Eastertide

May 1, 2020

Scripture Reading:
1 Peter 2:19-25

When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. –1 Peter 2:23-25

We keep hearing calls to listen to the scientist and listen to the doctors, but when they are not saying what we want to hear we listen to the people who are speaking to our desires more than our common sense. Jesus spoke of love and community when power and greed spoke to fear and division. How do we change the fiber of our beings to turn around from the lesser gods in our world to see our wellbeing lies in the ways of love and community? What can we learn from the COVID 19 pandemic? How can we live the best of what we learn and not move back to the control of lesser gods?

• Everyone needs to have enough of the ingredients of well being to sustain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness*. This is not an insult to our economic system. It is a list of inalienable rights that are crucial for our economic system to thrive. No economy can be sustained when the rich get richer and more get poorer.
•  Health care is a right not a privilege. The health well being of each if us is dependent on the health well being of all of us.
• All workers deserve to be paid a living wage. I found it interesting that we propped up the economy by adding $600 per week to unemployment, giving some more income than they were making in full time jobs. We then got upset thinking these people may not want to return to work. Unemployment services are time limited and require recipients to return to work as soon as work is available or they lose their eligibility. It does illustrate the problem that many workers face who are not receiving a living wage. If higher incomes are good for the stock market in a pandemic; paying a living wage should also be good for the stock market all the time.
• Faith communities need to recognize that the prosperity gospel is not good news.
• People are fundamentally able to love one another and enjoy loving one another when unrestrained by the distractions of the world. We need to create and support more opportunities to love, wanting the absolute best for one another, without restraint.

Prayer: Lord, guide us through these troubled times and make us better prepared to love like you, once the pandemic is over. Amen.

*From the US Declaration of Independence

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.