Matthew 6: 9 – 13
Two weeks ago if someone had told me would be where we are today, I would have told them they were crazy.
Two weeks ago is someone had told me that this nation and most of the world would be self-quarantined or self-isolated, and that we would all be practicing social-distancing, I would have said they were crazy.
Two weeks ago if someone had told me that the unemployment rate would soon be rising very sharply and steadily, that the stock market would be tanking, that we would soon be unable to go to our favorite restaurants and sit down and have a meal, that many stores would be closing, that there would be a run on the grocery stores and that toilet paper (of all things) would be impossible to find, I would have told them that they were absolutely crazy.
But that’s exactly where we are. We have two new words in our vocabulary: Novel coronavirus and COVID-19. And because of the reality that these two new words bring, we are self-quarantined and self-isolated….We are practicing social-distancing. Our health care system is being mightily strained. A growing number of people are sick and dying.
Many planes are grounded. Borders around the world are closed. Highways are far less crowded.
We can’t go to our favorite restaurants and sit down to eat. Many stores have closed. There continues to be a run on the grocery stores, and toilet paper is impossible to find.
The unemployment rate is rising sharply and steadily. The stock market is falling sharply and steadily. A growing number of families are becoming more and more worried.
Our world has been turned upside down. The ground beneath our feet has moved and continues to shake. There is more than enough to be worried about and maybe even afraid of.
Fear is one of those instincts God has designed in us that causes us to either Freeze, Fight, or Flee when we encounter a threat of any kind. When we encounter a threat, our amazing brains quickly take in the needed information, sift through all the information and then we take some kind of action: We either freeze, flee, or fight.
The information we have been receiving for over a week now has been non-stop and the changes so radical and so quick. It’s like drinking water from a firehose, and it can be unnerving. So, how do we respond?
For more than a week now I have caught myself repeating the same verses of scripture over and over again. Sometimes to myself, sometimes out loud, but it’s always the same scriptures:
In the Gospels, there’s only one thing that Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to do: Pray. And for over a week now I have been repeating to myself over and over and over again:
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.”
When faced with so much change and so real a threat as we now face, it can be difficult to know what to pray or how to pray. So, maybe the reason I keep repeating the Lord’s Prayer is because it is Jesus’ own prayer of hope and confidence.
Maybe I keep on repeating this prayer over and over again, because as a disciple of Jesus, I know that as the difficulties of our current reality close in, these well-known words are a compass to guide me, and all of us, in truth and they teach us to pray with confident expectation.
Maybe I keep on repeating this prayer over and over again because I know that when I, or you, pray this prayer we are recalling the events of Jesus’ life and ministry and we are declaring that we too want to be a part of Jesus’ hope-filled mission.
As I repeat this prayer my focus begins to turn away from all of the rush of information coming at me. My focus begins to turn away from all the many worries that accompany the overwhelming information we are receiving. And my focus is turned TO the God of creation, the God who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth and all that is in it.
The God who in the beginning hovered over the chaos then and the turmoil then. The God who hovered and brooded over the primordial nothingness of creation. The God who in the beginning brought Order out of Chaos, Something out of Nothing, Meaning out of Confusion, Gain out of Loss, Life out of Death, and Light out of Darkness.
That’s the God of Creation that Jesus points us to in the prayer he teaches his disciples. Jesus points us to the God who Cares, the God who Provides. The God who Protects. The God who is present and who remains deeply involved with and concerned for his very good creation.
The Creator God, the Father of it all from the beginning, the Creator God who comes to us most perfectly and completely in Jesus, the Creator God who remains in our midst by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our lives have been changed so drastically, so quickly, and we may feel that Creation, as we know it, is now very disordered.
We have found ourselves in the midst of Chaos and Confusion, Worry and Fear, Anxiety and disappointment. And we may be wondering Who’s in charge here? What’s going on here? What’s the plan here? Where we headed in this story? How much longer is all this going to last?
We’re not the first people of God to feel like this. We’re not the first people of God to ask questions like this, and we won’t be the last. However, in the midst of all of our chaos and confusion, in the midst of all our anxiety and fear, here is our confident hope:
Jesus is the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. One day, ‘thy kingdom come’ will arrive in all of its fullness and glory. The day of the LORD will be when all things in creation are fully and finally put right. Today we are being reminded that, in the meantime, evil and destructive powers are still forces that must be dealt with in our daily lives.
Our worries lead us to pray for God’s provision of peace and wisdom, God’s deliverance and safety and well-being in the middle of difficult time and place. And it all begins with the hopefulness of drawing near to God in prayer as “Our Father……” and it all ends with the confidence that God’s “is the kingdom and the power, and glory forever.”
In the midst of all of the disruptions in our lives today, I suggest that we pray the Lord’s Prayer in faith, knowing that we are not helpless. We declare that the work that Jesus has begun in our lives and in the world will continue even when things are gloomy or uncertain.
I keep repeating this prayer because I know without a shadow of a doubt that the worst thing to happen to me, or to any of us, won’t be the last thing to happen to us.
I keep repeating this prayer because I know that evil, in whatever form it comes, does not have the last word.
I keep repeating this prayer because I know that God is God and the current situation does not change that.
I keep repeating this prayer because I know that the God of Creation who ordered the chaos and confusion then, will also order the chaos and confusion now.
I keep repeating this prayer because I know that the Jesus who walked with his disciples then, is the same Jesus who walks with his disciples now and reminds us of “Our Father….”
I keep praying this prayer because while I know that the coronavirus is serious and potentially very deadly, I also know that Jesus Christ is Lord.
I keep praying this prayer because while I know that the coronavirus is here now, I also know that “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…..” (Ps. 23:6).
I keep praying this prayer because while I know that the coronavirus is wrecking-havoc around the world, I also know that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7).
I keep praying this prayer because I, like the rest of us, I need a vision that looks beyond the present moment, without ignoring the seriousness of the present moment. I, like the rest of us, need a vision that looks beyond the present circumstances. And we have one.
Our advantage is this: We are on this side of the Christ event. Our Vision, our Hope is the man called Jesus, the baby in the barn who became the king on the cross and who on the third day rose from the dead.
Jesus is the blessed assurance in which we find our security, our refuge, our solid foundation when everything around us appears to be giving way. The same Jesus who taught his disciples then and who teaches his disciples now, to pray: “Our Father……”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, March 22, 2020……Cedar Cliff UMC…..Facebook Live #1