Dear St. Paul's Family,
We have never experienced anything like this before. What are we to say?
There are a hundred stunning and tragic dimensions to these days. We are in a situation that Washington cannot fix. We are suffering a disease for which medicine has no cure. The modern gods of Money and Science are shown to be no gods at all. In an hour craving a Voice, they can only mumble.
"The god Bel falls down, god Nebo slumps. The no-god hunks of wood are loaded on mules And have to be hauled off, wearing out the poor mules Dead weight, burdens who can't bear burdens, or which edicine hauled off to captivity, I want to proclaim in this moment that There is a Voice whose words are deeper than the Silence falling upon us. There is a Love deeper than our fears. There is a Life stronger than our death!"
- Isaiah 46:1-2
I invite each of us to come as a family to this deeper and stronger bond - and life. We are invited to be heroes of courage when around us is a chorus of "hunkering down", "survival", and "we'll get by."
This is our chance to clearly live deeper than the gods of Politics, Medicine, Money, and Science. All these things have a role to play in our lives - the problem is when we ask them to play the role of God.
This epidemic is an invitation for us to do the work of Lent in our lives: clear our hearts of false allegiance. In a fresh way, we must allow Christ to become Lord of all - or else he will, indeed, not be Lord at all.
The Good Shepherd is not like the false promises of so many in this world.
But, when Christ is made Lord in our hearts, when we trust Him with hearts fully devoted, then we suddenly find that we now have the Shepherd for which our hearts have so long waited. The Good Shepherd is not like the false promises of so many in this world. The Good Shepherd is assurance that we lack nothing - even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, in other words right now, we shall fear no evil. He is equipped to Comfort us. He makes clear He chooses us. though we need - a Feast. He pursues us all the days of our lives. We always are brought home.
All these things have a role to play in our lives - the problem is when we ask them to play the role of God.
"You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing. Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I'm back home in the house of God for the rest of my life."
Psalm 23
Listen to the Good Shepherd's Voice... and you will find yours. Then, you and I will finally have something to say in these days of broken hearts.