Dear Church Family,
Today at midnight we began a 28 day, province-wide lockdown. We will not be gathering in-person, in any way during this time. Church services will be online and we encourage small groups to meet on Zoom.
The lockdown brings with it a sense of loss. Waiting can feel like a waste of time, whether it is in a doctor’s office, waiting to get a haircut, waiting in traffic or waiting for a virus to pass. Friends, Christian men and women have been given a different perspective on waiting. We believe that God is sovereign over everything in his world. This virus has not taken him by surprise. We believe Premiers and Prime Ministers, even at times unwittingly, carry out the Lord’s will. Proverbs 21:1 reminds us that even the heart of government leaders is like a stream in the Lord’s hands. He directs it where to go. Not only does this virus unfold under God’s sovereign watch, but even our response as a society is the Lord’s plan. Imagine if we lived as though this were true. Then even waiting would be redeemed. Not one moment of our lives would be a mistake or a waste. Instead, every second, however spent, comes to us from our good God. He has a purpose and a plan in it all. What could that plan possibly be during this present lockdown?
Seen through this lens, the lockdown is not primarily an inconvenience that needs to be endured. Neither is it in fact a distraction from your life or your walk with the Lord. Instead, God has a good plan for us in the inconvenience and will bring us through this richer no matter what we lose.
This lockdown provides us the opportunity to pray and ask what God is teaching us during this time. How can we come to trust him more deeply and love others more fully?
I pray that we would do much more than endure this lockdown. I pray that each of us would redeem these days, embracing even the difficulty and loss they bring. With so many distractions stripped away, let us foster a closer walk with the Lord.
Perhaps this season of waiting is God providing you with more time to spend with him in prayer and in the Bible. What if this lockdown is an opportunity for you to creatively and safely reach out to others in need with a phone call or a commitment to pray for them? Or maybe the Lord has given you this lockdown time to expose the ways you are hoping in anything other than in him and in his goodness.
As always, we are walking this road together as a church family. Even physically distanced we are here for each other. Please reach out and email [email protected] if you would like to talk and pray about how you can redeem these days, or if you would just like to pray with one of our pastors.
Remember the words of the angels to the shepherds that first Christmas, “Fear not!”
With Christmas love and joy,
RD
