The Church and Covid 19

One by one, the local universities are moving to online classes. My husband works for one of them, and he will still be at work, there just won’t be many students. I am watching my conference speaking schedule dwindle, and businesses, churches, and schools all over the country have difficult decisions to make.

Please keep these decision-makers and leaders in your prayers.

I believe it is time for Christians to take action. I beg you to stop arguing about whether or not covid 19 little more than a media frenzy. Instead, look around you at the people who have already been impacted – even in ways beyond illness. Please stop posting that covid 19 is not as fatal as other illnesses and instead say a prayer of thanks that it is not. Move away from the abstract crowd of social media and, instead, look toward your neighbor.

If you find yourself stressed over the events surrounding this illness, take time to pray, thank God for your blessings, ask for His protection, and ask what He would have you do. When we focus on others, we find our purpose and anxiety diminishes. Anxiety has no ground to stand on when we are thinking of others, and when we see evidence of how God uses each of us to care for each other.

The Church is in a unique position to serve during an event such as this. We have a distinctive kind of fellowship, which means we gather together to worship a shared God and to care for each other. We have a structure in place that allows us to serve with little cost or preparation.  We are at least somewhat aware of people’s needs for their work and family situations. We can begin to predict who could benefit from a phone call, someone to run errands, or meals brought in.

Here are some situations to consider:

Check on caregivers. This situation includes two people who are likely more susceptible to the effects of this illness. A phone call a few times a week would provide a brief respite for the caregiver, and an offer to run errands will give the assurance that someone who cares knows their needs.

Check on your elderly who live alone.  They may have questions about what is safe. They may put off getting groceries or going to doctor appointments in order to avoid contamination.

Check on the types of employment people have. Those who work low wage jobs are at risk of losing work. They often do not have sick leave and will not be able to work from home. When people live from paycheck to paycheck, even a week off of work can be devastating. Churches can support the local food pantry as these organizations will be taxed beyond capacity.

Check on single-parent families. They may have no options for childcare when schools close. Perhaps some of these families can be matched with others who can provide care.

Check on people who work in the healthcare industry. They will likely bear the burden of extra work. We are used to doing meals for people who are ill, but those who work long hours to make up for shortages may need this kind of help, too.

Take a look at the neighborhood of your church. How can your membership reach out and care for those who live near? Encourage each member to check their block for people who might need help.

Each of these actions is an opportunity to share the Gospel, with or without words. We are being asked to isolate ourselves to reduce the spread of the virus, but we need not isolate ourselves from caring for others. Our God is an all-powerful, all-loving God. He has this situation in hand. Focus on Him and the work He sets before us.

We do God’s work because of the faith He has placed in our hearts.  May the grace of a God-given faith bless you in ways you cannot imagine.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. Acts 20:24

Weary Joy: The Caregiver's Journey  

by Kim Marxhausen

available at Concordia Publishing House

and Amazon


 

Repaying evil with blessing

I am blessed to meet with a beautiful group of ladies weekly. I love how we can be vulnerable with each other. I love how we can encourage and pray for each other. I especially love how God moves us to apply our faith to our life situations.

 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. I Peter 3: 8-9

My friends and I were studying I & II Peter and spent a fair amount of time on these two verses. It was easy to apply them to work and family situations. When we are in the middle of a sympathetic, like-minded relationship, we feel not only joy but comfort, safety, and security. 

Likewise, when confronted with evil or insult, we quickly realize that our sense of security has dissipated; we instantly feel alone. For me, this kind of situation brings on a sense of panic. I don’t necessarily panic because I experience with evil. I panic because I don’t know how to respond with effective emotions. I don’t know what to do. I default to the horribly misguided notion that this is a problem for me to fix.

I panic because when I face evil actions, I lose trust in God.

The casual reading of these verses leads me to think of evil in more abstract terms. We see evidence of evil every day in hungry children, parents struggling to raise a family under dangerous conditions, people needlessly sick because of lack of access to healthcare, political goals that reduce entire populations to something less than human. We see evidence of unnatural death, violence, oppression, and we thank God that it is not a part of our story. 

As long as these things aren’t happening to me, I can trust in God.

We identify evil when people we love suffer, and that makes evil a little bit less abstract. We see evil when loved ones suffer from illness, when marriages fall apart, or when children walk away from their faith. Hopefully, these examples of evil draw us to God in prayer and to our loved ones with the offer of care. 

It’s harder to trust when evil comes closer to us, but prayer and care are comfortable answers to our need to fix things.

But, how do we respond when evil attacks us personally? What if evil actions hurt? What if we are stunned when a situation blows up when assumptions lead to gossip, and gossip leads to retaliation with no recourse or defense? What about when evil causes a relationship to shatter – even when you were trying hard to develop and protect that relationship? When this kind of evil happens, comfort and security are replaced with panic. Can God really protect me when someone hurts me? 

It sounds kinda silly when I put it that way.

I suppose it is the difference between being protected from hurt and being protected from the impact of hurt. We don’t want pain in our life, and God’s answer to the request of a pain-free life is to produce character and growth instead. It’s a great response to evil, but not what we want. 

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. I Peter 1:6-7

Really God? Seriously?

Wouldn’t it be easier to give me genuine faith without all of the refining? Given that evil impacts relationships and ministry, wouldn’t it be a better plan to prevent it? I mean, aren’t relationships and ministry of primary importance here? 

