Opinion

I drove to our local bank this morning and dropped off our application for the Paycheck Protection Program, which is administered by the Small Business Administration to help businesses make payroll while their revenues decline significantly due to COVID-19. Our business is a church. I’m the pastor. 

The coronavirus pandemic has raised a number of difficult questions concerning personal freedoms and public safety, with religion front and center. Should congregations continue to gather in person for worship and other social functions? Can the state restrict religious organizations from fully free functioning?

Although it is still three weeks until Mother’s Day, I am writing today about taking care of Mother Earth. This week marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, so it is a fitting time to think about taking care of our planet. 

After breaking ranks four years ago with fellow evangelical leaders and calling Trump a “sexual predator” who “fails the baseline test of character,” Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler announced this week that he had changed his mind.

At Blue Valley Christian Church they like to say, “we are so far outside the box that we can’t see the box and don’t want to see the box.” After selling our building about six years ago, we are now located at an independent and assisted living retirement community.

Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” In that spirit, it is worth remembering evangelist Billy Sunday’s face-to-face encounter with the great influenza pandemic while conducting a revival crusade in Providence, Rhode Island.

Easter came and went over the weekend, and we find ourselves in much the same place as if nothing changed. But, what if Easter isn’t the end of the story? What if life's victory over death has begun, but isn’t yet complete?

Our new reality hit us last month like one of the worst sci-fi horror movies we’ve ever seen. Only this time, it was real.

When disappointment comes, it is often God’s prelude to better things. Remember, God is in the business of changing bad into good.

Exile is terrifying and confusing. Loss of identity. Who am I now? Loss of power and influence. Loss of place and routine. All the familiar landmarks gone.