Lent Reflection #31: Borrowed from Jeff Christopherson
How many of us, listing our new year’s resolutions a
couple of months back, thought to include, “be a blessing to my
neighborhood in the midst of a global pandemic?” None. And yet, here we
are—smack in the middle of a history-defining event that few saw coming.
COVID-19 now rolls off our tongues as easy as baseball (remember that?)
or apple pie. And, just like the plagues of old, a deep sense of fear
and insecurity has gripped the globe. And for good reason.
But Christ-followers remind themselves that although
everything that we have known and depended upon seems wholly insecure,
none of it has caught their King unaware. Nor has the emerging culture
of secularity where friends, neighbors, and colleagues are on a quest
for a belief system that makes their lives whole.
Our King saw that coming, too.. .
And now these three streams converge into one
historically powerful moment. An invisible virus has brought
geo-political powers, giants of commerce and industry, and
ecclesiastical superpowers to their knees. The world’s operating system
of strength is now neutered by something imperceptible.
Now is the moment for weakness.
As friends and neighbors and colleagues struggle in
quiet dread, weakness courageously moves in. Ordinary faith-filled men,
women, and children sacrificially serving in the strength of Christ for
the glory of their King. And like the plagues of old, Jesus is
recognized in their midst. A gospel movement emerging from weakness.
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