So goes the Kingdom of God

(Yes, my sign-making skills could use improving)

Daily Devotion - March 17

I will try to send a brief message each day while we are pausing gathering in person.
- Kara

Today I was sitting in the church office, making the most ridiculous sign a church ever hung in front of their building:  
PLEASE STAY HOME.

Actually, in total, it said, "Church is WHO WE ARE, not where we go. 
PLEASE STAY HOME.  We are meeting Online."  

But still.  I giggled about it and took a photo. 

Great grandkids will listen in wonder when our kids tell stories about this time.

As I was sitting there, a woman walked in.  "Excuse me, do you have a food pantry?"

But she wasn't looking for food.

She was the manager of the school cafeteria from the elementary school across the street.

She was making herself sick with guilt dumping out perfectly good milk when it occurred to her, maybe that Church could use it to help people?

Well, we don't have a food pantry, but we might as well have, because we've been collecting for one every month for like 50 years.  I called up Simpson Food Pantry and then Sue G and I filled both of our cars with 200 loaves of bread, 4 crates of milk cartons, and approximately 18 boxes food.

Those at the school were THRILLED the food was being shared. Those at the food bank, and Simpson Shelter, were THRILLED that the food was being shared. Sue and I were THRILLED to be the deliverers of shared food.

And so goes the Kingdom of God.

This blessing was sent out in the weekly announcements today.  It's worth reading again.

Lockdown

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.

Yes there is panic buying.

Yes there is sickness.

Yes there is even death.

But,

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise

You can hear the birds again.

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet

The sky is no longer thick with fumes

But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi

People are singing to each other

across the empty squares,

keeping their windows open

so that those who are alone

may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland

is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

Today a young woman I know

is busy spreading fliers with her number

through the neighbourhood

so that the elders may have someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples

are preparing to welcome

and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting

All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality

To how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters.

To Love.

So we pray and we remember that

Yes there is fear.

But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation.

But there does not have to be loneliness.

Yes there is panic buying.

But there does not have to be meanness.

Yes there is sickness.

But there does not have to be disease of the soul.

Yes there is even death.

But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic

The birds are singing again

The sky is clearing,

Spring is coming,

And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul

And though you may not be able

to touch across the empty square,

Sing.

CONNECTING RITUAL:

Let's return to the Evening Prayer from the New Zealand Prayerbook, one of my favorites. (I think we should use it at least once a week!)

Perhaps tonight, before we go to bed, whatever time that is in each of our homes, we might all say this prayer, and so join our souls:

Lord it is night.

The night is for stillness.

Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day.

What has been done has been done;

what has not been done has not been done.

Let it be.

The night is dark.

Let our fears of the darkness

of the world and of our own lives

rest in you.

The night is quiet.

Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,

all dear to us, and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn.

Let us look expectantly to a new day,

new joys, new possibilities.

In your name we pray.

Amen.