Seeking to use the coronavirus epidemic as an opportunity

We are experiencing unprecedented times because of COVID-19! When in memory have restaurants, bank lobbies, and parks closed? When in recorded history have Christian churches stopped meeting? There have been great epidemics before. I have read estimates that during the Middle Ages about a third of the European population died from the bubonic plague. I’ve read that an estimated 20 to 50 million people died world-wide during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic. When the polio epidemic hit in the 1940’s and 50’s, many were affected, and even stayed home – SOME of the time. Yet, did people stop meeting all together? Did churches stop worshiping?

But now, the contagious nature of the coronavirus has our leaders recommending “social distancing.” In Gainesville, FL, where Kathy and I are in retirement right now, there is a “stay at home” order (which has various applications according to the governmental declaration) for Alachua County. In Alaska, those traveling home by air are required to observe a 14 day self-quarantine. People who are frail are keeping their distance from others. In some ways, people who are facing such forced isolation feel imprisoned. In some ways, we really are imprisoned.

But, I have spent many hours ministering to those actually in our prisons. Over 40 years of pastoral ministry, I often visited people who were incarcerated. St. John Lutheran in Palmer led worship once a month for 25 years at the Palmer Correctional Center, until it closed in September 2016. I learned some lessons from those in our correctional system.

One of the lessons which I learned is that “people ‘doing time’ ‘have time.’” When a person cannot go to work, when they cannot visit with family, when they cannot be involved in local community activities, they find other ways to fill their time. Those in prison, like many of us, don’t always make the best decisions on how to use their time. But, when I visited jails and prisons, I was primarily involved with people who were church members, or with those who participated in prison worship life. I saw these men (and sometimes women) make choices to be honest about their crimes, and choices to seek God’s help to change their lives. So, with free time on their hands, I watched men study Scripture, develop a prayer life, and grow habits of regular worship. When faced with “time” on their hands, time which they had not planned to have, they found ways to use it for their good, and for God’s glory.

As the Coronavirus progresses, as leaders make decisions about businesses and public gatherings, as our lives are changed and we have time on our hands, what can you do now that you do have this “unexpected free time?” What are those activities which you always wanted to do, but which you thought you were just too busy to be serious about, for which you now actually have time?

Have you always wanted to read your Bible, but you couldn’t the find time? Now we have the gift of time to study and learn the truths of God for our lives. Have you intended to develop the discipline of prayer, but you didn’t have time because of work or school? Now you have time to pray, to spend your minutes and hours sharing with your Heavenly Father all that is on your heart and mind. Now you also have time to listen to our Lord’s wise and loving answers.

Maybe you wanted to spend more time together as a family. In fact, many parents want their children to know about our Lord, but somehow have felt too busy for Church, or for Sunday School, or for teaching their children. (But, is there really anything more important than teaching our children about the love of God?) Last week a friend sent me an internet link for 100 printable coloring pages of Bible Stories for kids. So, imagine coloring one page a day, and talking about the story with your children, or with your grandchildren. (Please see link below.)

Perhaps you have wanted to put your Christian faith into action, to love and serve others the way Jesus has loved you. With social distancing, showing love to others may be hard to do. But, I expect you have friends who could use a phone call, and maybe they would let you pray with them over the phone. I’m sure there are volunteer opportunities that allow for social distancing.

In Colossians 4:5-6, God inspires Paul to write and instruct the people in the city of Colossae, in what is modern day Turkey, “5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. In other words, God has loved us in Jesus’ sacrificial life and death and resurrection. How can we use the opportunities we receive to respond to our Lord’s mercy and to share God’s love with other?

Last Saturday I helped with the video-taping of worship in the congregation which I am attending in Florida. Then, on Sunday morning, Kathy and I followed the liturgy, sang the hymns, and worshiped together, through the computer in our home. But, later that day we did something which Kathy said she thought I had never done on a Sunday morning — we went fishing! Because we had the time, we took this opportunity to enjoy God’s Creation. We didn’t catch any fish, but spending 4 hours together on the water, watching wildlife, was a real blessing.

God’s children often say, “We don’t have enough time.” For many of us, we now have the unexpected gift of time. How will you “make the most of this opportunity”, to grow, to worship, and to serve?