Wow. I’ve written on coronavirus since last Saturday when we observed, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” I hope the blogs have been encouraging during this difficult time.

Here’s an important thought. It’s not original; our pastor challenged us back in 2001 on Friday after Tuesday’s 9/11 attack. Here’s what he said:

Turn off the TV!

Back in 2001, everyone was watching news coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon around the clock. Three days later, at a Friday gathering at our church, our pastor gently pointed out that if something was important we’d find out about it. In the meantime, filling our minds with nothing but negative news was not healthy.

The same is true today with the coronavirus. June and I hardly ever watch television news, and we don’t usually start our day with the newspaper. But we found ourselves poring through two newspapers first thing in the morning and watching the evening news, where upwards of 2/3 of the minutes were devoted to coronavirus. Crazy. So we’ve put all that on hold. We’re continuing to stay informed, but that doesn’t require nearly the time we were giving it.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4.8, NIV)

I can’t quit writing about coronavirus without addressing the elephant in the room:

They’ve closed my church and canceled services! Now what do I do?

Here are some suggestions:

• Rest! I’ve already posted a blog on downtime and a lovely poem. But this is about Sunday, which for some church staff and many dedicated volunteers is the busiest day of the week! Enjoy the time off. One large church routinely cancels services the Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s Day to give their hundreds of volunteers a rest.

• Worship! Really? How do I do that when my Place of Worship is closed? Jesus put the idea of “place of worship” to rest a long time ago in his conversation with the woman at the well.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (John 4.20, 21, 23, ESV)

• Give thanks for the privileges we normally have. The world is full of places where Christians cannot gather in large numbers on Sunday or any other day. Maybe we’ll appreciate our opportunities to gather a little more when we get them back!

• Spend daily time with God. I write about this often because our daily disciplines keep us close to God so that when we are together we can encourage one another.

• Spend time with each other. That’s what they make telephones for! Remember phone conversations? They used to work really well. And we can fulfill the main intent of Hebrews 10.24, 25 by phone as well as face-to-face.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (NIV, emphasis mine)

• Listen to a good sermon. If you want to listen a good sermon every week, there are many of them out there. Your church may offer livestream of the Sunday service that the staff are putting on while you’re at home. If you haven’t listened to Barry Black’s sermon on prayer that I posted on March 10, maybe you could do that this Sunday.
• Keep giving! If you are in the habit of giving to your church on Sunday morning, I encourage you to find another way. For example, my church tithe comes out every month automatically from my bank whether I’m in church or not.

I leave you with a fine quote from a pastor in our area:

This decision to cancel worship is not one we make lightly. We all know the essential need we have as humans to worship God and to be together. The Lord’s Day Service is the largest and most public way we do this as church. But it is not the only way. – Dr Tom Trinidad, Faith Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs, emphasis mine

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18.20, NIV)

Yesterday, I encouraged us to use this time of mandatory decreased activity intentionally, to enjoy the blessing of downtime.

Today, I have discovered a poem from a Christian source that beautifully reinforces that message. It needs no comment. Take a deep breath and enjoy.

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46.10)

Most Americans I know, whether we are in ministry or not, are very driven. The temptation, when faced with all these coronavirus-mandated restrictions, is to figure out HOW MUCH I can do within the new constraints. Here’s a different approach.

Why not consider using this downtime as a “Mini-Sabbatical”?  Some of us will have more time on our hands from canceling unnecessary activities, from time gained by not driving to events but meeting by phone or computer, and from not spending 12 hours/day, four days/week watching basketball the next two weeks!  How can we use that time?  Rest, time with God, catching up on projects, reconnecting with friends by phone,…

I don’t think we need to be like the high-energy guy I knew whose wife asked if they could have a little downtime. He responded, “Downtime? What’s downtime?”

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5.16, NIV)

He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. (Psalm 127.2, NAS)

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. (Proverbs 23.4, NLT)

Here’s another response to coronavirus. Suppose you’re on complete government-mandated lockdown like the entire country of Italy. What do the Italians do? They sing.

Or, as the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.

This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118.24, NKJV)

My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed. (Psalm 71.23, NKJV)

Yesterday, I wrote about social distancing as a way to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus as recommended by people way smarter and better informed than I. Today, I want to balance that with centuries-old guidance from Martin Luther, writing during a plague in Europe. My friend Navigator Randy Raysbrook posted Luther’s counsel:

I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.
     -Luther’s Works, Volume 43, p. 132, “Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague”

Marvin Olasky writing in his excellent essay Love without Foolhardiness summarizes Luther’s counsel as:

1. Love your neighbor
2. Don’t be stupid

Relationships are important, and we need to keep them up, maybe by phone? How quaint! Also, when we do cut travel and activities, we might be slowing life down a bit–not a bad thing. I know I’ll have more time by not watching 12 hours of basketball four days/week for the next couple of weeks!

