Today is the first Shabbat since Covid-19 has been declared a global pandemic. The words "shabbat shalom" seem so paramount and comforting to me today.
"Shabbat Shalom." May you have Rest, may you have Peace this day. That's my prayer for us.
I won't comment on Covid-19 here. There are numerous good sources for information. I recommend:
The Centers for Disease Control
The World Health Organization
Each state in the U.S. has a website and I believe they all have information on Covid-19.
When I read the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 I find that "chaos to order" is a predominant theme. There was darkness and a "void" of sorts. God saw the darkness and injected light into it.
We learn elsewhere in the Bible that light overtakes darkness, creative order overtakes chaos. God Himself IS the order which overtakes chaos.
And so now we are in the midst of a pandemic. It feels chaotic. Perhaps it feels like the full expression of chaos itself. There is little order.
* People buy a year's worth of toilet paper!
* The shelves for Lysol are empty
* Lines for medication are longer and longer
You get the idea - I don't need to convince you of this. My sense from listening to the CDC and WHO (and trying to avoid almost all media sources) is that it will feel MORE chaotic before it feels LESS chaotic. When we think back in the future at the year that was 2020 we may well say, "That was total chaos."
And that brings us back to "Shabbat Shalom." If God is Order and he ordained sabbath rest (as He Himself rested on the 7th day), should we not seek to practice this in the midst of chaos? Don't we all need rest even when times are good? How much more do we need sabbath at a time such as this.
As we seek the rhythms of sabbath rest, God gives us His shalom. And as odd and counter-intuitive as it feels, we can have peace in the midst of this current storm that feels so chaotic. But Shalom must come from an external source - God in the person of Jesus - because it will not come from our current world circumstances. That's God's offer to us today.
And so as this week ends, Shabbat Shalom.
I won't comment on Covid-19 here. There are numerous good sources for information. I recommend:
The Centers for Disease Control
The World Health Organization
Each state in the U.S. has a website and I believe they all have information on Covid-19.
When I read the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 I find that "chaos to order" is a predominant theme. There was darkness and a "void" of sorts. God saw the darkness and injected light into it.
We learn elsewhere in the Bible that light overtakes darkness, creative order overtakes chaos. God Himself IS the order which overtakes chaos.
And so now we are in the midst of a pandemic. It feels chaotic. Perhaps it feels like the full expression of chaos itself. There is little order.
* People buy a year's worth of toilet paper!
* The shelves for Lysol are empty
* Lines for medication are longer and longer
You get the idea - I don't need to convince you of this. My sense from listening to the CDC and WHO (and trying to avoid almost all media sources) is that it will feel MORE chaotic before it feels LESS chaotic. When we think back in the future at the year that was 2020 we may well say, "That was total chaos."
And that brings us back to "Shabbat Shalom." If God is Order and he ordained sabbath rest (as He Himself rested on the 7th day), should we not seek to practice this in the midst of chaos? Don't we all need rest even when times are good? How much more do we need sabbath at a time such as this.
As we seek the rhythms of sabbath rest, God gives us His shalom. And as odd and counter-intuitive as it feels, we can have peace in the midst of this current storm that feels so chaotic. But Shalom must come from an external source - God in the person of Jesus - because it will not come from our current world circumstances. That's God's offer to us today.
And so as this week ends, Shabbat Shalom.
