Self-sacrificial love in the time of coronavirus - Vince Brackett

SPEAKER NOTES

Here’s my general encouragement as we kick-off virtual services for a season — I mentioned this in our email that went out last week:

Yes, the whole world is on hiatus. But don’t consider church to be on hiatus. Consider this season of virtual church to be an active participation in the mission of Jesus, the God of self-sacrificial love.

We passed on the stunning charts Vox released about how much social distancing and cancelling public events work to slow the spread of a virus and give medical professionals the time and space needed to treat those affected well. And this is important because we have to keep in mind that things will very likely seem to get worse next week and probably the week after that, but that’s not a reason to panic because that’s not unexpected. That’s what happens with a pandemic, it gets worse before it gets better, but that’s why we’re all trying to flatten that curve with social distancing.

So we are actively choosing this — to do our part for the wellbeing of others, especially those most vulnerable to the dangers of COVID-19 (older adults and immunocompromised individuals — people in our community and people one degree removed from our community), even if it means sacrificing something meaningful to us like meeting together.

Self-sacrifice does feel like sacrifice (because that’s what it is) but in a different way it can fill us up, nourish our souls, because it puts us in the company of Jesus.

If there is no more Jesus-like behavior than self-sacrificial love, then, I wonder, maybe our whole city and world (all those practicing sacrifice for the sake of public health) have the opportunity to be primed to meet with and feel Jesus close to them — if they see the choices they’re making as in the vein of Jesus’ self-sacrificial love. What if our church helped people see their sacrificial choices that way?

The message Lent and Easter bring us back to is that self-sacrifice leads to resurrection — being re-born, re-made, being freed to leave behind what needs to die in us, and being propelled into more of who we’re meant to be. Maybe the whole world has a unique window into that right now in this time.

May that carry us and resource us, may that be our charge right now. This is not a break from church. This is us being the church (as it’s meant to be) as much as ever! Don’t let the sacrifice part of this discourage you, let it feed you! Let the sacrifice part connect you to the bigger vision here — we’re not meeting online just because we’re not meeting in person, we’re meeting online because we’re actively making choices for the sake of public health.

It’s not going to be the same as being together in person. We are all going to feel a little less connected and a little less engaged in some ways — it’s just the nature of virtual connection — and so we’re asking you, during this season of virtual church, to choose to make it a priority even so. We think that in the weeks to come when we’re all isolated much more than usual, you’re going to be glad if you’ve made it a priority to engage with the church virtually — because we’re going to need all the connection we can get.

And, just a quick second remark, as this period of social distancing plays out, gradually another side of Jesus’ self-sacrificial love is going to become most important: the Jesus who sat with lepers, broke stigmas, and courageously loved people in the midst of sickness — ::chat: Jen’s link::

Jen Colburn, one of our stakeholders here, passed on a Google Form for the Chicago COVID-19 Mutual Aid List, managed by Chicago Organizer Kelly Hayes. I signed up, and if you’re feeling compelled along these lines, the link to the Google Form is in your chat or comments section.