Eyes open, Ears attentive..... - by Ben Bonython
…The Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:12-15
You would think that was a time for Churches to be open but we all know that the ‘church’ is not a building - its people! So then how are ‘we the church’…remaining open so to speak? What would Jesus do?
During the bubonic plague of 1527, Luther does not answer “What would Jesus do?” rather he addresses “What would you do if it was Jesus?” “This I well know, that if it were Christ or his mother who were laid low by illness everybody would be so solicitous and would gladly become a servant or helper. Everyone would want to be bold and fearless; nobody would flee but everyone would come running… If you wish to serve Christ and to wait on him, very well, you have your sick neighbour close at hand. Go to him and serve him, and you will surely find Christ in him…”
You can read the article here at Eternity News
So in thinking what can we do, maybe we begin with prayer, as the eyes of the Lord are open, and His ears are attentive. In keeping the Church door open, we can consider three ideas for prayer….
First, we need to pray for all those people who are helping and serving and supporting! We need to pray for our medical teams and our government and those who are serving in public officer and places of authority. But to continue being a ‘church that is open’ we need to make time to pray together, not just in our own space on our own. Something really important happens with we are gathered together - our hearts and mind are kept in check and our prayers encourage our faith and inspire shared hope in the Lord.
- It is as easy as a Corona free phone call or online connection with another to simply pray - that is how church stays open! That is part of how we look after one another.
Second, we need to pray for our culture and our country. It can be argued that our country is post Christian in our culture and thinking and experience. You might also argue that our country is a post death culture leveraging all our wonderful technology and medicine, disposable time and knowledge on how to be healthy, and our wealth to insure our options, we have created an incredible way of life for the last 70+ years. It can be argued that our culture therefore is not ready for a virus that removes all our normal controls and levers. Yet in most of the populous parts of the world, death sadly remains, think about all those who succumb from disease, poor sanitation, hunger, corruption, war and various forms of enslavement. And it was only a few generations ago that death was more normal for us, yet no less tragic. Families would have 10 kids because several would die as they worked the land. Wars would take sons and disease would take others. Grandparents were lucky to make 60yo and these days, our children no longer know how chickens and cows become nuggets and burgers….
We can pray that the culture of Jesus and His Kingdom takes hold of people and produces that precious peace that goes past our natural understanding.
Third, many are now suffering the possibility or reality of economic hardship. The dream of running your own business has now ended without a sense of control or capacity to turn things around. Yes we are resilient but this is different. The UK is paying 80% of the countries accounts, and Germany is paying 60%. What does this even mean for the business future after Corona? What future cost will our children inherit as we toil with the objective of saving the present? We need to pray that we remember that God is our provider and He knows our needs, and that of our neighbours and country. We can be an open Church by sharing what we have with those in need.
Finally, I am glad that because of Christ, the eyes of our Lord are open, and the ears of God are attentive to our plight, and to our prayers…..
Let us pray that the Lord would heal our land. May we pray for His help – because our own chariots certainly will not have the answer!
“How can we make sure the CHURCH remains open?
Who can you connect with to gather together as Church?
How will you open the front door of your Church?
Be intentional during this time and become a faithful friend to someone....”