Day 248: How to Cope When Everything Keeps Changing

 

DAY 248

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-six    Tuesday 17 November 2020

How to Cope When Everything Keeps Changing

“How do you make plans when it’s impossible to make plans? The ground beneath our feet is constantly shifting. Planning for anything more than a week out can feel futile – almost silly – since no one knows what next week, much less the next month, will bring. A surge in virus cases in your area? More lockdowns? Worrying about natural disasters? And concerns about health and financial well-being make matters even worse. The questions are endless, and the answers are always changing.” - From a recent newspaper article by the same title.

Everyone needs a measure of consistency in their lives, to feel secure and to be able to navigate those places and times when change, often unanticipated, comes our way. Rarely avoidable, it falls to us to decide how we will respond, as most changes do not give us the option of opting out. The absence of an ability to respond to change in a grounded way is contributing to a significant rise in a percentage of the population of the planet, as well as our own nation, exhibiting emotional health issues and experiencing mental health crises.

What to do? More than anything we need to stay connected – to family, to friends, to co-workers, to neighbors, to acquaintances in social and civic organizations, and stay connected to others in our worshipping communities. In these days of so many closures and so many shifts to Zoom ‘gatherings,’ it is too easy to unknowingly become emotionally and relationally isolated.  

Staying connected to our worshipping communities is critical for it is where we collectively connect with the unchanging presence of the Triune God who says to us “I am the Lord, I change not.” Malachi 3:6. While we can read our Bibles and pray alone at home, there is something specific about gathering with others, even by Zoom or a pre-recorded service: hymns, Scriptures, prayers, and sermons are used by the Holy Spirit to touch our lives - in specific ways - with the life of Jesus. In these contexts, there are sovereign times of forgiveness, of healing, of the impartation of hope and peace, and of reminders that we are not alone in all that is happening.       

Reflective question: Will you make a list today of steps you need to take to stay connected to others?  

Reflective Scripture: Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  

Reflective hymn: 

“Yesterday, Today, Forever” – A.B. Simpson (1843-1919)

Oh, how sweet the glorious message simple faith may claim:

Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same;

Still He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick and lame,

Cheer the mourner, still the tempest glory to His name!

Day 247: The Holy Spirit said

DAY 247

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-six    Monday 16 November 2020

“The Holy Spirit said”

“Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” - Acts 13:1-3 NIV.

Yesterday the congregation in which I have been serving as pastor during their interim time elected their next installed pastor, a candidate selected by a group elected by the congregation to seek and identify this candidate on their behalf, a team representative of the larger congregation, not unlike the gathering at Antioch. Whether through such a representative team, a single individual like a bishop, or an entire congregation, the Holy Spirit is still doing even during a global pandemic what He has been doing since this event in the early church: calling men and women to serve in particular positions in the Body of Christ. 

Pastors, elders, deacons, missionaries, evangelists, chaplains – yes, but this business of being called and set apart for something in God’s kingdom work isn’t for a select few, it is for all who belong to him – He has no members of His body who are on disability or are furloughed. When  Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it,”  he was making a profound statement about the fundamental nature of every single person who claims Christ as Lord: you have a role to play, set apart by the Holy Spirit.

This pandemic, when so much is changing in our lives, makes for an opportune time to ask the Lord what He has set us apart for in the world in which we live. To ask is to know he is listening; to ask is to trust he will answer; to ask is for us to respond to what he says.

Reflective question: Will you ask?

Reflective Scripture: Isaiah 6:8 – “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”

Reflective hymn:

“Here I Am, Lord” – Dan Schutte (1947 -     )

I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry.

All who dwell in deepest sin, my hand will save.

I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright,

Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have head you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.

Day 246: Holy Scriptures

 

DAY 246

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-six    Sunday 15 November 2020

Holy Scriptures

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer, for the Sunday closest to 16 November.

This prayer, written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer of the Church of England, 1489-1556, is from the original Book of Common Prayer which he authored, and remains the most succinct prayer ever written regarding our relationship with Holy Scripture. It bears dissecting.

The PURPOSE of Holy Scripture: “for our learning” – How does this happen in your life?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our RESPONSE to Holy Scripture: how do these function in your life?

+ hear___________________________________________________________

+ read___________________________________________________________

+ mark___________________________________________________________

+ learn___________________________________________________________

+ inwardly digest____________________________________________________

                        

The desired RESULT of our engaging with Scripture in these ways:

“that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life”

What does this mean in your life?_________________________________________

Reflective question: How often do you read God’s Word and spend time reflecting on it?

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 119:18 - “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your word.”

