We Are the World…

I read in the news today that the streets of Beirut are empty.  Ditto the streets of Baghdad, Beijing, London, and New York.  ISIS, of all people, is telling its followers not to travel because of the virus.  When you look at the Center for Disease Control map of the world, there are a small handful of countries without COVID19 cases.  You can’t help but wonder if that is because of a lack of testing.  Whatever normal was, it isn’t now.

It feels like the whole world is shutting down.  Unemployment claims in our country jumped 3,000% in March.  The governor of my state has shut down all businesses that require close contact.  I squeezed in and got a haircut before the deadline.  Who knows when I get another haircut by a professional?

All around the world restaurants are closed.  We’ve gone back in time when most meals were cooked at home.  I’m seeing parts of my freezer I didn’t know existed.  People are binge watching shows, but if you like to watch sports, you’ve been dropped into the desert.

One evening this week, we went for a drive.  We had no destination, just wanted to get out of the house.  For the first time in my life, I understood the whole idea of a “Sunday drive.”  Just ramble.  Take a road you’ve never taken and see where it takes you.  Everyone in the world is feeling cooped up.

In an odd way, it's comforting to know that everyone in world is experiencing this.  The concern about COVID19 is the same in Wuhan, China as it is in Sumter, SC.  No one wants to get this virus. Everyone wants to get this over as soon as possible.  Everyone is waiting, which is some of the hardest work to do.

If you pause and think about it, when was the last time everyone on the planet was experiencing the same thing?  Never.  The mom in Johannesburg, South Africa deals with the same thing as the mom in Tokyo. 

People have asked me if God is trying to tell us something.  I’m sure he is.  I’ve seen the preachers who are declaring this is the beginning of the end.  Other preachers are saying this is God’s judgment on the world. 

I don’t know for sure about any of the that, but here’s what I do know for sure:  we are all God’s creation.  Human beings spend enormous energy dividing ourselves.  We look at people with a different color skin, or a different language, or a different religion, and we find a reason to hate.  We construct versions of reality that tell us we are better than other people because of where we live or where we’ve gone to school.  I love my country but being an American doesn’t make me better than a Russian. 

The Apostle Paul wrote a great truth in Romans: “God is no respecter of persons…”  There is a lot of theology packed into that verse.  God sees all of us as we truly are.  He knows every person on this planet, all 7.8 billion of us.  He knows every one of us will have a moment when we realize there is a problem we cannot solve by wealth, ancestry, or nationality.  Right now, all 7.6 billion of us are realizing we are vulnerable to virus that is no respecter of persons.  From the slums of Mumbai to the high-rises of Dubai, the virus will not discriminate.

We are the world.  Every person on this planet is a creation of God, whether they know him or not.  Everyone is a microscopic particle away from infection.  We are the world waiting.

That’s why we need something else God said about this world: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes on him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

Whatever your fears, anxieties, depressions, do not forget this:  There is a God who loves you.  He gave his son for you.  When you believe this, death - whether it comes from a virus or a cancer or old age – death will not have the last word over you. God does.  And he wants you to have a life that goes beyond death.  A life that starts when you believe.

We are the world God loves.  Believe.

In the Dark, Alone and Scared…

I had just been called as pastor of Finchville Baptist Church in Finchville, Kentucky.  Finchville was thirty minutes outside of Louisville, a crossroads with a few houses, a store, a post office, and a church.  Plus, a parsonage.

To those of you unfamiliar with the idea of a parsonage, it is sometimes called a pastorium (a place where crazy pastors live) or a manse (a fancy Presbyterian name).  The idea behind it was good.  The church would provide the pastor a place to live so he could be close to his flock.  The downside, however, was the pastor had to get church approval to paint a wall in his house.  If a there was a problem with the plumbing, he couldn’t call the plumber himself; he had to call the chairman of the Building and grounds committee, who inevitably would call his brother-in-law’s  cousin, who once watched a plumber fix something. 

When I was called as pastor of that church, I was still single. I scrapped together some money to buy furniture: a mattress, a love seat and a couch.  Who needs a kitchen table when you are dining alone?  I borrowed some furniture from a friend going overseas for two years to occupy space until finances permitted more. I moved in the first weekend of October.

That first night laying in my new bed, amid the chirping of the crickets, I heard an odd whirring noise.  Faint at first, it seemed to grow louder.  The noise continued for about two minutes, then there was a loud “click.”

I couldn’t figure out what it was.  The noise seemed to be inside the house, but I wasn’t sure.  Then the whirring noise started up again.  Maybe it was my imagination, but it sounded even louder this time, like it was growing closer.

I don’t know why my mind retrieved stories of alien beings landing on earth.  I remembered stories people told about strange sounds, unidentified flying objects, of bright lights around their homes, of strange beings from outer space trying to get them.  Didn’t most of those stories happen in rural settings?  Weren’t there several stories of close encounters of the third kind happening in Kentucky?

I went down the check list: Rural Kentucky – check.  Strange sounds – check.  No bright lights – yet.  Suddenly my bedroom was filled with bright light.  The aliens were landing!  They were coming to take me!  Who knows what unspeakable horrors they were about to inflict up my person!  Should I run?  Should I hide? Should I share the plan of salvation with them?

It took a minute for my brain to connect the bright lights with the sound of a diesel engine and crunching gravel.  A semi had made a wrong turn and was turning around in the parking lot of the church next door.  I thanked God the aliens were not landing.

The truck rumbled off.  The whirring noise resumed.  It seemed to be coming from the basement.  Maybe the aliens used the semi as cover to drop off a scouting party. Maybe they were checking to see if I would be a tender meal.  I wanted to shout, “I’m filled with gristle!  You don’t want me!  I’m too fatty and will make your cholesterol level jump!”

“Take it like a man,” I thought.  If I had to go, I would go down fighting.  I got out of bed and found my racquetball racquet.  I slowly opened the basement door and began to creep down the stairs.  Halfway down, I heard the whirring noise begin again.  Then I remembered every horror movie has a scene were the unsuspecting victim creeps down the basement stairs.  I decided to go off script and scamper down the stairs.  I ran across the cold concrete toward the basement corner where the whirring noise was coming from.  Surprise, I decided, was my best friend.  I rounded the corner and lashed out with my racquetball racquet and began to beat the alien to death.

There were no screams from the dehumidifier that had been clicking off and on.  Some thoughtful member of the Building and Grounds Committee had placed it there to keep the humidity out of the basement – and probably to test the new pastor’s nerves.

Its funny where your fears will take you.  Reality is never quite as bad as your fears lead you to believe.  Contrary to most movies and books, its not a good idea to face your fears alone.  You need a friend to help you stay in touch with reality. 

Sometimes, you need to be with a friend you know can handle any danger that comes your way.  That’s exactly the message when David says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.  Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”  When you walk with Jesus, no matter what sounds you hear in the deep darkness, Jesus says, “I got you.  I’m bigger than whatever your fear can imagine.  I will knock all threatening evil out of your life.” 

Even aliens.