Though there are several ministry
updates we can inform you about and some projects we can request
assistance on, I feel it is more important at the start of this
newsletter to share some basic principles from scripture that have
been challenging me regarding peace, focus, and fear.
Regarding fear, I see a universal call
in scripture away from worry and fear and into prayer and trust.
This shows up in the words of Paul and other New Testament authors,
but I believe it is also clearly evident in Jesus's sermon on the
mount in Matthew. In chapter 6, Jesus finishes contrasting the
Pharisees and teachers of religious law, who live for earthly praise
and worldly wealth, with the way that believers should live (seeking
the praise of God) in a variety of activities from fasting to
praying. It really sets a stage for focusing on God's approval (and
not focusing on temporal things of this world) before jumping
directly into several passages that discuss not worrying. Jesus
tells the listeners not to worry about what they would eat or drink,
about what they would wear, about what others were doing (the segment
about not judging others has to do with us not worrying about others'
sins but first fixing ours so we can help them in love), and it
finishes with telling listeners to trust God and His providence.
Unlike the situation for many of us nowadays, many of these things
Jesus was telling people not to worry about were urgent necessities
that were real concerns—to the point that not having them could
result in a very uncomfortable death for many of the listeners.
Indeed, Jesus's overall call through
this message and in other places was for believers to give up their
own kingdoms/worries/lives that they would gain true life, and life
to the full. While this life to the full was given in a very real
spiritual/qualitative way, it also resulted in earthly hardship and
death for many of the early believers—sometimes very brutal deaths
at the hands of the Romans. Even so, believers still continued
on—called to turn over worries and fears to God. I suspect that
wasn't easy, and there are obvious examples that they didn't always
succeed—Peter rejecting that he knew Jesus and the disciples
fleeing from Jesus in the garden, to name two. Nonetheless, they
were called by Jesus to give up their worries and fears, and many of
them eventually succeeded in doing so even unto their deaths.
Can you imagine what was going on in
Paul's heart as he was being stoned in Lystra and was then dragged
out, thought to have been killed (Acts 14)? A mob bludgeoned him
with stones until they thought he was dead, and then he turned around
and went back into the city to strengthen the believers there later.
This same Paul who was stoned has several places in letters in which
he tells believers to cast all worries and fears onto God; the same
is true of Christ's earlier call. Even if Coronavirus really is a
life or death matter for you or someone you love (I know several
people who are quite immunocompromised as of today), asking God to
help us all return to a place of peace and calm in our hearts is of
utmost importance for us as believers, as is striving to return to
that place frequently. Not only does God call us to strive to do
this for our own good, but I believe that being in that calm place of
peace makes us even more accessible to be used to help and love
others in this time.
Regarding focus, Paul says to 'be
excellent at what is good and innocent of evil' (Romans 16:19). This
principle is likewise in the Sermon on the Mount that I referenced
earlier. Jesus brings up many teachings in which the Pharisees were
excellent at following the letter of the law while entirely missing
the spirit of the law. Jesus goes through several Biblical
principles to illustrate this; the law says to not murder, but Jesus
says that calling someone an idiot is dangerous and cursing someone
is dangerous enough that we are 'in danger of the fires of Hell'.
Likewise, the law says to love our neighbors, but Jesus said we even
have to love our enemies (and in other places expands on who our
neighbors are). While 'being excellent at what is good' seems
straightforward in these two examples, I note in my life that the
world seems to want me and other believers to be more like the
teachers of religious law—to focus on being excellent at 'not doing
what is evil', while occasionally doing what is good. At the start
of Jesus's sermon on the mount, He warned that unless listeners
followed the law better than the teachers of religious law that they
wouldn't even enter the Kingdom at all! This subtle-seeming
difference is actually a life-and-death difference. To give a
different angle on this principle, Mother Theresa said, 'I will never
attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me'. In
this case, focusing on anti-war still focuses on war, and it makes
our hearts, thoughts, and minds center on war and opposing it. In
reality, this fills our minds and our hearts with concerns, worries,
thoughts, strategies, and countermeasures—all related to war. This
is makes us more akin to being excellent at the topic of war (even if
it is avoiding war) than it is akin to us being excellent at peace
(what is good). Being truly excellent at what is good would have us
focusing on better ways of embodying peace, spreading peace, sharing
peace, cultivating peace and love—even in hard times. Our hearts
and minds would be focused on peace and learning about it such that
it would even start to radiate out from us and show up in our
thoughts and actions. This seemingly small shift in thinking, in
heart, and in how our internal voice engages the topic has a major
shift in how it affects our internal landscape and how it affects our
external responses. There is a verse in Proverbs that talks about
how a rudder is so small, yet it can change the direction of an
entire ship; this verse is referencing our words/the tongue, but the
principle of a small thing making a huge difference also applies to
the difference in focusing between 'not doing what is evil' and
'becoming excellent at what is good.' In fact, the Proverb itself
directly applies when we realize that our thoughts and intentions are
internal words, and those internal words influence our heart, which
Proverbs says affects everything we do.
All of this is to say that the above
principle applies fully and deeply when it comes to finding peace at
this time. If we focus on 'not worrying about Coronavirus and the
measures being used to slow it,' then we are still focusing on fear
and worry and are preventing ourselves from getting optimal growth
out of this and from having an optimum impact on those around us.
Instead, we as believers can focus on turning over worry, on finding
God's peace, resting in God's peace, embodying God's peace, and
spreading God's peace. This may be a time for us to seek God in our
own lives and the lives of those very close to us. It may also be a
time for us to reach out and love others in safe and wise ways—I've
enjoyed stories of young musicians serenading home-bound elderly
folks from the corners of their lawns. It may even be time for both
internal and external focus and growth. I hope during this time that
you can pray, reflect, and see how God may be already moving in your
life and how He may be gently leading you to step out and shine hope
into the lives of those around you. Times that seem dark like this
are actually some of the best times for light to have a resonant
impact and are some of the greatest opportunities for believers.
Regarding peace, hope, and
opportunities—we do have a few needs for volunteers at this time.
If you or someone you know is willing to install operating systems
onto laptops that will be given out to low-income individuals, we'd
greatly appreciate your help. If you have the knowledge to pop in
hard drives and memory sticks on desktops and do the same, that would
also be helpful. The computers have been untouched in a back room
long enough that they should be sterile as far as COVID is concerned,
and we can be sure to get them to you in a safe manner. We could
also use volunteers to organize the free store—volunteers would
come in after the free store had been closed for more than 72 hours
(to keep maximally safe) to help re-arrange items, restock items, and
sort new donations. We could also continue to use food donations and
donations of low-stock items like toilet paper to the free store.
Thanks again for your prayers and
support, and may God use you to help spread peace, love, and hope to
others in this time. I'm excited to see what all He has going on!
In Christ,
Brandon
Unite Ministry Leader
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