16 Apr Things I’ve Learned in the Era of COVID-19

We are all living through something, to use an overused word, unprecedented. It’s hard. It’s challenging. It’s discouraging. It’s enlightening. And it can be all of those things at once.

As a pastor, here are some thoughts I have and some lessons I have learned (and in some cases, re-learned), over the last month:

1.) Without more of God, I won’t make it.

That weight you feel in your soul won’t go away until, like an athlete who has had more weight put on the bar, we become strong enough to endure. This strength, ironically, comes from becoming weaker- from acknowledging before God that one is in need of strength, and going to Him daily in prayer.

Francois Fenelon, a 17th century spiritual director in Louis XIV’s court, learned this truth:

 “Those who are wholly God’s are always happy. They know by experience that the yoke of the Lord is “easy and light”, that we find in him “rest for the soul”, and that he comforts those who are weary and overburdened, as he Himself has said.”

2.) Heroes come in unlikely forms.

Those who are on the front lines of “essential services”- those in health care, who deliver packages and groceries, who stock the shelves to keep us alive- those people are the ones keeping our economy going and people healthy. For those, we give thanks.

3.) Happiness comes through giving.

I have found that most of the times in my life where I am feeling discouraged, it’s because (rightly or wrongly) I have been focused too much on my own feelings and circumstances. Doing something for someone else, picking up the phone to encourage someone else–those things are immediate “soul lifters”. 

It really is more blessed to give than to receive.

4.) Quarantine/sheltering in place, for most people, is just really hard.

It puts pressure everywhere, which exposes weakness and fragility in us where it exists. We can feel like we are coming apart, like our inner unity is dissolving. 

Why? Because what worked before to get us through doesn’t work anymore. 

What do we need? In part, we need new habits.

Augustine wrote that bad habits work against our inner unity. That is, our inner unity is preserved by the right habits, and is dissolved through the wrong ones. 

So what kind of habits do we need? See number 1 in this list. 🙂 

5.) The church was meant to gather in person.

As much as I love how we are ministering online and the new, extended reach we have (our estimates are that our Good Friday services were viewed by nearly 3300 people and our Easter services were viewed by nearly 4000 people. In contrast to that, we were just under 2100 on Easter last year!)— we are people, and we are human, and no technology can ever replace human contact and the experience of being in God’s presence together. I long for the time we are able to gather in person again. 

That being said, when the “Covid Curtain” is lifted, like the “Bamboo Curtain” was lifted in China after years of separation, I am confident that we will see a larger “Church” in Austin, and around the world, somehow. Jesus, after all, is the head of His Church.

6.) Crisis brings out the best and worst in people.

On one hand, this crisis has revealed racism towards many Asian-American people. You would think we would have learned from the Japanese internment camps in World War II that discrimination towards people groups in crisis is only unfounded, but only makes things worse in the long run. 

On the other hand, we have seen story after story at Mosaic of our people helping their neighbors and one another across different lines of faith and across racial and ethnic boundaries.

7.) Grief is real.

We aren’t instructed not to grieve as Christian people; rather, we are instructed not to grieve and mourn as if there were no hope! Nonetheless, grief is real: grief over what you have lost, what children have lost, what our neighbors have lost. And you may be feeling something called “anticipatory grief”- grief over things you had hoped for or planned for or imagined that aren’t happening now, or might not happen at all.

Please don’t suffer alone. We have pastoral resources, counseling resources, and friendship resources available for you. 

And most of all, as the hymn says:

What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry 

Everything to God in prayer

8.) Lastly, speaking of songs, we have been trying to write and produce some of our own music here at Mosaic.

We “debuted” this song on Friday night, but if you missed it you can access it here. 

Beautiful Body of Christ Video

It speaks to who Jesus is, what He has done, and who we are together. 

I hope it encourages you.

We are praying for you multiple times every week and best of all, God is with us.

Morgan