In his new book, God and the Pandemic,[1] Anglican Professor Emeritus, The Rt. Reverend N. T. Wright, gives us some reassuring guidance in the present pandemic. I concur with Bishop Wright, and I submit that we can apply this guidance to the other two prongs of the fork upon which we, our nation, and the world are currently being skewered: cultural upheaval and economic collapse. I submit Bishop Wright’s paraphrased, edited, and truncated guidance for your consideration.[2]
One should interpret the entire Bible through the lens of Jesus. Old Testament prophesies about repentance and national judgment are all “subsumed” in Jesus.[3] Of course, “God is God” and as such, nothing can limit how He chooses to work. But, as a general rule, there can be no new call to repentance, judgment, or salvation other than the life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus as written in the Bible and proclaimed by the Church. He is the last and greatest sign. There have always been wars, plagues, famines, and the like as well as all manner of evil done by people directly or indirectly since the earliest recorded history. The Bible tells us, and history corroborates, that these events will occur again and again.
Thus, it should not be said that the current distress is a new call from God for us “get right with God” or is a new, though well-deserved, indictment of national sin. Neither is it an indication that the end is near. Jesus, Himself, was the last and final Word on those subjects.
Since eternity past, God is still sovereign over the cosmos, but He expresses that sovereignty differently in the Church Age (New Testament times,) up to and including the present. The finished work of Jesus makes this so.
God now expresses His sovereignty through His church. He has delegated to the church the privilege of cooperating with Him in bringing His Kingdom to come to people. With that privilege comes the responsibility of the Church and the people of the Church, as the Nike® advertisement admonishes to just do it!
The church is called to unite, to pray, to serve, and to lead by word and by example. In times of gladness, we pray prayers of rejoicing, and we rejoice with people over God’s goodness. However, in hard times like these, we are called to express prayers of lament as did the Psalmist. Only in lament for the misery that we and particularly for that of others, can we truly know their pain and honestly grieve with them as Jesus did over the death of Lazarus and the impending fall of Jerusalem.
In our lament, we ask not “why” for, “Who can know the mind of God?” It is folly and presumption to try to figure out why God does what He does. Rather, in our lament, we ask “what,” “how,” and “who?”
During these times, we lament. The Psalms are full of lament. Perhaps, they were written for “such a time as this.” Esther 4:4. Let us find those Psalms of lament and pray them back to God. Psalm 34 is a good place to start. Let us ask Him to allow us to experience the suffering of the people He loves. Only in that way can we love as God loves. We must be prepared to give Him the sacrifice of our own lament, pain, and love.
Some count about fifty Psalms of or that contain, lament. Included among these are Psalms of personal lament. Examples: Psalms 3-5, 9-10, 13-14, 22, 25, 39, 41 42-43, 54-57, 69-71, 77, 86, 88, and 140-142. Examples of communal lament include: Psalms 12, 44, 58, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, and 85.
After the time of lament, we turn our prayer to the questions of “what,” “how,” and “to whom.”
- What does God want the church and me, personally, to do about what is taking place?
- How can I join in with God to bring His kingdom to hurting people? And,
- Who are the people to whom God is calling the church, and me, personally, to minister?
Waiting comes next. Waiting, in this context, is active rather than passive. We wait for God’s answer, searching the scripture, searching in the things that are taking place around us, and searching for what other congregations are doing to minister.
After the praying, we come to the doing. We must “boldly go,” in the words of Star Trek. God will guide. God will provide, and God will protect. That is not to say that we may not lose our health or our very lives in this work. The pages of church history are full of the names of martyrs who gave their lives in wars, violence, and plagues. Having said that, J. Vernon McGee has said,” all of God’s men [and women] are immortal until God is through with them.” This is not to say that God may not have had other ideas of when He was “through with us” than what we might have thought.
Lastly, we should go out into the world “wise as serpents but innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16. God did not call us to act foolishly or to take unwarranted risks. Each one of us is at a separate place of risk. Neither should we place others at risk by our presumed “heroism.” It might be said that “God don’t need no more cowboys.” We have a duty to love those others whom we serve and those to whom we come home at the end of the day. Part of the expression of that love is to carefully consider the risk that might ride with us. In this particular case, as good citizens, we must obey civil and Church authorities in their guidance as to our behavior unless such guidance clearly runs counter to the whole of scripture.
I pray that the words of Bishop Wright, and some of mine, help bring some understanding and comfort to you in these tough times.
[1] Wright, N. T, God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath. Zondervan, 2020. For a fuller understanding, please read the entire book. For balance, I submit another excellent, if in some regards, contrary, work, The Reverend Doctor John S. Piper, Coronavirus and Christ. Crossway, 2020. The latter book was brought to my attention by my friend, The Reverend C.J. Falcione.
[2] As I read over this work, it seems that I hear the voices of The Reverend Alan Cross and the Reverend Doctor Henry Blackaby, my “go to sources” for quotes and inspiration.
[3] I use the word, “subsumed” to avoid any misunderstanding that either Bishop Wright or I are opining on the “supersession” controversy.
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