Eastertide

April 21, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.

Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

History reports several great awakening among God’s people. The Hebrew Bible documents a roller coaster of spiritual highs where God’s people turned back to God’s ways, followed by slippage back to serving the lesser gods of greed and lust for power. We read the stories but do not retain or practice the wisdom they share. As I hear of the lack of testing tools related to the COVID 19 virus, I remember the story of Joseph advising the Pharoh of Egypt to store up excess grain from the bountiful harvest because famine was coming. George W. Bush reacting to reports regarding possible pandemics began addressing the issue in 2005: ‘If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare.’* By 2018, we had to cut somewhere, pandemic preparedness being one to provide a significant tax cut, primarily benefiting the wealthiest in our nation.

There is much wisdom to glean from our current pandemic. God created an interdependent world for all God’s children. We must learn to care for and love one another to survive. God created a world with enough for everyone, whether it is food or the skills and tools to address pandemics. Working together results in synergy where the total effect is more than the sum of the parts. Jesus put synergy best in saying, whenever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with you.**

Prayer: God of Hope help us learn from our mistakes as we move forward from pandemic to build a healthy world for all. Amen.

*https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013
*See Matthew 18:20

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.