And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22.39, NKJV)

You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land. (Deuteronomy 15.11, NKJV)

I don’t often jump into the middle of current events and public policy, but I think I must do my part. The most loving thing we can do RIGHT NOW about the coronavirus (COVID-19) is to start practicing social distancing TODAY.

Here’s a link to a long and powerful article whose arguments I won’t repeat. (The link is safe: it’s to my private google web site.)

If you like pictures more than words, this article from the Washington Post illustrates how social isolation “flattens the curve” so that our hospitals will be able to keep up.

June and I had our last outing Friday. We have cleared our calendars except for some phone appointments and computer-facilitated meetings. The point is, the sooner we all act, the quicker we can get back to normal.

As I’ve written here, our daughter and family are in China and have experienced serious lockdown. Her full recent reflection is here, and this is her closing paragraph:

The biggest difference I’m seeing is that here in China, people have calmly complied with everything that was asked of us. It was a bit uncomfortable and some days were really hard, but we understood it was all for the greater good. We remained calm and respectful and rode it out. I am really scared by the way many Americans are behaving. This is serious, and it takes serious measures to get it under control. – Melody Gifford, March 15, 2020

None of this is to say we are not still responsible to love and care for those around us. I will write more about that tomorrow.

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1.7, ESV)

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise. (Ephesians 5.15, ESV)

I was shocked when the NBA announced they were “suspending” the season. No games. As of this writing, two players have been diagnosed with COVID-19. I was so caught up in the news I forgot that one of my sons was taking me to a Denver Nuggets game April 3. Oops.

I received a text from him: “Looks like we picked the wrong time to try to see a ball game.” Then he wrote:

I did have to look it up, but it’s a good reminder of James 4.15. Definitely my philosophy.

I had a good idea what it said, but I looked it up anyway. An excellent philosophy and a good lesson for these times:

Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4.15, ESV)

Given the last three days’ blogs, we have a choice. We can write prayer off as an exercise in futility or we can take it seriously. A friend of mine (one of the best pray-ers I know) likes to say:

If you knew the prayer gun was loaded, what would you aim it at?

This matches something Heather Holleman posted last week:

This morning I read something my friend Sandy posted on prayer from Dr. Timothy Warner. He says, “Sometimes we hear people say, ‘I can’t preach, I can’t sing, about all I can do is pray.’ That’s like a solider saying, ‘I don’t have a machine gun or a bazooka or a cannon. All I have is an intercontinental ballistic missile’.”

Dawson Trotman, the founder of The Navigators, is someone who took prayer seriously. Once he spent 42 mornings with a friend, 2-3 hours each morning, on a hill overlooking Los Angeles, praying…first for the city, then for all the young men they knew in Southern California, then the U.S. Soon they were asking God for men they would train to be on every continent. Later Dawson would say:

I remind you that you are going to God, the Father, the Maker of the Universe. The One who holds the world in His hands. What did you ask for? Did you ask for peanuts, toys, trinkets, or did you ask for continents?

I’m writing for myself; you’re welcome to listen in! Here’s one of the verses Dawson used during the 42-day prayer session:

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and might things which thou knowest not. (Jeremiah 33.3, KJV)

Speaking of prayer, we seem to have reached a point in this country where prayer is not only neglected by believers, it is ridiculed by unbelievers.

BreakPoint reported a few days ago that Vice President Mike Pence was roundly castigated for daring to pray before a meeting to discuss appropriate action on the coronavirus Here’s a sample of what was said according to BreakPoint:

• One secular research website headlined the photo with this take: “Symbolic of the moral and intellectual decay at the White House, a photo shows Vice President Mike Pence and his team trying to pray away the coronavirus.” Pence and his team were “wallowing in ignorant superstition and willful ignorance,” the site continued, suggesting that Pence prays because he’s a “religious extremist.”
• Another slant, this one from an out-and-proud atheist: “It’s not a joke when people say these Republicans are trying to stop a virus with prayer. What else did anyone expect? Science? Reason? Something sensible?”
• One of the most viral tweets of the photo had this caption: “Mike Pence and his coronavirus emergency team praying for a solution. We are so [blanked].”

We seem to be on a regression:

When the founding fathers were working on the constitution, Benjamin Franklin famously called the participants to prayer with this statement: 

I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid?

In short, prayer was accepted and expected.

The late Howard Hendricks, a well-known professor from Dallas Theological Seminary, used to tell this story:

There was a drought in Texas that, after it had continued for a time, officials called for a day of prayer. A woman responded, “Prayer? My God, has it come to that?”

She saw prayer as a last resort.

And now today, if people are convinced there is no God, prayer is seen to be at best, an exercise in futility; at worst, a sign of derangement.

Praying is an example of “moral and intellectual decay.”

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! (Isaiah 5.20, 21, ESV)