4 Lent/Year A

March 22, 2020

In this time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

You can listen to the audio recording of the sermon HERE

Today’s scriptures

1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41

I don’t imagine that any of us sitting here this morning…had ever imagined that this season of Lent, would unfold in the way it has…Just a few short weeks ago, it seems,…the COVID 19 virus was effecting lives in China, and other countries…Yes…our hearts were going out to the people in those countries…our hearts were breaking for people enduring such uncertainty, chaos, and fear…But, the physical distance of these countries, in the beginning…felt so remote…It was happening somewhere else…not here…somehow…I still felt safe here…as if it would only happen somewhere else…and not so close to home…

I can’t even remember, right now, when the moment hit me, that what was happening somewhere else…was happening here too…

The events in the past few weeks have been changing in a blink of an eye…and it seems as if we are caught up in a whirlwind, in which we are being tossed every which way…a whirlwind of information being thrust upon us, at the same time another dose of loss and uncertainty being added into the mix, hour by hour…

Every day, we are being asked to do one more hard thing, after another…things we’ve never had to do before… making some very difficult decisions that we’ve never been faced with before…We are being asked to stay home, keep our distance from each other, don’t travel, don’t gather in groups, don’t meet in the church as we’ve always done, don’t send the kids to school or to the playground to be around other families, don’t visit anyone in the pioneers home, don’t visit the elderly, the vulnerable, those whose health is compromised, don’t travel to see your aging loved one in their care facility, because they aren’t allowing visitors, don’t travel to attend a long-planned wedding, don’t plan a wedding right now, don’t plan any kind of a celebration that would bring lots of people together, don’t worry, don’t panic, do not fear…

When we hear these words over and over again…don’t do this, don’t do that…it can be very difficult to do the very thing we are trying not to do…to not worry, to not be fearful, to not panic…

The opening stanza from a Thomas Merton prayer gives me a starting place to begin again, and to turn away from this fear that can take root very easily in our hearts, in a time of such uncertainty, with the many voices that are vying for our attention…and to turn once again to my faith, my beliefs, and my trust in God…that indeed we can believe, that in Jesus, we have a Shepherd…who will lead us and guide us, in all times, and in all places, and in all circumstances…

Listen to Thomas Merton’s words:

O Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going,

I do not see the road ahead of me,

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

We have always lived in times of uncertainty… there are things every day, that are out of our control…we are reminded of that every time someone we love dies, and we couldn’t do anything to stop it from happening, every time someone we love is diagnosed with cancer and there is no cure, every time someone we love becomes addicted to substances that take control of their lives, and we are left feeling helpless to help them….

Somehow, we have allowed ourselves to falsely believe that we did have control over every aspect of our lives and the lives of those whom we love….and that we were solely responsible for everything that happened, good and bad, in our lives and the lives of others…we have forgotten that we belong to God, and to each other…

That’s why when we find ourselves in the midst of this never-ending wave of uncertainties, and new hard things being thrust upon us, daily…we find ourselves fearful, we find ourselves feeling unequipped to cope and deal with so many of these things that are not in our control right now.

And, as unsettling as it may feel right now…this is the time…to let go…to let go of the need to try and control every moment of what is happening now…and let God back in - to walk with you, to comfort you, and support you in this time of uncertainty…

Believe in God… Believe, that in Jesus, we have a Shepherd…who will lead us and guide us, in all times, and in all places, and in all circumstances…Believe, that in Jesus...we have a voice that is calling us to lie down in green pastures…rest our souls for a time…a voice that is inviting us and leading us to still waters…

Yes, we live in the world…we have to follow the laws, the mandates, the voices of science and the experts who know best on how to give us strong evidenced-based and accurate guidance on how to deal with this current pandemic.

But, we are not just people of the world…we have a spirit and a heart and a body that belongs to God, and we are always in God’s care…we are always being held in the palm of God’s hands…

The last stanza in the same Thomas Merton prayer I quoted a few moments ago…assures us of that….

Therefore I will trust You always

Though I may seem to be lost

And in the shadow of death.

I will not fear,

For You are ever with me,

And You will never leave me

To make my journey alone.

The Lord is my Shepherd…

Hymn after sermon: The Lord is my shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want,

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want,

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil,

For you are with me, You will comfort me

For you are with me, You will comfort me,

Comfort me.

Surely goodness and mercy, shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

Forever Forever Forever Forever

Singers: Elin Manahan Thomas and the choir of St. David's Catherdral, Wales Music: Howard Goodall

Rev Julie Platson, Rector

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church

Sitka, Alaska