Help and Hope from God

The Daily Lectionary provides two evening Psalters for March 16. Both are quite appropriate for our present situation. Psalm 121, well known to many, begins with the following affirmation of faith: “I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” The end of the Psalm is reassuring as well, “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.”

Psalm 6 also relates to our present situation in life, “The Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord accepts my prayer.”

As we watch developments regarding the coronavirus and feel its effects, I recall the impromtu prayer written by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr on a tiny sheet of paper, “Lord, grant me the peace to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Our church campus is completely shut down accept for the church office. You are aware of the restrictions that are in place and the current effort to “flatten the curve.” Daily emails will continue from my study with words of encouragement and hope. Let us continue to follow the guidance and directives of our public health officials and give our best effort to comply.

I acknowledge that this is a time filled with uncertainty and anxiety, for many different reasons. May we find peace in the words of our Christian brother Henri Nouwen who shares the following thought, “When we really believe that God is with us, we don’t have to worry about the future. We don’t have to worry about what might happen next. We can start trusting that if we fully live the life in the Spirit, the future will unfold from the present as we travel through life. (Following Jesus, Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety, page 123)

With our streets and neighborhoods still and quiet, our prayer for tonight comes from Flannery O’Connor, “Dear God, please let your light shine out of all the things around us and may we abide in your hope. Amen.” (A Prayer Journal, page 18) May the peace of Jesus Christ be with you. +

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Steve Keeler, Pastor