Romans 5:3,4 “...but let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” We have been suffering through the pandemic for quite a while now; but today is a sign of hope.[i]
We are meeting inside again for a church service. Praise the Lord. It seems a little strange. It has been a little while. It reminds me of the story of Noah and the flood a little bit.[ii] It reminds me of Genesis Chapter 8 – especially the part where Noah and his family send out the birds.
Noah and his family had been in their social bubble, secluded from others for a long time. The earth was covered by a flood. To me this is reminiscent of the many people who have been secluded from others in many ways and some more than others – some completely or almost completely – as the whole earth has been flooded with this pandemic.
Genesis Chapter 8 especially resonated with me this week in the context of church services, as we are now allowed to have them again; dedicated religious services - like so much else in our society - have been cut off by the flood waters of covid-19. Many of us have been very careful to follow all the rules as we suffer through this pandemic looking forward to the promise, the hope that one day the flood waters of covid-19 will recede.
When it looked like the floodwaters that were covering the earth might be dissipating, Noah sent out the birds. He sent out a raven and a dove to see if everything was okay, to see if he and his family could return to a ‘new normal’.
In BC here we have sent out metaphorical birds like Noah’s raven and dove to test our floodwaters, to see if the flood of coronavirus has abated. In the context of church gatherings, the first time the dove was sent out could have been when we here sent out newsletters intermittently, and when we and many other congregations posted services and/or our words of encouragement on-line. This was one dove we sent flying above the pandemic-flooded world to see if it would find a place to land. Like churches all over North America, however, we found out there was no firm ground to land upon there. The churches sent out the dove of on-line services with a lot of hope but -by and large, according to the stats, in most cases- it came back with diminishing returns; this was not the ‘new normal’ – but it was a dove that was sent out searching for hope and a place to land. It was a symbol of our hope.
Another time that the dove went out over the flood waters of covid-19 was when we were allowed to gather as a church, meeting for the first time – last fall. These church services were another dove sent out over the waters. And a faithful group of us gathered, hoping that maybe this dove would find a place to land and remain and flourish. For a number of weeks we tested the waters in this way (and society tested it in other ways as well – such as open restaurants which they experimented with even longer than open church buildings) but the dove of both the open restaurants and the church services was pulled back into the Ark of Isolation - the dove left the air of the church services to settle on the Ark of Isolation just before Christmas of 2020.
And then there was the raven in Genesis 8. The raven I think is like our service to the community. The Bible is very clear that we have to look after one another. The Bible is very clear that we are not to exclude others from the opportunities to serve God and others. We ae to include others, rather than objectify them; We are to be selfless and not selfish. Our faithfulness in doing this; our faithfulness in serving others – I think – is akin to the raven who was sent out and continued to be out there flying back and forth even as the floodwaters continued to cover the earth. The raven stayed safely apart from the floodwaters but was out there all the same. I think the raven is the hampers that we delivered straight to people’s homes; I think the raven is those who packed and sorted and delivered these hampers; I think the raven is the meals that we have served on the truck; I think the raven is those who cooked them, dished them out and served them; I think the raven is the number of people who have made sandwiches and other meals and assembled them and continue to make them to bring to those in need. I think our continued service is the raven flying back and forth above the waters of the pandemic – and we will remain flying back and forth above the waters serving and offering hope to those suffering from the pandemic as long as the pandemic remains.
But now we are sending out the dove again. Today we are sending out the dove of safe, sanitized, socially distanced church services, again. Today we are here testing the waters. I don’t know whether the dove with come back with an olive branch this time or not. I don’t know whether this is the beginning of the end of the pandemic today or not. I don’t even know whether we will be able to meet inside to worship our Lord and Saviour next week or not but I do know that today we – along with the rest of the Universal Church in British Columbia – are sending out that dove in the hopes that all the suffering and trials of the pandemic are soon to be over.
Today I want to leave us with this verse from Romans that has a very special meaning to me because an angel shared it with me before my family and I were about to go through some very difficult times and hopefully it will have a very special meaning for us all now as hopefully we are beginning to come out the other end of some significant suffering in our world.
The angel told me, from Romans 5:3,4 “...but let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” And Verse 5, “And hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
As we conclude are worship time today let us do so in renewed character, strength and hope that indeed our Lord with see us through this storm. He will.
Let us pray
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[i] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay "Romans 5:3,4: Hope and an Angel on the Downtown Eastside". Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on April 20, 2008; Swift Current Corps on August 09, 2009; Corps 614 Regent Park on May 15, 2016. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/04/romans-534-hope-and-angel-on-downtown.html
[ii] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, "Genesis 9:8-17: Salvation (Matthew 24:37-38. Luke 17:26-27, Hebrews 11:7, 1 Peter 3:20-22)". Presented to Swift Current community at Lenten Lunch Service, 26 February 2015; the Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army 01 March 2015; and Corps 614 Regent Park, 28 June 2015. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2015/02/genesis-98-17-salvation-matthew-2437-38.html
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