I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
Psalm 3
Psalm 3 is a favorite of mine. For starters, though I seldom struggle with fear, there are days when it feels like I have ten thousand problems. Secondly, I take comfort knowing that David wrote this while fleeing from Absalom – which means, he wrote this while facing problems of his own doing. The older I get, the more I realize, most of my headaches are my own fault. But the deepest comfort I find here comes from the reminder to relocate my hope in God. In Him we find a peace that overcomes pandemics, market losses and whatever else the 24-news cycle is screaming about.
Mental Health: As previously noted, Christ Church received a small grant to explore the church and mental health. This has me paying attention to things I otherwise would not, such as this video by rap artist Nathan Feurstein. NF – whose songs have been used by the NFL, etc., happens to be a Christian who openly struggles with mental illness.
Anxiety: Speaking of mental illness, some now argue that anxiety is rising in parallel with cell phone use.
Max McLean does C.S. Lewis: Over the last twenty years, Max McLean – the founder of the Fellowship of Performing Arts (a NYC- based, Christian group) – has produced several C.S. Lewis related one and two man productions. I had previously attended his works on The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce. This week I saw, The Most Reluctant Convert. If you get a chance to attend one of these, do. MacLean brings Lewis to life.
Corrections Run on Page Two: The long-standing joke about the New York Times is that they never run corrections on page one. And that is because their mistakes are so frequent that they do not constitute news. I don’t mean to pick on The Gray Lady, I’m just noting that the Update’s format doesn’t allow me to bury anything on page two. And each week I need to provide a correction – or at least a clarification – on what I wrote previously. This week I need to note that polygamy is only one expression of polyamory. The former refers to one husband with multiples wives; the latter refers to “intimate relationships with more than one partner with the consent of all involved.” For more on this, you can read this CT article.
Since I Have Doubled Back: I received another thoughtful comment about what to say when a friend is in crisis. This comes from a woman whose friends were silent when her daughter was struggling. She wrote to say that her experience taught her that, “even if I am terribly uncomfortable or uncertain about what to say, to say nothing is cruel. All I ever needed anyone to say was ‘I’m so sorry’. They didn’t need to ask for details, which I was in too much pain to provide. If one of them had said ‘I realize something is happening in your family and I’m sorry. I’m thinking of or praying for you’ that would have been enough.”
CORONA 2.0: As COVID-19 flirts with the pandemic label, an MD friend of mine – who is a travel-medicine expert by training – is among those who think Americans need not panic despite what the media is suggesting. He expects the rate of confirmed US cases to rapidly increase in the next couple weeks, but notes that, given lower mortality rates in developed countries, at least 2 million Americans would need to be infected with Coronavirus in order for the number of deaths to equal those who will die of “regular flu” this year. BTW, even those numbers would not begin to approach the flu pandemic of 1918, where more than 50M died globally (675K in the US). I am thankful for those who fight infectious disease – and Christ Church is taking all recommended precautions – but this is beginning to feel like Y2K. And lest we forget, while the CDC is telling us to wash our hands, Jesus calls us to more. His followers are instructed to “fear not” and to “care for the sick.”
Want to Grow Spiritually: One of the surest ways to grow closer to Christ is to share your faith with others. Such a step leads to more diligent personal Bible reading, more focused prayer, more heartfelt worship and a greater dependence on His Spirit.
All Will Be Known: From time to time, someone laments that Google knows our search histories and that VISA knows our spending habits. Along these lines, a recent Atlantic piece notes that historians will soon know what the Vatican did – or did not do – to thwart Hitler. The gist of all this is, our secrets will not remain hidden. I understand the fear. Being fully exposed is a scary proposition. But it’s not Google, VISA or The Atlantic Monthly I fear. It’s God. Thankfully, in Christ I am fully known and fully loved. He already knows the worst, and He loves me all the same.
Death by Another Name: Not that long ago we graduated to glory. Today people pass, slip away, loose the battle or succumb.
Without Comment:
- Over the last couple decades, the number of Nones – i.e., those who claim no religious affiliation climbed to twenty percent of the US population. Scholars recently noted that this trend appears to be leveling off. Apparently Generation Z is “more religious” than Millennials.
- According to the Center for the study of Global Christianity, the global number of Christian martyrs fell by half in the last decade – from 1.6M Christians killed in the 2000s to 800,000 killed in the 2100s.
- According to Gallup, eight out of ten Americans say religion is at least fairly important in their daily lives, and among unchurched Americans, one in five reads the Bible every day and seven in ten pray at least once in a typical week.
Quotes Worth ReQuoting: “If you want to summarize the changes in family structure over the past century, the truest thing to say is this: We’ve made life freer for individuals and more unstable for families.” David Brooks
Closing Prayer: Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, That my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, That my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, That I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, To defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, That I always may be holy. Amen. Saint Augustine (354-430)