Convictions in Quarantine

Certainly, our lives have been upended. Massive change happened very quickly for all of us. Quite literally, one day life was normal and the next it wasn't. I'll be honest, for the first week or so, I felt stress and anxiety over the future, fear for my family's and my own health, and worry about finances. 

One thing that really helped me was maintaining my daily routine of reading the Bible, meditating on it, and praying. Love First Church happened (providentially, I believe) to be in a reading cycle that included several psalms, and the psalms spoke and testified about the goodness of God and the reasons we have to trust to him and find our refuge in him. I added journaling to my daily routine to help me track the promises of God and the reasons to be confident in him and this helped immensely.

I want to share with you several convictions I've developed over this time in quarantine. I'd love to hear what you are learning during this time, so feel free to contact me and let me know what you are learning. Also, if you have a specific challenge you're working through, or something you'd like to talk about, let me know -- I'd love to help you through this time. And certainly, please let me know how I can pray for you.

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Here are eight convictions I've developed, in no particular order.
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1. Develop a daily Bible reading and prayer routine. There is no better way to guard your thoughts and your propensity to anxiety and worry than to be filled with the word of God and to turn to God in prayer. Many of us have extra time; we should use that time to grow in our faith. This will pay massive dividends for us, not only now, but especially as we come out of this. If you are unsure what to read, let me know, and I'll send you a copy of Love First Church's April Bible Reading Calendar. Just pick up on the day of the month and you will be reading along with us. 
2. We are all priests; we are all missionaries. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (2 Peter 2:9). "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went" (Acts 8:4). The early church was a family of priests and missionaries. God has been convicting on how and where I can be a blessing to or share the word with others. Each one of us can do this. Consider taking something you learned from your daily Bible reading and sharing it with others as a blessing to them. 
3. Care for yourself and your family. People are stressed out and anxious, which can make us more prone to becoming sick as stress attacks our immune systems. It's very important to get as much sleep as you can. Take a nap if you feel like it. Rest as much as possible. Drink more water than you think you need. Eat well. 
4. Seek to love first as best you can. It's difficult to love when you are not around people. But what can you do? I'm going out once a week to buy groceries. We have to wait in line to get into the grocery stores. I try to engage in friendly banter with the people who are in line (practicing good social distance, of course). No one likes to wait, and it is stressful being in line. In the stores, I try to be as positive as I can with workers, thanking them for their time and dedication to keeping the store as safe and clean as they can. If asked, I donate something to the money they collect for food pantries as a way of trying to make sure even the "least of these" will have enough. How can you love first in these times?
5. Envision the future, and consider multiple possibilities. This may speak, initially, to church leaders, but I think it speaks to all of us. I believe "church" will be different coming out of this. I won't be surprised if, after this initial wave of social distancing, when we are allowed to resume public meetings, those meetings will be size restricted for awhile. What will you do if churches are allowed to meet in groups of no larger than 50? How will this affect your church? What if this were to go on for another six months to a year? How will you be the church? We all need to examine our core values around what the church is and be thinking about what a new reality might look like. How can your family be the church right now? How can a large church disperse itself into smaller communities? 
6. Even while you're watching church, do not lose sight of the fact that you are a church. This one combines with (5) above. Your own, immediate family, is your church. Your network of neighbours, friends, coworkers, and family is your mission field. How are you learning the way of Christ and how are you sharing with others? Are you teaching your children, or grandchildren, the word of God? (You can use Zoom, or another video conferencing technology, for this.) Are you praying for lost people to find their way to Jesus? Are you searching for persons of peace? We can still be highly missional and highly focused on ministry during this time. It takes, perhaps, more intentionality and creativity, but I believe God is working through his Spirit to help his church during this time. 
7. Establish a family altar. "There [Abraham] built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord" (Genesis 12:8). God really convicted me on this one. I have not always been good at leading the spiritual vitality of my family. If we were having the occasional spiritual conversation and prayer time, and the family was reading their Bible and active in church, that was good enough. But God has convicted me that this is, in fact, not good enough, and that this is a sin of pride on my part. So, one of the things I will be doing is establishing a family altar in our home. By "altar," I do not mean establishing a physical object. Instead, I'm picking up on the function of Abraham's altar: it was a place of remembrance and a place where he called upon the Lord. Each day, probably around dinner time, we will read the Bible and pray together, following our Learning Circle format. (If you would like to see this format, let me know, and I'll get a copy to you.)
8. Recall weekly, or even more frequently, the symbols of the New Covenant. "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." (Genesis 9:16). "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." (1 Corinthians 11:26). After the flood, the rainbow served as a symbol, both to humans and to God, that God had promised he would never again destroy the earth with a flood. Symbols and visuals are important because they remind us what God has already done and what he has promised yet to do. When Jesus was about to die, he gave new symbols to remember the New Covenant -- symbols that remind us of his body and blood, given for us. These are symbols of God's grace and anchor points that keep us steady in our faith. Remembering them regularly by sharing them together will help us find peace in a time of storm. 

I pray that you have been blessed by these and I would love to hear what you are learning during this time. Feel free to reach out and share, or let me know if I can help you in some other way.