Day 63: The Global Vulnerability of a Global World

DAY 63

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK NINE: SATURDAY 16 MAY 2020

The Global Vulnerability of a Global World

“Our world is sick. I am not just referring to the coronavirus pandemic, but to the state of our civilization, as revealed in this global phenomenon. The global vulnerability of a global world is now plain to see. What kind of challenge does this situation represent for Christianity and the church - one of the first ‘global players’?” “Christianity in a Time of Sickness,” from a Christian magazine, April 13, 2020

“I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church,” we confess every time we affirm our faith using the Nicene Creed written in 325. From its beginning the church, the Body of Christ in the world, has understood itself to be catholic, i.e. universal, world-wide. When Jesus commissioned His disciples following His resurrection He said: “‘Go and make disciples of all nations …” Matthew  28:19, and just before His ascension, He told them how this would be implemented: “‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem … and to the ends of the earth.’” Acts 1:8. It was a globalization mandate of a most eternal kind, embedded in the core of the fledgling church by the Creator of the world, a globalization that remains a central mark of the church to this day.

It was a gathering of perhaps 40 people, all sitting on the floor, men on one side women on the other. The music was non-western in this evangelical service in a poor part of Karachi, Pakistan. I can still visualize it - there was nothing to which I could connect from my American way of ‘doing church,’ except for one thing: the presence of Jesus was palpable in the room, filled as it was with people who had, in the midst of a country founded as an Islamic state, turned their lives over to Jesus who was now living in them – with that I could connect, and it was enough. This is the globalization in which we live as Christians, that everyone everywhere who knows Him is someone we ‘know’ through that shared relationship. It is a stronger bond than any ethnic, cultural, economic or nationalistic bond, for it is the only one that will last forever. The challenge for the church is to continue to embrace its global role in the world as the global player it has been for 2,000 years, and to accelerate that role in this pandemic time.  

Reflective question: Will you ask the Holy Spirit to ‘place’ a vulnerable country in your mind and heart to pray for that country as well as for the church there during this pandemic?

Reflective Scripture:  John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, …”

Reflective hymn:

“In Christ There is No East or West – John Oxenham (1852-1941)

In Christ there is no East or West, in Him no South or North;

But one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.