Good Friday

April 10, 2020

Scripture Reading: Romans 6:3-11

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. –Romans 6:5-11

Preparing for the new normal is the talk of our world right now. How to live with the coronavirus until we develop a new vaccine. How are we to behave once we stopped sheltering in place? What will replace handshaking? When will it ever end? What have we discovered about ourselves and our systems to avoid this happening again? Social Security was born out of the Great Depression, a system that has served us well where we are required to set money aside to provide a basic income for our care when we are disabled or retired.

Sin, separation from God, missing the mark whatever we want to call it is like a virus run amuck. Greed is an addiction, as is lust for power and privilege and self-righteousness. The list is endless, like a virus without a vaccine.

Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection produced a new normal that changed the whole world. Some indeed followed his path for a short time then faded back to something like the old normal. Others practiced his ways until it became their new routine, habits hard to break of loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. This pandemic can serve as a reminder to us that God’s habits of the heart are the fuel for our new normal.

Prayer: Lord, help us to turn the tragedy we now face into an opportunity to model our world after your example. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.