The darkness is all-enveloping, suffocating; waves crashing, seizing, and throwing the boat; the wood groaning and cracking; winds whipping and howling; it seems like rain is pelting from all sides. A flash of lightning shows you in a micro-second just how dire the situation is. It appears that all is lost in this dark maelstrom.
Current affairs can feel like that dark storm: mounting pandemic deaths, racial and social injustices, violence, lies, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding, separation from loved ones, isolation, inability to memorialize those we’ve lost, economic hardship and uncertainty, even the plague!
While we may be apart physically, now more than ever we need to pull together in faith and in hope. It is hope that binds us to one another. It is hope that stands as a beacon of light to bring us home. It is our belief in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, our shared faith that pierces the darkness.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.
Imagine the fear on the boat while Jesus, our Light and Hope, slept through it all. Are we more like the disciples or Jesus?
Together we can be the calm in this storm. Together, united in faith, we can be the beacon of hope. Let us get together in any electronic means available and meet in small groups. Every single member of our church – bring friends and family! Let us find new ways to have fellowship apart but together in a thousand rays of hope.
And let us remember those who are less fortunate than us during these dark times. Let us reach out and connect with them, give to them, open our hearts to them and welcome them in hope to our family of faith.
There are so many who are in need. Let us reach deep within ourselves and share the hope and love that is Jesus Christ.
