Well, I must say that this spring has not been the spring I thought it was going to be. I thought we were going to be looking into our Constitution together (which is a few years old and in need of tweaking). I was looking forward to gathering each Sunday to worship with all of you face to face (because the value of worshiping in each other’s presence is immeasurable better than either not or doing so on an online platform). I was excited about getting back to posting on the blog once a week (which is something that had been put on the back burner at some point during the year of chemo treatments for Chelsea). I was even considering what it would look like to update our web page (which many hours have gone into making it as good as it is… and there are some areas that need a bit of touching up).
But instead, a global pandemic erupted when a novel coronavirus started spreading and causing the illness known as COVID-19. Which changed things drastically.
There are many areas where I am lamenting the loss of the future memories I thought I was going to be making. But there are also a couple areas that I think can be really exciting!
One reality is that most of our neighbors are home at a level that we have never seen before. Which has led to two realities:
- Most people are craving some kind of social interaction also at unprecedented levels. Just a simple walk outside at the same time every day will yield incredible dividends in building relationships with your neighbors. You will run into so many people, and as you pass them on the sidewalk, step slightly into the road, and carry on a normal conversation 6 feet apart, relationship building is happening without much effort on anyone’s part.
- People are ingesting online content like it’s their job. There is such a low threshold for so many to head online looking for a distraction from the loneliness, confusion, frustration, and fear that surrounds them.
These two realities have created a wonderful time to be spreading the good news that God has shown off His love for us in His sacrificial death. I am not advocating for taking advantage of anyone’s misfortune (see last week’s blog post), I am only saying that we are in the middle of a time that is like no other that has occurred in any of our lives.
If you are at a place where you aren’t quite sure what to do, sharing a bit of encouragement on your Facebook wall or in the Twitterverse that is Gospel Centered is a simple way to start. You don’t need to go overboard and post every single encouraging thing you see every moment of every day. Eventually those posts just become white noise that people no longer listen to… But a post a day that encourages you to follow Jesus might encourage a friend or follower to follow Jesus in a way that you may never have seen coming.
While there are a ton of resources out there of Gospel Centered Content, I have been trying to lend my voice to the mix as well. I have been posting around noon every day for the past month looking at a single Psalm every day. It is not an incredibly deep dive into each one, but rather all I do is read the Psalm, notice what I am encouraged by in the Psalm, and then share it with whomever happens to be watching. It might just be the thing that you need each day; it might just be what your friend needs today.
These certainly are odd times. And odd times sometimes call us to rethink the way we go about our normal lives. What are you going to do to connect with your neighbor this week?