God Wins!
This is something that has made sense to me on so many
occasions that I don’t even question it anymore. There is something about celebrating this
reality every Sunday that is life-giving in ways that I can’t begin to
express. The bottom line, I trust those two
words so much that they have become a
driving force in my life.
Now…the corona virus.
How do we make sense of it? How
do we comfort one-another when threatened by it? Do you fear it? Is it’s story trustworthy?
These 2 paragraphs underscore my concerns for our people as
I see them struggling. This is what I see:
First, people have
what I call a “Sense Making” Apparatus. This is our need to make sense of what we see happening around us. We need a story that is true and makes sense
of all the weirdness we’re experiencing right now. Currently, things just don’t
make sense, and for that matter they
haven’t for a long time. We long for
a narrative that fits the facts. Until then we are restless. Our restlessness
escalates into anxiousness then it manifests as paralyzing fear, simply because
we can’t make sense of what is happening.
If we could makes sense, then at least we could try to figure out what
to do. People are very adaptive when they understand the rules!
Second, people
need people. I’m convinced we
each have 2 primary identities. The
first is intrinsic. That is, what’s inside of us. The things we value, our convictions, what we
stand for and how we’ve chosen to present ourselves to others. The second is
social.
A part of our identity is tied up in our
connection to other people. When we lose this connection, a part of us
starts to languish and even begin to die.
That is why they say loneliness is as much of a killer as cigarettes. We
NEED people!
Third, we need an
authority to trust. Right now
this crisis is showing us who we can
trust and who we can’t. The more it
unfolds, the more it becomes obvious.
Crisis has a way of churning to the top, the good, the bad and the ugly
of what hides beneath the surface. Currently people don’t trust once trusted
institutions like the media and government. Both have displayed such an
interest in manipulating perception that we’ve lost confidence. The test for me
is whether they put self and corporate interest over the interest of the
community. -On that note, I think right now our governor is signalling a love for Ohioans. As of now, I trust
him and his team.
I trust our elders. And many
other people who display the fruit of putting people first over personal gain.
I trust God most of all.
I trust God in this
crisis more than anything else. I
read my psalms every day and I follow the psalmist in his testimony of God’s
trustworthiness. It is proving to make
more sense than anything. I like reading the psalms with my wife, and praying
with everyone I can. In a closed system
without a God this doesn’t make sense, however what we hear from the news is not all that is going on! We live
in a system that is open to God working and our prayers insure that He does! I
trust that! - Plus there is a peace that passes all understanding that
flows through connecting with God through His word. When I ask people who are worried if they are
reading the psalms devotionally and prayerfully everyday and they tell me,
“No.” I tell them to try it and get back with me on the difference it creates
in their perspective. It sparks my joy!
Part of who I am socially is a connected-to-others follower of Jesus. I’m not lonely. However I worry about our people being alone.
Especially our shut-ins. They can’t make sense of what’s going on. They dispel loneliness with the noise of the
TV. The TV loves to get them ginned up with fear. They are languishing and they
need to hear from their church the Good News that God wins! And they are loved. And we are trustworthy people.
Be safe in Jesus, Pastor Leonard
