Balm In Gilead: Disorientation (09/06/20)

Thursday Sep 24, 2020

With the advent of COVID-19, life as we’ve always known it has fundamentally changed. Before COVID-19, how many of us had ever used the phrase “social distancing,” or imagined that we’d be wearing masks to work or to the supermarket, or that we’d be scheduling Zoom calls with our parents or grandkids while under quarantine?

Who could have imagined working from home full-time while managing our kids’ virtual learning schedules? Who really ever worried about having an adequate supply of toilet paper? Who could have predicted that the most popular phrase of 2020 would be, “You’re on mute”?

On January 1, it was unfathomable to think that 185,000 Americans would perish from an unheard-of virus by September 1; that more than 30 million Americans would lose their jobs; that churches would be closed on Sundays and we’d be worshiping online while sipping coffee in our pajamas.

For many, it was inconceivable that a virus just .12 microns in diameter could bring our relative safety, our economy, our social activities, and our everyday way of life to a sudden halt.

The pandemic has called into question many of the old certitudes upon which we’ve come to depend—especially our scientific and theological ones. We might have assumed that modern advances in science and technology would prevent a pandemic. We might have believed that a loving God would intervene to stop one.

When our old certitudes are shaken, we feel a deep sense of disillusionment. In the midst of so many uncertainties, what can we depend on? Who can we turn to? Where can we go for answers?

In our “Balm in Gilead” series, we’re leaning deeply into these questions in search of fresh wisdom and honest faith, knowing that “dis-illusionment” is exactly that—the loss of our illusions and an opportunity to see something more truthful and real. This series couldn’t be more timely, relevant, and honest as we journey together as people of faith through the most challenging season of our generation.

Thursday Sep 24, 2020

Being Reasonably Happy in this Life (08/30/20)

Thursday Sep 24, 2020

Unpeace is the spiritual pandemic of our age. Our daily newsfeeds remind us that we live in an unpeaceful world of spiraling violence, growing antagonisms, deepening divisions, and chronic anxiety. Against this background of turmoil and conflict, the Serenity Prayer can be a source of hope and peace.

Countless people, whether religious or not, have found that this prayer has helped them to find peace in the midst of their hurried, hassled, and hectic lives. Innumerable people recovering from alcoholism and other addictions pray this prayer daily as part of their twelve-step recovery program. What the prayer teaches us is that, if we’re going to be peacemakers in a strife-filled and hostile world, we first have to seek peace within our own hearts and lives. We cannot share what we do not possess.