Difficult times

There are struggles all around. My heart hurts for the folks that aren't going to have paychecks or whose businesses are going to struggle through the next 6 months and then take another year or more to recover. Our daycare, St. John Noah's Ark, is going to have struggles. Penny and I have been wracking our brains trying to figure out how we can continue to care children, help the workers get a paycheck and not bankrupt the church. Yes, it is both of us. As pastor, I have to care for Noah's Ark. As director, Penny has to care for Noah's Ark. It isn't easy.

I struggle with the spiritual welfare of my congregation. I know my fellow pastors are feeling the weight of the souls on their shoulders. Yes, Jesus is Lord of all. Yes, Jesus will see us through these tough times. Yes, nothing, not the gates of hell nor the corona virus, will be able to overcome the kingdom of the Lord. Nothing! I am always thankful for God's Word, for the assurance that it gives, the comfort and the strength. It lifts our hearts and gives meaning to our lives.

But this is a struggle. The governor says no groups over 10. How can you worship like that? Yes, we can work on livestream, and Casey Brown is working on that. If anyone can get it up and running, he can. Thank you Casey.

But worship. Word ministry is easy to continue. I share the Word each day. I share prayers. The Holy Spirit guides my thoughts and leads me to the words needed to help someone, somewhere. But Sacrament ministry. We can go without the Lord's Supper, people have had to do that through all the generations, and they survived. But I never, I mean never, thought that I would run into this wall. That I would have to decide what to do.

Yes, it would be best not to have worship. And many of my brothers have gone that way. I am struggling with that. Is that the best? Flatten the curve, stop the virus. Make life better. Better? So we can return to our sinful lives. Our nations has gone off into the abyss of sin and revels in it. We have thrown out marriage. We accept homosexuality as normal. We worship TV and movie stars and thumb our nose at the Lord. We idolize sports stars and pay them sinful amounts of money. We love our sin. We want our sin. We have to have our sin.

And then this happens and we moan. Where is the Lord? Why does this happen? And then we are told, close the doors of the churches so that we can flatten the curve. The one thing, the only thing, that will lift a person, will strengthen a person, that will give a person hope in this hopeless time, we are told, you can't have it. No worship. Do it online.

We already post sermons online. We offer that. But it wasn't till things went south that folks began to see the need for it again. Are we listening? Are we paying attention to the Lord's call for repentance? Or are we going to return to our lunacy of life filled with sin once this scare is past? Think about it. What will you do when this clears up? Return to the Lord. Head back to worship? Spend time with the Lord? Or will you go back to making worship an option for your life? If you feel the need, you will attend a worship service. The rest of the time you will go to your sports gods, your sex gods, and all your other gods, and turn your back on the Lord again?

Sorry, I have digressed. Actually, I am not sorry. It is what is in my pastoral heart. I hurt for people - before this "social distancing" took place. So many people lived their lives as though they didn't need the Lord.

So I and my fellow pastors struggle. What do we do? Close our doors? Work our livestream? Or do we open our doors anyway? Do we hold our services, perhaps in an empty church? Do we unlock our doors at the appointed times, then lead a worship service, to one or two people? Or to whoever happens to stop in at that time? How do we minister to the needs of the people. Nursing Homes have locked us out, from the very people who really need God's Word and Sacrament because of the way their lives have been torn up.

I ramble. My blog is about a pastor's ramblings. So it is.

Lord, have mercy on my soul.