March 15, 2020 – Exodus 17:1-7, John 4:5-42
Exodus 17:1-7; John 4:5-42
Faith and COVID-19
Third Sunday in Lent – March 15, 2020
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
- Like the NHL, Lent at the Movies is on hiatus this week.
I want to take an opportunity to address something that is unprecedented in our lifetimes,
the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am dismayed by the lack of reflection on this from Christian websites I trust,
like the Christian Century magazine, Working Preacher, and Journey with Jesus.
Christians, like you, are thirsty for a word from God.
What are we to make of this thing that has certainly never happened in my lifetime?
What are we to think?
What is a faithful response?
What does faith have to say about what is happening?
And: why be a Christian if there is nothing to say?
- Like many of you, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of media coverage and information that has been coming out.
The changes in what has been reported daily, even hourly, are dizzying.
Anxiety is high.
Pension funds have been decimated and money has been lost.
Travel plans have had to be changed.
Worry over health and the possibility of death has become prominent.
The future is uncertain and further changes are inevitable –
although just what they will be is uncertain.
We wonder if the world and our lives will ever be the same.
- Did God do this? Is this a judgment on the world?
This also is a natural thing to wonder.
Certainly God is capable of judging if God so chooses.
But we must remember that, as usual, in times like this it is most likely the vulnerable
who will most suffer: the elderly, the sick, the poor,
those whose health is compromised in some way.
Does that sound like the work of the God revealed to us in Jesus?
I don’t think so.
- So then, what? What are we to make of this?
In the first reading, the Israelites, like us, are in a time of great crisis.
Yes: they have been liberated from slavery in Egypt, and that is a good thing.
But they have not yet arrived in the Promised Land, and they won’t for some time.
For 40 years they will wander in the wilderness – and the wilderness is a hard place to be.
Food is scarce, and water even scarcer.
They are worried they will die of thirst.
They complain to Moses, who asks them, “Why are you complaining to me?”
So Moses complains to God and tells God, “The people are ready to stone me!”
It is a very difficult and threatening situation – but here’s the thing.
God has not left the people without resources.
God is the one who has created the world.
And God has created it in such a way that God has not left the people without resources.
God says, “Take the elders and go to Mount Sinai.
I will be with you – strike the stone there with your staff.”
And water comes pouring out from the stone.
The thing that was the greatest threat – a stone, which could be used for stoning –
becomes a source of life.
God transforms the thing that brings death into something that brings life.
There is water in the rock. With God, there is always water in the rock.
Like on Easter Sunday morning, God brings life from death.
That is God’s business.
There is death and menace and threat, but with God these are never the last word.
Never.
God can use the things that bring death to bring life.
- God has fashioned the world and created it – and God has made it in such a way,
the story reminds us,
that there are resources for life in the midst of the desolate wilderness.
and these resources are discoverable because God who made the world is with us.
- The water from the rock is not necessarily miraculous.
After all, in nature water frequently flows through rock formations.
It is simply there to be discovered – the water is already present there in the rock.
Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that the water that really brings life is present in him.
Eternal life in John’s Gospel does not mean life after death.
A better translation is “fullness of life.”
It means good quality, full life and now and forever.
And the source of that life is Jesus: it is in him. It is available now.
And the water of life available in him . . . is love.
Love is present when God in Jesus is with us.
Love is discoverable and available in the desolate wilderness of the woman’s life.
But why, then is there so much difficulty? For the Israelites, for the woman, for us?
Well, yes: God has fashioned the world in love.
But because God loves the world, God endowed it with freedom.
Nature has freedom and human beings have freedom.
- Nature has freedom.
Nature is not a robotic entity like a puppet on strings that God pulls.
Nature has its own integrity and is free to change and evolve.
Cells, for instance, can mutate.
And that can help species adapt to changing environments and allow life to flourish.
But the same process of mutation can cause some cells to become cancerous.
And that leads to death.
Viruses also have the ability to adapt and evolve. And that makes them dangerous.
Nature itself has freedom. God did not create a robotic universe.
- But human beings also have freedom.
Human beings have the freedom to love or not to love.
In the wilderness they are given manna to eat:
There is food in the wilderness and it is discoverable.
The question is: will they share it in love for everyone’s benefit, or not?
God schools them in how to share it so no one goes hungry.
Just so with the water: there is water in the wilderness and it is discoverable.
The question is: will they share it in love for everyone’s benefit, or not?
Just so with the water of love the Samaritan woman discovers in Jesus.
Will she share it for everyone’s benefit or not?
Of course she does: she runs to the people in her town and tells them about Jesus.
And so they come, and meet Jesus,
and discover for themselves the water of love that brings fullness of life.
- God has made the water of life and love available to us in the desolate wilderness.
And we are most definitely in the wilderness.
We can choose to journey together, or not.
We can choose to hope the water is there, or not.
We can choose to trust that God is with us, or not.
We can choose to find the water, or not.
And we can choose to share the water we find, or not.
- What does sharing the water of love look like for us in this particular wilderness?
First, it means being attentive to our own welfare:
How can we love and care for one another if we ourselves are not well?
Put your own oxygen mask on first, then help someone else’s with theirs.
Second, it means being attentive to everyone else’s welfare.
Do those things that minimize putting anyone else at risk.
Third, be especially attentive to those who are vulnerable: this is the most Christian thing.
Be aware of the needs of the elderly, the immuno-compromised, and the ill.
Fourth, encourage one another.
Remind one another to take the long view.
God’s loving presence was here long before the universe was created.
And God’s loving presence will be here long after the universe has passed away.
We are part of something much, much larger than ourselves.
The church, and indeed our world,
has come through trauma and difficulty and pandemic before –
we are part of a much larger story of God’s plan to bring healing
to a world that God so loves.
Fifth, share the love of Christ that is in you, the water of love that is discoverable in you.
Yes: we may not be able to be in super close proximity with one another for a while.
We may not be able to hug or handshake.
Some may not be able to worship together with us for various reasons.
But we can still love one another! Call one another.
Text and email and check in on one another. Pray for one another.
Deliver food if a sister or brother is sick and unable to get out.
We are still a community even if we are not able to gather all together.
- There is water in the wilderness and it is discoverable.
There is love in the wilderness and it is shareable.
Your best self is still inside you, waiting to be born.
Our best self as a community is still here inside us, waiting to be born.
The truth is that this present reality of uncertainty and fragility
can be the vehicle for God’s love and grace. Water can come from the rock.
So be of good courage. Hold fast to that which is good.
Render to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted. Support the weak.
Help the afflicted. Show love to everyone. Love and serve the Lord.
Even in this time. Especially in this time.
So, with all the saints of every time and every place, together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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