The simple answer is “no.” Indeed, God blesses our relationships, and He is pleased to allow us to do ministry, but every inch of the Bible tells us that the primary importance is Salvation. The most important relationship is His relationship with us. The most important ministry is what Jesus did for each of us. Salvation is the relationship that makes everything else have importance. Genuine, refined faith is a part of what is essential because it connects us to Salvation.

I have some serious problems with this line of thinking when evil happens to me personally when evil causes me to hurt. And, when evil destroys a relationship and negatively impacts my ability to do ministry. The world tells me to be assertive and to stand up for myself. The world says we invite more abuse unless we respond with strength. 

But we can’t fix it. Furthermore, we know it will happen again. This is the nature of evil, is it not? This nature is the veritable description of being sinners in a sinful world. Some of the evil we fear originates with us. What response would make a difference to you? If people engage in the reciprocal slinging of evil what stops the momentum? 

The answer is grace. We are to respond with blessing a person in a way that they need but do not deserve.

 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. I Peter 3:9

 Grace is behind any real change. For us, grace begins by repaying evil with blessing.

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. I Peter4:8

This past week my lovely group of ladies discussed this verse. How do we love someone who impacts our relationship with evil? How do we cover sin with love? Is love enough to forgive sins?

The answer, again, is grace, beautiful, undeserved, hard-to-believe grace. 

We cannot fight evil, especially when we are standing in the middle of it and participating in the process. Sometimes it is tough to forgive when we experience hurt when relationships fall apart, and when ministry stumbles as a result. It is oh so very hard.

But, God asks us to bless. He asks us to love in a way that covers sin. He asks us to trust Him that He knows what is important and what good can come out of pain and brokenness. 

May it be true that when God helps us to respond to evil with blessing the blessing that results will belong to us, too. 

Weary Joy: The Caregiver's Journey  

by Kim Marxhausen

available at Concordia Publishing House

and Amazon

 

National Lutheran Schools Week

Our church service today marks the beginning of Lutheran School’s week, which was always one of my favorite weeks when I taught kindergarten. This week meant fun clothes and extra activities, all designed to help us celebrate the gift of Christian education, and the church service always meant children singing. 

As the school and center children gathered at the front of the church, I noticed a young child behind me who could not be coaxed to join the crowd. In her defense, it was a large group, but no manner of encouragement would change her mind. I leaned back and assured her she could sing from her seat, and dad agreed. Perhaps singing in front of a crowd wasn’t his thing either.

Later in the service, I realized to my joy that this timid young girl was singing along with our prayer liturgy and later sang, with abandon, my husband’s song of the Lord’s Prayer, which is a congregation favorite. No one had to nudge her; she simply joined in when she recognized what she heard. It was as if her faith floated on the air along with her singing. It was all I could do to stop myself from turning around and watching. 

My heart was full.

So what makes a child afraid of crowds able to sing along with adults? What encourages her to sing during the parts of the service not necessarily designed for her? She did not have to conjure up any courage – she sang from her heart, from her faith. This is the blessing of a Christian education. It produces faith in a child that leaks out in unexpected ways and tender moments.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:7

Just last week, I found myself speaking to a mother’s group at a sister church. Regardless of the topic I am asked to address, I always seem to circle round to the teaching of this Deuteronomy verse. I have found many ways of saying that teaching the faith is not a matter of quality lessons, but a quantity of experiences. Faith lessons should be diligently taught while sitting, walking, preparing for bed, and rising in the morning. In other words faith should show up all day and in all things. If children hear about faith in church, but not at home their brains will be less likely to pick up on the significance of this learning. If they hear about faith at home and in church but not any other place, the brain will relegate faith to those locations. A Lutheran education, that provides hearing, learning, practicing and sharing faith all day, is the blessing of Lutheran schools. 

Don’t get me wrong. I used to teach in Lutheran schools, and my children attended them. I can assure you that  rigorous academics, and the teaching and formation of solid values are essential areas of concern. I often speak for conferences for Lutheran teachers, and I know I have to stay up to speed on what is current to keep up with them. But, as important as a solid academic education is, it is not the most important thing.

I spent a few years learning how humans develop and spent many hours in classes reviewing theory and research on cognition. As I sat in and taught in those secular classrooms, I became even more convinced of the importance of Christian education. You see, we do not learn outside of a culture. Everything a child learns connects to what they see and experience in their family. You cannot put learning into separate boxes as it all connects. God designed us to learn faith through His Word and Sacrament and to make this learning a part of each moment of our lives. Faith learning is about diligence, and the Holy Spirit is the definition of diligence. We do best to work within this design.

My teacher friends in Lutheran schools who will be navigating the excitement of this week are diligent in the work of teaching the faith. They go beyond teaching and show their precious students how to live it. Faith becomes such a natural expression that the words "You hear us calling, You hear us calling, Abba Father." come spilling out of the mouth of a child too afraid to sing with her peers.

Today I am thankful for the many teachers who work so hard for less pay than their public school peers. I am grateful for teachers who put in long hours and willingly serve beyond their classroom duties. I am amazed by teachers who teach from a heart full of a God-given faith. (In addition to my Lutheran teacher friends I also thank God for my daughter and at least one former student who teach in other Christian schools.) I am especially thankful for how they all support parents in their sacred duty to teach the faith and to teach it diligently.

Thank you, Jesus.