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Sermon March 22, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Morning Prayer via Zoom online meeting – Covid-19
http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Lent/ALent4_RCL.html
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil; *
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4
What a wonderful Psalm for us to read this morning! It is so familiar and I imagine many of you have it memorized.
We are truly walking through the valley of the shadow of death. This tiny virus, which we cannot even see with our eyes, nonetheless, has tremendously disrupted our lives. Seemingly in an instant.
Because it is new, we are still learning how to treat it and protect ourselves from it. Because it is new, it is lethal to so many. Our physically distancing ourselves from each other means the virus will not spread as quickly and will hopefully not overwhelm our health care system and will hopefully not be fatal to as many people.
Yet, that is hard to stretch out the time when we need to be apart from each other. The disruption to our economy is heartbreaking as people lose their income and as businesses may need to close forever. We will feel the effects for some time to come. Some of the effects and consequences, we may not even be able to imagine right now.
Like the ancient psalmist, though, we are people of faith. We do not fear evil or the covid-19 virus, because we know God is with us as the loving and caring shepherd. It doesn’t mean we can disregard the best medical and scientific advice, which is after all God given. It doesn’t mean that we are fearless, necessarily. It does mean we are comforted.
I hope during these times, you have seen the beauty of humanity as people reach out and help each other. I hope you have seen the sacrifice we are making as we think of our neighbor when we agree to physically distance ourselves. I hope you have had the chance to enjoy the beauty of nature, too.
One day this week, a friend sent me a Daily Quarantine Questions List. I don’t know who created it and I really love it. Here are the questions:
1. What am I grateful for today?
2. Who am I checking in on or connecting with today?
3. What expectations of “normal” am I letting go of today?
4. How am I getting outside today?
5. How am I moving my body today?
6. What beauty am I either creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?
Great questions, I think, to help us through this time.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil; *
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Amen
