Originally,
I was not scheduled to preach this Sunday, March 15th, because it was to be
“United Methodist Women Sunday.”
However, the special speaker invited by the United Methodist Women
cancelled due to concerns about the coronavirus. And, as the church leadership and I learned
more about the coronavirus threat, we decided that the responsible and prudent
course of action would be to cancel all live worship services and to stream a
worship service on Facebook Live at 11 am on Sunday morning. (We will also record the streaming service
and post it on our church websites for those unable to watch at 11 am on
Sunday.)
During the
liturgical season of Lent this year, our worship services are focused around the
theme of “suffering.” One of the core
components of Lenten observances is to remember the suffering of Jesus,
especially in his crucifixion on the cross.
Suffering is also an experience which we all share as part of the human
condition—although some persons suffer more in life than others. We have also observed that there are
different types of suffering, including physical suffering, emotional
suffering, and existential suffering.
Two weeks
ago, we examined physical suffering, drawing from the Book of Job in the
Bible. In that book from the Hebrew
scriptures, we learned about a good and devout man, Job, whom God causes to
suffer in extraordinary ways. Although
Job’s friends believe that his suffering must be the result of some terrible
sins he has committed, Job swears that he is innocent. On the contrary, Job claims to be a righteous
and devout person.
Job demands
a hearing, and an accounting before God.
Job wants God to explain why he has been made to suffer is such
extraordinary ways. It is not until the
end of the Book that God appears and speaks to Job. God’s response is definitely not what Job
expected. Ultimately, God does not
respond to Job’s charges and questions.
Essentially what we learn from the Book of Job is that when we ask why
God has caused—or, allowed—us to suffer, we are asking an illegitimate
question. The question puts us in the
center of the world, and at the center of God’s focus and activity. But, we are not always at the center, even
though God loves us deeply.
By its very
nature, this question, why does God cause or allow us to suffer, puts the
believer in the position of trying to defend God because we
assume that we must be at the center of God’s focus. I t may be that God has not caused or allowed
our suffering. Sometimes, we suffer
because it is part of the human condition—something all humans must endure.
Yet, even though there
may be no explanation for our suffering, our Christian faith does not leave us bereft
of hope and comfort in the face of suffering.
Fundamental to Christian faith is the conviction that God’s love for us
is awesome and literally beyond our human comprehension. Yet, even with our limited insight,
Christians know that eternal and transcendent God loves us so much that God
chose to empty God’s self and become incarnated (literally, enfleshed) as the
human person, Jesus of Nazareth. One of
the reasons for God to become incarnated was so that God could experience the
human condition with us.
While we may not understand why we suffer, we
do know that God has shared with us in human suffering in a most profound way,
through the excruciating suffering of Jesus on the cross. God is in solidarity with us and in our own
physical suffering, even if God does not always answer our questions about why
we are suffering. These reflections on
God, Jesus, and suffering have informed my thinking about the looming coronavirus
pandemic that we face in our society.
It seems pretty obvious that the world is
currently suffering emotionally as a result of the coronavirus. All of us
suffer fear, anxiety, and apprehension, while those of us who have lost a
friend or loved one to the virus also suffer grief and loss. The scripture which will ground my
reflections during this March 15th streaming service comes from Jesus’ Sermon
on the Mount, where he addresses the emotional suffering that comes from fear
and anxiety:
“‘Therefore I tell you, do not
worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your
body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor
gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more
value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span
of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not
worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we
wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and
indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first
for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.’”
In this
part of his sermon, Jesus encourages his listeners to avoid allowing fear,
worry, and anxiety to dominate their lives.
He uses two seeming minor forms of life, birds and wildflowers, and points
out that they flourish without fear, worry, or anxiety. Then, he asks, if God cares for the birds and
wildflowers so well, then shouldn’t we humans, who are created in God’s image,
be more confident that God will take care of us. Finally, he encourages his listeners to make
striving for the “kingdom of God” and serving God as their first priority. When they do that, then everything else will
work out.
The
whole world is currently faced with a crisis, which we have never had to
contend with before. There is so much that
is still unknown, even though we have already begun to get glimpses of the
scope of this crisis from the experiences in China and Italy. Given how much is unknown and the scope of
what lies before us, it is only natural to be filled with fear, worry, and
anxiety. However, in this scripture
passage, Jesus counsels us to prevent that fear, worry, and anxiety from dominating
our lives.
Instead,
Jesus calls upon us to have confidence that we are not alone. God is still with us, even in the midst of a
pandemic. All of us suffer emotionally
from fear, worry, and anxiety, while some of us will suffer physically from the
coronavirus and, perhaps, even death. Through
his life and death, Jesus has already experienced human suffering. Jesus shares in our suffering now and is in
solidarity with us, even in this moment.
Jesus reminds us that ultimately God is in charge and that God will
prevail.
But there is more. In addition to controlling our fear, worry,
and anxiety, Jesus reminds us that as his disciples we are called to serve
God. This service will take different
forms for each of us during the coronavirus pandemic. For some, it may be donating blood or calling
to check in on neighbor or to run errands for someone especially vulnerable to
the virus. Whatever our particular task
or opportunity, during this pandemic we are called to serve God by serving in
whatever safe and appropriate way that we can.
Everyone is always welcome and accepted at Christ United Methodist
Church because God loves us all. During the coronavirus, I invite you to join
us virtually for our Facebook Livestream worship service on Sunday, March 15th,
at 11 am. Our Facebook address is: https://www.facebook.com/christumclinc/. Alternatively, you can see the service later
on our Facebook page or by going to our webpage at: https://www.christumclinc.org/.
