What a week! I come to Florida with my family to see grandparents on Spring Break, and "March Madness" becomes the description of everything except a basketball tournament.
I'm tempted to recount the world-rattling events of the past several days to underscore the point. But we don't need a recounting of non-stop news. Instead, I want to reflect for a moment on a single word one professional sport's governing body used to describe the cancellation of all of their events for however many weeks:
"But at this point -- and as the [coronavirus] situation continues to rapidly change -- the right thing to do ... is to pause."
Pause
. It seems like so much of life as we know and experience it has been forced to "pause" - sports (at every level), entertainment, universities and schools, et al. And now, our Governor asks us to pause from gathering together in groups greater than 100 for worship.
So pause we humbly will. As you know, we've canceled our worship service for Sunday, March 15. Expecting the pause in our larger worship gatherings to persist for any number of weeks or months, we intend to be fully up and running with live-streamed (but smaller-scale) worship services by March 22. Given the magnitude of the changes occurring every day, I will also pause our series in Deuteronomy and let the Scriptures speak a bit more directly to our moment.
We Americans (and CGSers) aren't all that good at pausing. We like to plan and do, plan and do, plan and do. And planning and doing are important. But as the threat of a virus brings so much of our world to a pause, let's do some good Gospel-centered pausing.
First, as we feel the "Heat" of stressful changes and threats that a virus has wrought on our life and world, count and grieve your threats and losses. Some of you are, by virtue of age or health conditions, especially vulnerable to this virus. This is really scary, isn't it? Even for those who are less at risk personally, there is a ton of disappointment, loss and disruption - financial, academic, athletic, vocational, social, and so forth.
As we saw together in the Scriptures last Fall, we honor our Father when we grieve (with Him!) that our world is not what He created it to be, and it is not yet what He's re-creating it to be. Cry out to the real Jesus on behalf of the real world and the real you - a world anxious, fearful and suffering losses greater and smaller. And let such lamenting bring your deepest affections back towards Jesus and His Kingdom - the only hope that does not disappoint. So reflect together as you pause: what are the very specific, concrete losses you've suffered and fear losing as this gets closer and closer to us?
Second, as the "Heat" of the pandemic draws to the surface the "Thorns" of our idolatrous desires and sins, let us again increasingly see and increasingly confess them before Jesus. As much as we all fearfully grasp for control in the things that matter most to us, does not this tiny virus have the ability to undo it all, us all??!! It reminds us that we really are at the mercy of something or someone. We hate that! Thankfully, we can name that Someone as not just our Controller but our Savior, Jesus. So reflect together as you pause: what specific, overwhelming anxieties, fears, angers, despairs does this virus draw to the surface? How do these reactions underscore how out of control we truly are and how we put our functional trust in lesser things?
Third, let the "Heat" and "Thorns" take us more deeply and fully to "Christ" - to Jesus Himself. I love how one of C.S. Lewis' Oxford mentees puts it: "
Christianity does not speak to the complacent. It is the desperate man or woman whose needs and perplexities are answered." Jesus is right at home in this pandemic. Don't misunderstand me: He hates disease, sickness and death infinitely more than we do. He suffered the cross, in part, to kill viruses. But he's right at home in a desperate society because His salvation really only addresses desperation. So reflect together as you pause: what of the real Jesus Himself, specifically and concretely, do you need and desire in this hour? Don't settle for generalities.
Finally, as we are turning freshly towards Jesus in this moment of both pandemic and pause, what "Fruit" might Jesus be preparing us to bear, to His renown in Durham, Chapel Hill and beyond? John Piper has wonderfully and realistically observed:
"[You] will have everything you need to be eternally and supremely happy in Him.... God does not promise enough food for comfort or life-He promises enough so that you can trust Him and do His will." Let us reflect together as we pause and honestly ask ourselves: Can we live right now, in the shadow of fearful things, in the assurance that we will have enough to trust Him, be happy in Him, and do His will with our lives and church? If any of us or our loved ones get sick, even seriously sick, have we been given enough to trust Him, be happy in Him, and do His will with our lives-shorter or longer? To the extent we believe these gracious assurances of Jesus, let us pray and imagine together how we might love, serve and bless our church family and a panicky world all around us in the weeks ahead.
No basketball. No school. No church. No a-lot-of-things right now. But if the Lord really is our Shepherd, our Good and Chief Shepherd, we shall...not...lack. To the extent we fear Jesus, we fear nothing else. May our broader community experience this side of CGS and be blessed by us in its time of need.
In and under grace,
Pastor Chuck
