H,
As we take our seats within this new reality, there is a tendency to
hyperbole, understandably so, and to write out the impact these trying times
will have on us in definite terms. There are things that will not change and
cannot change. We are not less responsible to the things that we truly believe
in, but more. We believe in the rising sun of eternity, in love as the cure and
in the face of God and the hand of God and the heart of God beating throughout
time. These things do not change.
Even worse, we have been told these things will occur. I do not mean
this in this pseudo-prophetic bend towards the book of revelations and what
signs lead up to what death. I mean that the holy script has written: “in this
life, you shall see many troubles.”  That
sort of stuff. It is not for an age or a time frame or a generation. It refers
to all of us and works through all of time. In 1918 they thought it was the end
of the world too.
In determining what we should do and how we should help, we must remember
who we are and what that means. We must help who we can and how we can. We must
err on the side of love and show the character of love even more than the emotion
of love. We must remember that the church is not a building, but a person and
that person is anyone who believes. The temple is the spirit of God and if you
said “yes” to that summons, you have that spirit thriving in you, even if you do
not speak in other tongues.
There is no getting out of this quickly. It is a hard wall we have all
hit. We have been altered by events beyond our collective and individual
control. Yet, we are being made in the image of eternal things. There is
nothing to fear. The sting is gone. If we are in this, it is gain and if we are
hurt by this, it is Christ. Let us remember we were made for times like this. We
are being made into beings that can thrive for all of time.