Hey Rio!
Mark Lautenschlager here again, filling in for Worship Pastor Ryan Brasington, who’s on the mend healthwise but is on vacation this week, continuing to rest. Please persist in lifting up the Brasingtons and all in our church who have been touched by COVID.
Hebrews 13:7-97 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
The number of times I’ve heard someone refer to this year and last as unprecedented is, well…unprecedented. It seems we are now permanent residents in the land of uncharted territory. But you know what? We really aren’t. We’re just experiencing everything at the speed of smartphones and therefore it feels like this is all novel. But again, it’s really not.
Pundits make snarky comments about a Second Civil War coming in America. Over 600,000 Americans died in the last one. We don’t have the stomach for that today, not with smartphones broadcasting live battlefield footage. Others like to say this terrible disease, COVID, is our darkest medical moment. The 1918 Spanish Flu is holding on line one to discuss that with you and the Black Death of the fourteenth century texted to say it managed to kill tens of millions during its pandemic.
So what makes it FEEL so much worse today? Why is there this sense of gloom and foreboding? Might it be that we keep forgetting why we have hope?
The 13th chapter of Hebrews comes at the very end of the letter and it contains Paul’s parting words to this body of believers. He’s finishing with rapid-fire proverbial wisdom to help those believers become more devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. As part of that, Paul wants them to know the reason why they have hope. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can look to our leaders, it says, and imitate their faith (if that faith proves to be true). We can refuse to allow the strange teachings emerging from those who fancy themselves architects of our culture to lead us away.
So what’s the word for 2022, Rio? Maintain. Continue to Gather Weekly, Connect Relationally, Grow Spiritually, and Serve Generously. Follow the same God you have been following, because he hasn’t changed.
Happy New Year!
Mark