The Dash

     You are going to find as you read that the title has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this piece. I was going to write something entirely different but it just wasn't coming together like I wanted and it was sounding too much like things other people have already said much better than I ever would. I was going to write about tombstones, more precisely the dates on them. Two numbers separated by a dash. If you want to see basically what it was going to be, look up The Dash. There is even a poem called The Dash.

     Here is what you get instead. Today, after almost 54 years on this planet, I have learned the importance of simple encouraging words given at the right moment. That might seem odd to those of you that know me. That's what I do best, encourage people. Today, I have learned the power of simply telling someone that they are thinking of you and praying for you. Simple words, words that I have said hundreds of times to people going through difficult times. Words, that if I am honest, I have wondered if they actually accomplished anything.

     Well, now that I find myself on the other side of those words I can say that they do. Reading and hearing the words of others, from the most eloquent to the simplest, is a cathartic experience. (Sorry, big word but I couldn't think of a better one.) Galatians 6:2 says, "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." When several people add their strength to something, no one person has to do a lot of lifting, but the net result is a lot of strength. So that is what you are doing when you send those encouraging words. You are adding a small amount to a much larger whole. So encourage those that are suffering. It doesn't have to be grand and eloquent, simple and heartfelt is fine, in fact perfect.

...and then there's Saturday.

     The week leading up to Easter is a roller coaster ride of emotions. There is the intimacy of sharing communion at the table with Jesus in the upper room on Maundy Thursday. Then there is the anguish and loss of Good Friday. It all culminates with the glory of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. And then there is Saturday.

     Saturday. I think we spend much of our life in that Saturday. We aren't in that upper room sharing a meal with Jesus, we aren't in the deep despair of death and loss, and we aren't in the glory of rebirth. It is just, Saturday. Life goes on and we have to make our way from mundane task to mundane task. Things aren't great, things aren't bad, they just are. We do have an advantage that the disciples didn't have. We know that Easter is coming, even better, we know that Easter has come. We know "the rest of the story." So we may not feel like every day is Easter, a lot of our days probably feel like that Saturday, but we can live in the assurance that tomorrow is Easter. We can live in the assurance of the resurrection even when we don't feel like it.

Back to "Normal"

     So I have been thinking back to my college days a lot recently. No, nothing about the current global pandemic even remotely reminds of my college experience. It does call to mind something I learned though. Some back story. I graduated from a small Methodist college with a degree in math. Being a church sponsored school, every student was required to take one religion class before graduating. Most students were not very excited about this. To make matters worse, there were 2 religion professors, the "easy" one and the other one. Well, try as I might, I ended up with... the other one. Well, to make a long story a little less long, I ended up really enjoying the class and the professor. Yes, he was demanding, and yes he directly challenged these know-it-all 20 somethings to defend their faith, but he also forced us to figure out why we believed what we did. I did well enough in the class that the professor tried to persuade me to change my major to religion.

     Now, I say all that to get to this point. The class was Judeo-Christian Heritage and was an overview of Christianity from Genesis to modern day. One of the things that stuck out to me, and the thing that has me thinking back to those days, is the first century Christian church. It went from a literal handful of adherents to a religion that spanned the better part of 3 continents in a very short period of time. The thing that played a major part in its growth? The obstacles it faced. Despite nearly everything in society working to quell its spread, the gospel spread like wildfire. The early church had to be inventive in how it spread its message to avoid the dangers of being caught. It forced the church to become mobile and it didn't allow its members to get comfortable. The urgency and the cost of believing, instead of being a hindrance actually proved to be fertilizer for the young church.

     Today we are faced with a new set of challenges. No, it isn't particularly dangerous to be a Christian, at least in this country. It is challenging in an all new way. Churches are having to figure out how to assemble when you can't assemble. How do you spread a message when you can't meet? What do you do when, "We've always done it that way." isn't even an option any more? The church is having to flex creative muscles it hasn't had to use in decades, maybe centuries, and it is going to be the better for it. Churches have greatly increased their reach by going to cyberspace. Faith has become more than a luxury to be taken out and put on every Sunday, only to hang it up again until the next week. This crisis will pass in due time and life will go back to "normal", I pray that the church doesn't. I pray that the church is forever changed by this and it sees growth like that first century church.