If, during this COVID-19 time, you have walked into a grocery store and left without everything you needed – you have now experienced what many people experience every day. They walk into a grocery store; consider how much money they have and often leave without everything they need for their families.
If, during this COVID-19 time, you have sensed what it is like to have a complete stranger cross the street or change direction just to avoid you – you have now experienced what many people experience every day. Whether it is the color of a person’s skin or how they dress, or the fact that they are homeless, there are people others intentionally and obviously avoid as they go through their daily routines.
If, during this COVID-19 time, you or someone you love has been ill or died, then you have some sense of how the inequalities of our economic and medical systems cause others to feel every day, when medical care is out of reach.
If, during this COVID-19 time, you have learned something about yourself, your church, your faith, then you have experienced what those who find purpose and meaning through this time have discovered.
If, during this COVID 19 time, you have witnessed what gratitude and simple acts of kindness can do, then you have the opportunity to share those things with others through your own gratitude and simple acts of kindness.
My sisters and brothers in faith, as difficult as this time is, as much as we would like everything to return to normal, perhaps this time has a gift for us:
A gift of greater empathy
A gift of greater understanding
A gift of determination that some things must and will change
A gift of greater grace and love
What purpose have you discovered in such a time as this? How will it impact your life once this time is over?
We will get through this, and when we do, my prayer is that we will continue to create a culture that recognizes it is connected in deep and profound ways. It is how God designed us to be – connected to one another in love.
Romans 12: 1-5 & 9-13
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
In prayer and with gratitude for you and who God created you to be.
