So, here we are in our "new normal." We are unable to physically be together as a church family, so we are working out other ways to be together. This morning, we tried church via video chat with Zoom. The good news is that we were able to save part of the video so that you can see part of the sermon for yourselves! The bad news is that it is a section out of the middle. So this will be a hybrid post. I'll give you a synopsis of the beginning of the sermon, and then you can watch the video, and then I'll give you the conclusion. The video has a little glitch at the beginning, but I pray that it you can overlook the quality and focus on the message!
Our sermon was delivered today by Rev. Chris Boyd. He has spoken several times in our church, and is helping to lead our youth group which started just the week before this Covid-19 social distancing thing. He is also a Hospice chaplain.
Rev. Boyd used two sections of scripture this morning:
and
He started out by listing some of the things that are messing up our comfort at the moment: things like unemployment, health concerns, closed schools, and concern over how to safely relate to other people. These things can mentally and spiritually exhausting. Listen in as Rev. Boyd relates our worries to the passage in John 11; Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead:
We don't understand why this is all happening, but we know that God can use this for good. We have lost control over much of our daily life right now. We have to step out in humility and do what God wants us to do. We have to live in the Spirit, not the flesh, as Paul said in the passage from Romans. In the flesh, we get too concerned about our own problems and our own comfort. When we are truly in the Spirit, we are conscious of other people and their suffering.
Jesus is setting us up to go with the flow of God. He is pointing us toward the Easter miracle, and especially toward Good Friday, when we think about Jesus' death on the cross. Jesus had to die in the flesh in order for the miracle of resurrection to occur, just as we have to put aside our concerns of the flesh for the miracle of a Spirit-filled life to occur. Life is fleeting. Our experiences here in this world are meant to connect us to God. Let's not allow our earthly needs to drag us away from the Spirit. Let the Spirit guide us during this time. Let Him lead us into something greater.
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