My Dear Friends,

With our ongoing health crisis in mind, I have decided to write our bulletin letters for the foreseeable future. I greatly respect the wisdom of our staff members who, through the years, have shared their thoughts with you in many hundreds of bulletin letters which they have authored. However, in this time of crisis without being able to gather on Sunday morning, I’d like to share my thoughts with you as often as possible. Please note, that I will also share these same thoughts in live fashion on our website.

As I mentioned to you at the beginning of Lent, I wanted to explore the reality of fear in our lives as it is reflected in the lives of those people who populate our Lenten Gospels. The story of Lazarus, which is the gospel for the 5th Sunday in Lent, could not be more appropriate for the present time and the crisis we are living with. The story is simple and to the point. Lazarus is dying and Jesus cannot get there in time. At this very moment, people are suffering with COVID19 in our hospitals and their families cannot be at their side. Indeed, many of our families cannot be present to extended family members who might need them, but must refrain from visitation for their very safety. It is precisely in this situation that our faith is more important than ever. Nothing on earth could have raised Lazarus from death and likewise we find ourselves using all of our science and technology to save our brothers and sisters from a virus that challenges the very nature of modern medicine, but as I mentioned faith triumphs over all.

Faith in Christ by those around Him, who brought Lazarus back from the dead, was a triumphant expression of God’s mercy and healing power. Today that same faith as we experience it in and through the same Jesus Christ is our present-day hope and consolation in the midst of a difficult time. Essentially Jesus, and faith in Him, has been the salvation of the world in all of its darkest moments since God gifted us with the Christ. I am confident that medical science will triumph in the end, but for today and everyday our faith can provide us with a comfort zone and healing consolation like nothing else.

God Bless you my dear friends. My heart joins yours in prayer for the suffering of our brothers and sisters, for first responders, for nurses and doctors everywhere and for those engaged in research. We will get through this and worship together again!

 

Christ be with you,