Lent ends, but the learning continues

Already, but not yet, settled into a new reality

The final week and a half of April was the first moment since the start of the quarantine where I felt like I was starting to fall into a routine. Even in non-epidemic years, Lent is always a strange beast with lots of unusual worship services and the resulting planning and coordination efforts. Most clergy simply move into overdrive and muscle through. After Holy Week and Easter there were no longer any big holidays looming on the horizon and it was time to find a new rhythm. By the end of the month, I finally felt like I was starting to get there. 

Overall, I am happy with the way our church has adapted to this situation. There is no perfect way to respond to a global catastrophe, but the members of the congregation are rising to the occasion in so many different ways. We are able to continue ministry in lots of different ways. The church is reaching out.

Volunteers are serving throughout the community. We were able to give away $3,600 to the Stoddard County Gospel Mission Food Pantry. We received an abbreviated Easter Offering in support of the wider church. We ended the month by contributing to the Ministerial Alliance Emergency Fund. None of these efforts are going to fix the world by themselves, but Christ reminds us that faithful use of even small talents can do great things.

Perfectly imperfect

One of the things that has been simultaneously rewarding and humbling about this situation is being reminded that we are fundamentally not in charge. We are gifted with the ability to influence and contribute, but not control. We are able to alter some of the situations around us and to help others deal with the challenges they face, but we are not able to solve their problems for them. We are also not able to remake the world in our own image. To expect perfect from ourselves or others is not with the realm of possibility. 

This knowledge lowers the stakes of what we are doing. It also allows us to strive for incremental improvements instead of a perfect solution that God alone can provide. This time of crisis has been the perfect example of why we are supposed to be living one day at a time. We cannot foresee tomorrow’s reality. Any plans we make are going to change. This is the reason that Jesus challenged us to ask only for our daily bread. Every morning we need to surrender ourselves once more to God’s will.

Recognizing we are not our own

Surrender runs contrary to everything our culture teaches. From birth we are told that we can achieve anything we want, if we put our minds to something and work hard enough. Although this idea is burned into the American psyche, it is ultimately a lie. Human beings are social creatures made in the image of God. This is why I interpret the words of Jesus to say that we are most fully alive when we love God with our whole heart, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. 

What makes such surrender possible is the knowledge that we are not alone. We never have been. The prophets reminded the believers that grace is real and manifests itself anew each and every morning. Jesus served as the ultimate demonstration of God’s care for the world. The Holy Spirit continues to guide and comfort us.

Even if they would not use the language of Christ, the people I have seen weathering the epidemic the most successfully are those who are finding energy in something larger than themselves. We can only achieve our purpose and meaning by recognizing our interconnectedness. The coronavirus has been a reminder of that reality and it is my prayer that insight sticks with us in the years ahead.