Emmanuel Lutheran Church

September 2020

September is a month where things begin to return to normal in our schedules. The summer is over and school is back in session. Vacations come to an end and routines that were put aside in May are picked up once again. Not so this year. Covid-19 has reshaped our lives in many ways and it will be a long time before things return to anything that resembles “normal.”

I think especially of the teachers at this time. As I am writing this, there are a variety of plans out there for returning children to the classroom safely. Each school system is doing something a little different based on their circumstances. This must be a tremendous burden on the teachers. How do I plan my lessons? How do I connect with my students? What will learning half the time in the classroom and half the time at home look like?

I know how much is involved in planning and prepping for worship under these extenuating circumstances each week. I can’t imagine what it must be like for the teacher! Please take time to thank a teacher, another “hero” of the pandemic. Children must have some stability in education. They must have that connection that the school environment gives them each day. They need to learn. Yet teachers and children will be vulnerable to an illness that attacks at random. One could get it and have no symptoms while another contracts the virus and ends up on life support. Pray for the teachers and children as they return to school in this uncertain time.

Speaking of learning, while I am not a firm believer that God causes these types of crisis in our lives just so we can “wake up” or we can learn something, I do believe wholeheartedly that crises like these exist simply because we live in an ever-changing environment, bringing some things upon ourselves and other things a result of the dynamics of a living and breathing world that God created to be good. In this environment, things like viruses happen naturally. How we respond to them and what we take from them is perhaps how God uses them to teach us.

When Covid-19 struck, we were asked to give a lot of things up. We were asked to modify our habits and change our routines. The world around us seemed to stop for a while. How has God used this time of “slowing down to strengthen your faith? To open your eyes? What have you learned about yourself that will create positive change in your own lifestyle as a result? In life there are many “teachable moments.” What is one positive thing you will take away from this life-altering historical event, God’s “teachable moment”? How has God spoken to you in the midst of this world-wide crisis?

If you’d like to share your story, I’d like to hear it. I may use it anonymously in future sermons or articles as a witness to God’s continued work in our lives. E-mail me at pastoralan251@gmail.com to share your witness to the gospel in the midst of a world turned upside down. Remember, while things around us are ever changing, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). In him alone we find our stability.

Blessings,
Pastor Alan