LOCKDOWN BLUES
Dear Friends,
The lockdowns are hard. They are hard in too many ways to count and in too many ways to describe. On top of the hardness of the current lockdown is the fact that it is January in Ottawa - not the easiest month. Even without the lockdowns, in January, many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder.
It is also hard to write hopefully. Almost everything I can write can backfire. If I give suggestions for what you can do to help matters, you may read them and think, “That's a good idea.” But then, because you are feeling down, you don’t do any of the suggestions, which only makes you feel more down. Or, you will read my ideas and think they will not help. This also can make you feel more down. Or, I can say there is nothing that I can write - and you will feel more down. Or, I can write as if no one is down because we are all “overcomers-in-Jesus” and then you will feel really down. The fact is, it is hard to take action when you are dispirited or depressed. In fact, you can be dispirited and depressed without even realizing that you are. A couple of thoughts.
First, thankfully Messiah is a body, not a collection of strangers. Why does this matter? You are called to live a “one another” life. Not all of us are depressed or dispirited right now, or at least, not all of us are as burdened by depression. So while your depressed and dispirited brothers and sisters cannot take action, you can. In fact you can step up in a way that can make a difference to them. Step up in prayer. Pray for the people in the congregation with numb minds, heavy hearts, dark moods, dragging feet. Ask the Lord to guide you as you pray. No one in the church knows everyone else. So, pray by name for the people you know, and pray for all the rest that call Messiah their church home, and pray that the Lord will raise up others to pray, so that everyone is covered in prayer. If someone's face comes into your mind unbidden, take this as a leading to pray for that person. You can have a reasonable hope that when the time comes that you are too down to pray, the Lord will lead someone else to step up and pray for you.
Second, remember the means of grace. We tend to slip into thinking of the Christian faith as “our” version of a secular “self-help project”. But your growth in Christ-likeness is not like a self-help project. It can never be that. Only the Lord can fit you for the new heaven and earth. Only the Lord can make you more like Himself. Only the Triune God can fit you to live, unveiled, in His presence. In the means of grace, you take a posture of obedience and seek to do what the Lord has told you to do. As I have shared before, it is like the story in John 2 where Jesus tells the servants to fill the stone water jars with water and take the filled jar to the MC of the wedding. Humanly speaking, this never ever produces wine. It is your task to obediently fill the stone jars. It is Christ's job to turn the water into wine. So with you. Ask the Lord to help you pray and read His word every day. These are foundational means of grace. Then pray and read His word. It might be that you can only manage 5 minutes because your heart is so heavy, your home is too hectic or too empty or too whatever. Take a posture of obedience and seek to act on what the Lord tells you to do - He makes the wine. So, read the Bible and pray. Be generous financially to the Lord’s work - it is a means of grace. Meet with other Christians to share, study the Bible and pray. Keep the Sabbath by joining in worship. Seek to obey, trusting that the Lord is making the wine of His new life in yours.
Finally, connect with others in fun ways. At Messiah we have three Zoom accounts. If needed, we can get more. These Zoom accounts can be used by you to connect with people around simple fun or curiosity. Come up with an idea, and we will make the Zoom accounts available. Trivia Night? Cookie baking? Playing Risk on Zoom? Settlers of Catan? Have a Hymn Sing? Have a cigar time? Invite your church and non-church friends. Open it up to anyone in the congregation, or use it to connect with a smaller group that you know shares your interest. If you have an idea, we can provide the link, and if necessary the advertising. I am hoping that your creativity will be unleashed and empowered.
Please pray that we at Messiah will build community, grow disciples, share the Gospel, lift peoples spirits as we lift Jesus high even during the (unintentionally but aptly named) gray lockdown.
George+