Underestimated (March 14, 2022)

Human nature leads us to want people to think highly of us. But what does the example of Jesus show?

Doughn't Mess It Up (March 7, 2022)

Being the church together is hard. How do we know what “ingredients” we need to rise to the calling God has for us?

No "Ist," "And" or "Buts." (Octobert 25, 2021)

As we continue to explore the prayer dedicating the temple, what does that prayer reveal about its purpose? Was the temple merely a way to encourage Israel’s worship of the Lord or did God direct them (and us) towards something more?

52 Verses, 52 Books, 52 Weeks (Week 43: Jonah)

For this week’s 52 Verses entry, I turned to Jonah for a consideration of God’s vision of ministry.

A Plea

The COVID Bell Tolls for Us All

A very dear friend of mine has “breakthrough COVID.” He is hospitalized with significant neurological symptoms. Please pray. And PLEASE get vaccinated. If you are a Christian and want to follow the Lord’s command to love your neighbor, this is a concrete application right now.

Yes, this is a “breakthrough” case, but that’s because even the best vaccines for any disease aren’t perfect. Missouri’s numbers are startling and headed towards the worst we’d seen of the pandemic thus far. Other places already are setting new records. There are simply too many people spreading COVID right now and too much resistance to basic safety measures that would reduce spread.

The question for the Christian who is not yet vaccinated boils down to the sanctity of life. If you are pro-life, are you willing to be “inconvenienced” by a vaccine for the sake of saving other bearers of the Image of God? There’s a selfish reason to get it too: vaccination does lower your chances of infection, serious illness and death. But it is not about iron clad protection. It is about reducing the likelihood.

Like so many things in life, our decisions affect others. As John Donne reflected,

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

People deciding they didn’t have a responsibility to protect others from COVID gave my friend COVID even though he did the right thing and got the vaccine, because even greatly reduced chances of infection aren’t zero. And the amount of risk of “not zero” naturally rises when lots of other people are playing a risky game that exposes you. Here’s a thread on how vaccines can be both helpful and still fail in such a way that the loving answer isn’t just “Well, if you want to protect yourself, fine, get the vaccine — I have no obligation to you to get one, too.”

The Good Samaritan did what he did because it was loving, not convenient. Please get a vaccine and, while viral spread is really high, please follow WHO guidelines and mask up. Is this inconvenient? Yes. Is doing the right thing to love our neighbors inconvenient? Yes.

But, we all should care for whom the bell tolls. Our Lord does.

Not the Enemy

Facebook reminded me that I wrote the following 4 years ago today. The point seems even more applicable now than it did four years ago…

Today’s attack against the Republican baseball team by someone apparently angry because of his opposing political ideology is an example of why we need to change our rhetoric. We need to stop acting as if those whom we disagree with are the enemy. At times we may disagree. At times those whom we disagree with might be genuinely wrong, even. The problem is when we take “I disagree” or “I think you are wrong” and turn it into “I think you are evil.”

As Christians, we are called by Christ to lead the way on this: when we interact in the political sphere or anywhere else, we should have our words filled with Christ’s love, even when we must disagree.

Not Just the Flu

This is a really good piece on where the coronavirus stands, particularly in comparison to the flu.

Friends, please keep trying to #flattenthecurve. It is working and we can be ingenious to find ways to keep life, ministry and work moving along — I’m seeing so many people being so creative already. I think for the Christian this truly does come under “loving your neighbor.” Even if, say, I get a mild case, what if the person I give it to doesn’t? I know a number of people sent to ICU by this and one who has died so far.

The flu can be bad, but I have never known so many people severely afflicted during a single flu season and those run for six months. This is the situation in sum: even with drastic response unlike anything we do for the flu, in just one month, this has killed more people than a bad flu season of six months. That is sobering and calls us to carefulness as we value the preciousness of each life God has made.