And remember...
AM Psalm 146, 147 • PM Psalm 148, 149
Exod. 13:3-10 • 1 Cor. 15:41-50 • Matt. 28:16-20
* A nurse in Washington uses her personal phone and calls a woman - your mother’s breathing is changing; she probably will not live much longer. The nurse holds the phone so the daughter can FaceTime her dying mother. The nurse promises she will not be alone, we will stay with her till the end.
* A manufacturer of 3D printers begins making clear, plastic face shields for medical professionals—at no cost—and invites other companies to help. He is overwhelmed with responses from around the globe.
* A college student follows her mom’s example and starts offering to grocery shop for elderly neighbors and others at high risk. Her friends want to help, too. Soon, with the help of social media, there are “Shopping Angels” in nearly every state.
* Two grade-schoolers come to the home of an elderly, self-isolating neighbor. They play a cello concert for her on her porch.
* A newspaper staff in a hard-hit area receives several pizzas from a reader. I know you're all working nonstop - thank you!
* A Cleveland Cavs player starts a chain reaction by donating to the laid-off hourly staff employees at his home arena to help them get by. Several other NBA players and coaches follow his lead.
There are millions of other stories of love, grace, compassion that we will never hear—but we need to! This is God’s love flowing through each of us during this strange and frightening time. He promises to be with us! But every day I have to work to keep the anxiety and fear from swelling up. And in this sensory world of physical experience, sometimes I still want to actually feel the reassuring arms of God comforting me. Paul reminds me, however, in Corinthians 1 that what I feel in the physical world is what will die away: the first man was of dust but the second man, Christ, is of heaven; the physical is first but then comes the spiritual and it is that which is raised.
Yet I do feel God when my husband or my children hug me. And even with much more limited physical contact from others, I can still feel God holding me—when I close my eyes and feel the morning sunlight on my skin, when the spring breeze brushes my hair, when the blue above nearly makes my eyes water! And what better vessel than my dog to carry the joy of the Holy Spirit to me?!—the same joy the author sings with in Psalm 148. How beautiful!
The time we are now in has upended our plans, sobered our foolishness. It has brought us to Psalm 146:
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
But overarching this time and any other, spanning what is and what will ever be, holding all that is in our teeming hearts, is Christ’s promise repeated by Matthew in today’s last reading:
And remember, I am with you always ~
Written by Bernadette Reda
Challenged by cardboard while attempting to cut a pew-self-portrait, Bernadette is strong and healthy and happy to run errands for groceries or other necessities for folks who cannot.