Reflective hymn:

“Ancient Words” – Michael W. Smith (1957-    )

Holy words long preserved for our walk in this world,

They resound with God’s own heart Oh, let the ancient words impart.

Ancient words ever true changing me and changing you.

We have come with open hearts, Oh let the ancient words impart. 

Day 245: When Truth and Trust Diverge

 

DAY 245

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-five    Saturday 14 November 2020

When Truth and Trust Diverge

The theme of this post was birthed in me while reading an article on the relationship between evangelical Christians and the plethora of conspiracy posts out there purporting to be based on truth. These twin forces of truth, a noun, and trust, a verb, form the basis of our Christian faith. We believe the scandalous statement of Jesus in John 14:7 – “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If we believe that this statement is truth, and that Jesus is the personification of truth, then it follows logically that we therefore trust in that truth. It is our Christian capacity for trust that makes us vulnerable.

What happens when those who trust embrace things that are not true but do so precisely because they are trusting individuals? Nothing appeals more to the brokenness within us and nothing is more oppositional to the truth we embrace than conspiracies. Once embraced they take an almost demonic hold on those who embrace them, who then defend them vigorously. To do otherwise, to acknowledge we have been wrong, says something about our inability to discern rightly and we are, more often than not, unwilling to expose ourselves that way. 

Conspiracies feed on fear of a particular form of government, of those with whom we disagree, of others who are ‘not like us,’ with the greater the fear the more frightening the conspiracy. But to repeat anything that is not true is to disobey God: “Do not spread false reports.” Exodus 23:1. No false reports gain more traction today than those stirring in religious language that appeals to evangelicals and claims to come from a secret source, many quoting 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Conspiracy comes from the Latin for ‘to breathe together,’ meaning ‘to agree to plot.’ Those who belong to Jesus have no business entertaining or worse, spreading conspiracies. As Christians, we are to live by John 3:21: “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in God’s sight.”

Reflective question: In this present charged political atmosphere, will you ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything you are believing that isn’t true? Determine to trust truth and trust in truth.

Reflective Scripture: Proverbs 18:8 – “Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart.”

Reflective hymn: “Open My Eyes” – Clara Scott (1841-1897)

Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;

Place in my hand the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.

Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth Thou sendest clear;

And while the wave notes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear.

Day 244: 2.5 Million Years of Life Lost

 

DAY 244

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-five    Friday 13 November 2020

2.5 Million Years of Life Lost

“In less than a year, the coronavirus has killed more than 225,000 Americans. But even that staggering number downplays the true toll of the pandemic. Every death represents years of potential life lost, years that might otherwise have been filled with rich memories of family, friends, productivity and joy – trips to the grocery store, late night conversations on the phone, tearful firsts with a newborn baby…. In a new analysis, a geneticist at a major university tabulated the ages of Americans known to have died of COVID-19, and tallied the number of years they might have lived had they reached a typical life expectancy. His calculations show that the coronavirus has claimed more than 2.5 million years of potential life in the United States since the start of 2020. Nearly half of those years were taken from people under the age of 65…. ‘These are everyday people who are dying,’ he said. ‘They’re losing time with their kids, their grandkids, their opportunities to build their futures.’” - From a current newspaper article by the same name.

“’O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you – O Absalom, my son, my son!’” 2 Samuel 18:33. This is easily the most wrenching heart cry in all the Bible. David is mourning the loss of his son and not only the love from him and to him lost, but his life in the future, all the things that would never be because of his untimely death.

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 5:13-17. It is unwise to assume the future is secured. This Scripture calls us to ask what the good is that we ought to be doing, now, and sternly informs us that to not do that good is sin. It’s a matter of redeeming time - time those who have died of COVID-19 no longer have.  

Reflective question: Are you, while living, losing time by being careless with it? Determine to pray each day asking the Lord to help you become a careful faithful steward of your time.

Reflective Scripture: Ephesians 5:16 – “…make the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

Reflective hymn: “Sovereign Ruler of the Skies” – John Ryland (1753-1825)

Sovereign Ruler of the skies! Ever gracious, ever wise!

All my times are in Thy hand, all events at Thy command.

He that formed me in the womb, He shall guide me to the tomb;

All my times shall ever be, ordered by His wise decree.

Day 243: Country Focus Sweden

 DAY 243

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-five    Thursday 12 November 2020

Country Focus: Sweden

Sweden is one of four Scandinavian countries where Lutheranism became the state church during the Reformation and remained so until 2000. However, it still retains a central though diminishing presence and influence in Swedish culture. Against this decline in the state church is the growth in evangelical and Pentecostal/charismatic churches, all of whom as minority ‘free churches’ have forged a remarkable intentional network for working and at times worshipping together.    

