Heavy Commitments

Scripture

Isaiah 56:1-2

56 Thus says the Lord:
    Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
    and my deliverance be revealed.

² Happy is the mortal who does this,
    the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
    and refrains from doing any evil.

Devotion

I don't know about you, but when I rang in 2020 with my family, I didn't expect to spend my spring staying home as much as possible in order to help slow the spread of a deadly virus.  When Stay at Home Orders and other restrictions first started going into place, I was too busy figuring out  how to adapt different aspects of ministry to a socially-distant model to think much about the long-term emotional toll something like this takes.  Switching to virtual worship and converting my kitchen table into a home office felt pretty novel, and figuring out how to change things left me feeling pretty upbeat.  Yes, it all felt bumpy and a bit overwhelming, but it was easy to see how we were moving forward.  

Now that we are over a month into it, I can feel my commitment wavering.  I hadn't fully appreciated the emotional toll of constantly living into all the new practices being put in place in my home, my church, and my community.  There are moments when it is hard to keep doing what we are doing.  I miss hugging people and having lunch with friends.  I'm get annoye at the tech. difficulties of  holding online meetings.  I deeply miss physically attending all the activities that typically happen in our church building..  A part of my brain whispers, "Would it it really be so bad to have a few friends over for coffee?"  or "If we got together, I'm sure we could find a way to space out...and who would really know, anyway?"  I know I'm not the only person feeling tempted.  Every day, I hear someone somewhere say that they really don't see the problem with doing x,y, or z.  It couldn't hurt that much, and it's high time we got things back to normal.

The ancient Israelite also knew what it was like to struggle to maintain their commitments in abnormal circumstances.  In the early years of the Babylonian exile, survivors committed to keep following God's commandments in a foreign and hostile land.  This commitment included worship practices and ethical rules that baffled the people around them. As the years passed, it was hard to hold onto that commitment. Surely no one would notice if they dishonored the Sabbath this once or took advantage of that non-Jewish neighbor.  Surely God wouldn't give them a pass on being just a little unjust to others.

Isaiah, realized the danger of this kind of thinking.  God's commands to maintain justice and do what right should always be followed.  Anything less than total commitment violated the covenant and made their worship profane in God's eyes.  Once the people began to turn from what they were supposed to do in little ways, it would become more and more tempting to do so in in large ways.  And so, Isaiah reminded the people that it was important to keep living into God's ways...even when it was tempting to cheat.  As long as they maintained justice and did what was right, they could be assured that God would save them.  It may feel like deliverance was taking a long time to come, but God had promised that it was coming soon.  The people needed to hold on and wait for it to happen in God's own time.

So what does it mean to maintain justice and do what is right?  Throughout the Bible, God's commands followers to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back those who stray, and seek the lost (Ezekiel 34:4).  Just what it looks like to follow those instructions varies based on what is going on in the world.  Right now, strengthening the weak means continuing to keep our physical distance from one another...even when we don't feel personally at risk.  Healing the sick means following the advice of our healthcare and infectious disease experts...even if we find it an inconvenience.  Binding the injured looks like donating food or PPE to organizations in need...even when we would much rather focus on ourselves.  Seeking the lost and the strays means using the technology available to us to check in on one another...even if we hate phones/computers.   All of this requires us to keep committed to doing what it takes to stay physically apart yet spiritually close.  God is asking us to carry a heavy burden for what feels like a long time, but that is what true worship looks like in a time of pandemic.  This is what it means to honor God in all things.

If the ancient Israelites could endure the Babylonian exile for 70 years, then surely we can commit to doing things differently for a few months.  When we find ourselves feeling week or tempted to do the wrong things, let us turn to God and lean on one another.  These actions will helps us find the inner strength to keep rising up and doing what is necessary to holding fast to God's word...a thousand times if necessary.  When our Savior finally lifts this burden from our shoulders, we will be thankful that the Holy Spirit helped us remain committed to doing God's work. 

We can do this.  We can do it together.  And God will keep us strong.

Prayer

Jesus, help us continue to rise to the challenge of COVID-19.  Give us just a bit of the strength, wisdom, and courage that it took you to die on the cross.  May our daily sacrifices help protect the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, and bring all who are lost back to you.  We trust that in the end, you will deliver us from these sorrows and deliver us into a Time of Singing.   Amen.