid-19 pandemic. I need to take a break from the constant barrage of newsfeed, to find mental and emotional rest in casting my anxieties and cares on the Lord of the Sabbath. I need to take time to refocus, to take in his light and his calm in order to replenish the light that has dimmed within me through the week and to still my growing anxious heart.
Now that most church services are streamed online, I am finding solace participating in worship at some of my favorite churches; and in the process, finding connection and belonging that transcends distance and time zones. Covid-19 has ironically made church much more available to those who might not otherwise darken the door of a physical church.
How we "do church" has drastically changed in the past weeks, as has how we "do life". Tragic in so many ways, but hopeful in others. But "do" we must, with church as with life. Doing it within our new confines yet somehow making it count far beyond our new limitations. I am inspired by the remarkable ingenuity, creativity, energy, and determination of people across the world, to not only make the best of our situation with the coronavirus running amok, but also to defy the devastation that Covid-19 has wrought. As the virus seeks to decimate our health, economy, and communal bonds, we need to stay hopeful, for the alternative is despair.
Wherein lies your hope?
Wherein lies your hope?
And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke [Jesus], saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
Luke 8:24-25
