LAMPLIGHTER Summer 2020
Two Important Passages; Two Important Lessons by Pastor Joel Leyrer Introductory note: I am writing this article on the Saturday after Easter, so consider it timestamped and reflective of the facts as of April 18, 2020. Earlier this week, our Governor extended the safer-at-home restrictions to May 26, which sets the final weekend in May as the earliest possibility for resuming corporate worship in our church building. But we all know the difference between possibilities and probabilities. Bottom line: by the time you actually read this article, things may be entirely different. Two of the most quoted and comforting passages in Scripture are Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28. It’s not hard to understand why. The first is the promise that God always has a beneficial plan for us; the second is the promise that God can and will use times and events we would never choose for ourselves to deepen our relationship with him and others. Both these passages have special meaning at the present time. There are many lessons God may be teaching us through this time of pandemic, and they are as individualized as we are. Nevertheless, allow me to suggest a couple in particular that have application for us all. The first is the vital importance of Christian connectedness and fellowship as members of this congregation. “Brothers and sisters.” “Children of God.” “Family of believers.” “Household of faith.” There is a reason why God (our “heavenly Father”) chooses words and phrases like these to describe his church. We are a family of believers
known as St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, united in and through Christ to and with each other through the bond of a shared faith. Although we cannot physically be together in church, we are grateful that, in a certain sense, we can still worship together through our online services. But it’s not the same. One of the things we miss the most is not being able to physically greet, visit, and see each other in worship and Bible study. And while we pray for a return to normalcy soon, each week we can’t be together increases the value we place on being part of this family of believers. Absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder, does it not? A second lesson is a heightened awareness of our own personal responsibility for cultivating and strengthening our spiritual lives. A little cartoon making its way around social media pictures a confrontation between God and the devil. The devil said, “With COVID-19 I closed your churches,” to which God replied: “On the contrary. I just opened one in every home.” Well said. Not being able to get to church reminds us that we are the church, wherever we may be. When will we be able to see each other and worship together? That’s in God’s hands. But as we wait, we take comfort in God’s plans and his outworking in our lives, knowing that “nothing separates us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).