Pandemic Good Friday

On the day that Jesus died, many felt the loss. The disciples lost their friend, their leader, their hopes of Jewish triumph. They lost their sense of direction and purpose. They lost their nerve, too. They holed up, hiding from those who pushed for Jesus' crucifixion. Everything was out of balance.

Maybe we have a better sense of Good Friday than ever before. We are holed up. Everything is out of balance. We wonder what's happening and when things will return to normal. We wonder what the new normal will be. We know it will be different.

Like the disciples, we have to trust God, in spite of a situation we could never imagine. We feel the loss of normal life, the loss of contact with friends and family, the loss of so much that we took for granted.

It was through loss that Jesus identified with humanity. He lost his friends' support. He lost the cheers of the crowd. He lost his trial. He lost his life.

And so in our loss, maybe we can feel Good Friday.

But we know that God brings resurrection!

Evaluate Everything

When has everything in your life been different? Only now. Everything we do has been changed, all at the same time. This is the perfect time for reevaluating everything. And, as a bonus, most of us have time to do it.

How to evaluate:

• Make time. To get started, set aside at least an hour, without distraction, alone.
• Ask God to guide you. Pray for wisdom.
• Be creative. Think big. Disregard limitations.
• Take notes. Write down your thoughts. Make lists.
• Take a break. Do it again.
• Share your insights with someone you love.
• Plan next steps.

What to Evaluate

• Ask yourself: What kind of person am I? What am I like?
• Consider your life in big categories, like Health, Relationships, Work, Play.
• Make lists under each category. (For health, think physical, emotional, spiritual, social, etc.)
• Think about where you have been, what you have done.
• Consider what your experiences have prepared you for.
• Think about those things you have always wanted to do or accomplish.
• List things to stop doing. Were you too busy before? Drop some things.
• List things to start doing. (Praying, writing, exercising, reading, playing music, etc.)

These are just some suggestions of ways to make the most of our season of stillness.
Let me know what you think!

A Holy Week to Remember

This year's Holy Week will be one we will always remember. Nothing is ordinary. Every action is intentional, from trips to the grocery store to online meetings to church virtual worship.

Since everything is intentional, we get to think about it.

So, let's think about Easter.

Think about Jesus' entering the heart of the religious community, at great peril.
Think about his teaching about love, sacrifice, and resurrection.
Think about his confrontations.
Think about his friends, and their reaction to his teaching and actions.
Think about the false accusations made against him.
Think about the way the authorities stirred up opposition to him.
Think about Judas' betrayal.
Think about his beatings.
Think about Peter's denial.
Think about Jesus' bleeding and suffering on the cross.
Think about his love and forgiveness for you.
Think about his rising from the dead.
Think about his resurrection life flowing through your life.

You want to remember this week!

Standoffish Distancing

I believe that social distancing is helping to flatten the curve. I try to keep my distance from folks, whenever I have to be in a store.

This week, at the suggestion of the White House, more people are wearing masks. With the masks and the 6-foot rule, we are distancing in more ways than we bargained for.

I have noted that as people keep their distance, they also avoid eye contact. In the South, folks are friendly and speak to people they don't know. I'm seeing less and less of that. We can't see each other's faces, except for their eyes. We are suspicious of everyone, because they may be infected.

Yesterday at Harris Teeter, a woman offered apologies as she asked me to reach a cereal box on the top shelf. When I agreed to help her, she offered me a sanitary wipe--I guess because, you know, coronavirus. I declined the wipe and fetched her cereal. She was very grateful and told me how her son (?) was a doctor in NYC. Wow.

So, maybe we just need to be ready to help, and love each other, from 6 feet and with masks. Maybe personal contact will seem more significant when the air is cleared.

In the meantime, I don't want to be standoffish.

Feel the Tension

These are strange days. Everything is cancelled. 

We have more time with our families. We have more time in our yards. People are thinking more locally. Seed companies report record sales as folks plan to grow their own food. 

Live is slower. Neighbors are meeting. 

At the same time, tech is coming front and center. Could tech actually make our lives simpler? Maybe.

I have to confess that the technology learning curve has been a challenge for me. I had never heard of Zoom three weeks ago. Now I have multiple Zooms every week. 

So these are strange days. Back to simplicity with the help of technology.

We are learning to be still and learning technology. Meeting our neighbors, and having meetings on computers. 

Feel the tension. Grow in it.

How Priorities Change

One month ago politics stood front-and-center in the news cycle. After all, it is an election year. But now America is dealing with an actual crisis. This is not some argument about the size of government or foreign interference in American politics.

No, this is a real issue. A life-and-death issue. People are dying, and healthcare workers are meeting the challenge head-on, at great personal risk. Businesses are dying, while many proprietors are working to make payroll for employees who must stay home. State and local governments are suffering because tax revenues are way down.

This is a real issue, and it has brought America to its knees. We are praying like never before. This crazy situation brings out our creativity and our humility.

It turns out that we don't have all the answers. We have not completely tamed nature. There are limits to human strength. There's no app or pill or legislation that can fix this situation. At least not yet.

So our priorities are changing. As they change, let's remember what really matters. What's that, you ask?

We need to be asking God what really matters.

A Falling House of Cards?

So much depends on everything else. Consider the surprises of the COVID crisis:

Newspapers have little ad revenue, because no one has anything to advertise. Shops are closed and events are cancelled. At the same time, people want the news more than ever.

State governments have little money to spend because sales tax revenue has tanked. No one can make purchases on which to pay taxes.

Hospitals are stretched to the limit, but their revenue is down. Elective surgeries have been cancelled for weeks, and payments for those surgeries bring in millions in revenue.

Police forces get sick, navy ships become infected, soldiers need face masks to protect them from germs.

Parks and playgrounds are closed.

Then there is the falling stock market, the $2 trillion stimulus paid for entirely by government borrowing, sports leagues on hold, festivals and concerts cancelled, small businesses struggling, schools closed, graduations postponed.

Everything depends on everything. The economy is a complex ecosystem, all intertwined. Let's hope it is an ecosystem, not a house of cards. Something invisible has invaded and threatened the whole thing.

And we are learning to depend on people again. If the whole house of cards falls, we will really need each other.