Prayer Focus

+ Pray for the small number of pastors and congregations in the Lutheran church who are committed to the Gospel as evangelical believers. Pray for their witness in the Lutheran Church.

+ Pray for Swedes as an unreached people group, only 25% of whom say they believe in God.

+ Pray for protection for the unity amongst evangelical free churches as they cooperate in new church planting efforts where the gospel is preached, and people come to Christ.

+ Pray for the youth who, in particular, have embraced a post-Christian secular worldview.

+ Pray for efforts by both evangelicals within the Lutheran church and many free churches, evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic, as they seek to work together to reach the many immigrants to whom Sweden has granted asylum, especially the dominant Muslim groups.

+ Pray for the commitment to missions of both some Lutheran and all free churches that the Holy Spirit will guard and grow their efforts.

Jesus’ Prayer Request each Week:

“’The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest,

therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Jesus - Matthew 9:37-38.

For additional information on praying for Sweden go to: operationworld.org.

Reflective question: Will you pray the requests above for the next seven days?

Reflective Scripture: Zechariah 14:9 – Ranked first in Sweden in an international survey of the favorite verse of Christians in each country: “The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.”

Reflective hymn:

“How Great Thou Art” (Swedish trans. into English) Carl Boberg (1859-1940)

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder

consider all the worlds Thy hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,

how great Thou art, how great Thou art;

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,

how great Thou art, how great Thou art.

Day 242: They Shall Not Grow Old

 

DAY 242

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-five    Wednesday 11 November 2020

Veterans Day

They Shall Not Grow Old

They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

I first encountered this poem on a large bronze plaque listing the names of World War I dead in the Anglican cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand. I remember standing there sensing a surge of emotion at the thought of the thousands of men, most of them quite young, who would never grow old because of the senselessness of war. I felt a similar emotion when standing before the thousands of names on the Vietnam War memorial in Washington, D.C., another senseless war that for thousands of my generation meant they would never grow old as I have.  

Called the “Ode to Remembrance,” it is taken from a larger poem, “The Fallen,” written by Laurence Binyon in 1914 after the Battle of Mons mowed down the youth of Britain in the early days of what was believed to be the war to end all wars, World War I. In the English-speaking world, it has become the most familiar tribute to the dead of all subsequent wars.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, Germany and the allies signed a cease fire ending World War I. Originally called Armistice Day and then Remembrance Day in some countries (after the Korean War it was changed to Veterans Day in the United States), and kept on the actual date lest we forget, the 11th day of the 11th month. 

Because people are broken and bent toward evil, the tragedy of war will be with us until Christ returns. For most of my adult life, but especially in my later years, I have noticed uniformed men and women in public places – especially in airports – and have felt a measure of emotion in the realization that by donning that uniform they are saying they would be willing to fight to defend me, even to the laying down of their lives for mine. Today is a day set aside to engage in sober remembrance of all who have done so, as well as all who have served and survived.

Reflective question: Will you call someone you know who is a veteran and thank them today?

Reflective Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:8 – “There is a time …for war, and a time for peace.”

Reflective hymn:

“O God, the Strength of Those Who War” - William Carpenter (1841-1918)    

O God, the strength of those who war, the hope of those who wait.

Be with all those gone forth to fight, and those who keep the gate.

Day 241: A Larger Circle

 

DAY 241

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-five    Tuesday 10 November 2020

A Larger Circle

“The historian Arnold Toynbee once suggested that every civilization reaches a point at which it can neither go forward nor back. The conservatives and progressives both burn with hyped-up fervor: One side thinks that Covid-19 is a hoax and that vaccines are a vast conspiracy, while the other thinks that gun owners are stupid troglodytes and wonders what signs to put on public restrooms. The only way out, Toynbee wrote, is transfiguration: You must draw a larger circle in time…. With that larger view, you suddenly see old things in a new light. Maybe that time has come.” - From a recent newspaper article: “What I saw while I was sick with Covid-19”

She was fifteen years old when he came to Pasadena, California, where in high school she studied, loved, and wrote poetry. Knowing she could buy a signed original, she worked and saved until she had the required 50 cents. Standing in line she met him, purchased the poem in his own hand and signed by him, and years later passed it on to me. She was my mother, and this treasured poem on the wall of my office in our home, one of his most famous, entitled “Outwitted,” reads:

He drew a circle that shut me out -

heretic, rebel a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win:

we drew a circle that took him in.

