Mid-week Reflections --- 26 March 2020

O Jesus the Divine Physician, come to our aid!

Our province and our congregation continues to be under a "shut-down" because of health concerns. We cannot avoid this. In fact, it would be harmful to try to avoid this. It isn't primarily a matter of obedience to the law, but of concern for the community in which we live. We might feel fine, but we could unwittingly carry the infection to someone who might not be able to fight it off. With that in mind, it is a special time in the life of the Christian church in Canada in which we are called to extraordinary measures in Christian living. We cannot worship together as we might like, but we can...

• Pray for one another.
• Watch out for one another. 
• Talk to one another even if only by phone.

It's odd to think that keeping our distance might be the most loving thing we can do!

Here are some more things that I hope will make you think.

Where is the church? Look around! The church is there!

"Each of us is a God-carrier, a tabernacle, a sanctuary of the Divine Trinity, and God loves us not because we are lovable but because he first loved us. This turns our values up-side-down – showing us that the Gospel is the most radical thing imaginable.”  - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

 Motives are important and sometimes they make all the difference.

"See how these Christians love one another!"

I like potatoes!
If humans can be so creative in cooking and serving them, what can God do with the cook and server?

If you're waiting to "clean up your act" before letting God use you for the Kingdom,
you'll be surprised when God takes you as you are! The Kingdom is "come as you are."
As the old hymn says "Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me."

From our National Bishop, the Rev. Susan Johnson

I like this enough to use it to close the devotional every time.