The Church Lives, Even From Home: Keeping Your Distance 4

We are going to church today.

We have our bibles.  We have our Books of Common Prayer.

We may not get dressed up fancy.  We may take it real casual.

Because we are going to church...at home.

Some creative types have mastered the technology of putting our service on Facebook Live.  And Alison has figured out how to fling it onto our TV.

The service will be Morning Prayer.  There will not be Eucharist, and some other elements common in regular Mass.  We won't be able to greet each other.  Passing the plate may be tough.

But the loving comfort of God, and embracing the hands and feet of Christ, letting the Holy Spirit fill us?  Got that part down!

The Psalm reading is Psalm 23, the most well known of all the Psalms, and the one that is hitting very close right now:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;[a]
3     he restores my soul.[b]
He leads me in right paths[c]
    for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[d]
    I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff—
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely[e] goodness and mercy[f] shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    my whole life long.[g]

We are walking through a very dark valley right now, but God is with us, and his presence will help lead us to light.

The Old Testament reading includes this from Samuel 16:7 -

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

Sometimes we despair that God does not see past the blustery front some put up.  But he does.

The Gospel reading includes John 9:1-4

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. 4 We[a] must work the works of him who sent me[b] while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 

Night has come.  Fewer and fewer of us can work.  But we must continue to see and shine the light of Christ,  and do all that we can to help each other.

We may be apart for now, but we will keep the world bright.  We will continue to strive to light the world with love and hope.

Now is not the time to abandon faith.

Now is the time to embrace it.