Edwin Markham 1852-1940

It is the larger circle of Toynbee in the newspaper article referenced above. Both ‘circle’ references bring to mind the largest circle ever drawn, that of the God of the universe when descending to a virgin’s womb. Within that redemptive circle he encompassed Jews, Gentiles, slaves, free persons, men, women, and every possible category of individuals on the planet.

Reflective question: Will you ask the Holy Spirit to show you someone who has ‘shut you out’ or someone you have ‘shut out,’ and then ask Him to show you how to draw a circle that will include them in a way that heals the relationship between the two of you? You won’t be sorry.

Reflective Scripture: Romans 2:11 – “For God does not show favoritism.”

Reflective hymn: “Help us Accept Each Other” – Fred Kaan (1929-2009)

Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life

We struggle to be human and search for hope and faith.

Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some,

To love them as we find them, or as they may become. 

Day 240: Beware ‘Election Stress Disorder’

 

DAY 240

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-five   Monday 9 November 2020

Beware ‘Election Stress Disorder’

“From the droves of people voting by mail to the widespread protests for racial justice to the pandemic and worries about the electoral process itself, the 2020 election cycle provides a recipe for a lot of angst…. With the pandemic keeping many families apart, the usual rallying points – like shared love of a sports team – have frayed. One of the very few things that remains, and not only remains but is heightened, is our political standing. People are way more polarized even within their families and essential groups than they ever have been before.” - From a recent newspaper article by the same name.

There is a constellation of factors today pressing into our individual existence unlike anything any of us have ever known. We neither know how to discern or decipher it, nor how to respond to it in ways that protect who we are from being wounded. It’s not easy.

Because these columns are written and posted a week ahead, I take this first opportunity to ask you how election day went for you – what was the stress level? I have never seen Americans so polarized by rhetoric that is only ratcheting up, and I have found that at times it actually affects me physically. So, what did I do election day? First, I spent time with the Lord in His eternal trustworthy Word and in prayer. Then I spent an hour and a half just sitting at a piano playing classical music, the place where I would hide for years growing up – seemed like a good place still even at my age. Then I went home and wrote these columns for this week after having put Handel’s Messiah on my computer. I accompanied our college choir on the organ when they sang it one Christmas, and it has remained embedded in me to this day – a place of refuge.   

While election-related stress will hopefully pass, other stressors remain, chief among them the invisible viral enemy that still stalks the world. So if you do not already have them, think about places of refuge about which you can be intentional, and don’t wait to go there when the stress is ‘too much’ – make them part of your everyday routine and they will serve you well.

Reflective question: Where do you ‘go’ for refuge in times of stress - election or otherwise?

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 46:1 – “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Reflective hymn:

“God, Our Help and Constant Refuge – Psalm 46” – Fred Anderson (1941-    )

(A Presbyterian Church USA pastor for many years, Fred and I were classmates in seminary).

God, our help and constant refuge, ever present in our need!

Though the earth be ever changing, though it fall into the sea,

Rock secure, ever sure, through all tumult you endure.

Day 239: The Works of the Devil

 

DAY 239

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

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-five    Sunday 8 November 2020

The Works of the Devil

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer: For the Sunday closest to 9 November.

“No one believes in the devil or in demons today,” he said: “That’s superstitious belief from the Middle Ages and before.” He was the professor of church history and Reformation studies in seminary, responding to my submitted topic for my term paper in the class on Calvin’s Institutes, “The Role of Satan in Calvin’s Theology.” “Maybe some don’t believe in the devil or demons today,” I countered, “but Calvin did, and I would like to explore what he had to say about the subject.” With that he grudgingly gave permission, as he knew Satan or the devil could be found throughout Calvin’s writings. Bottom line? The devil is real and God is Sovereign. 

Some churches focus too much on the powers of darkness, while others are dismissive of the whole idea and basically ignore the same. Both extremes are problematic. When Satan or demons are responsible for all evil, wrong, sickness and sin, then we lose the necessity of our ownership of our own context. When darkness is denied we are left to deal with its machinations defenseless and deluded. As with so much in life, balance is the order of the day. 

Todays’ prayer paraphrases the King James Version in its opening line: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. That purpose is expanded in Hebrews 2:14-15: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

Reflective question: Are there any ‘works of the devil’ in your life you need to renounce?

Reflective Scripture: James 4:7 – “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Reflective hymn: “A Mighty Fortress is our God” verse 3 – Martin Luther

And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.

The Prince of Darkness grim we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure,

For lo! His doom is sure, one little word shall fell him.