“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below; praise him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.” (Old 100th by Thomas Ken, 1674, The United Methodist Hymnal, 95)

I watch the sky change colors as the sun creeps up toward the horizon, thinking about this crazy year and the difficulties many face, praying for those who grieve, thinking about this unique time in our family when it is physically possible to gather four generations for the holidays, wondering whether that would be safe, chasing rabbits of assessing risk without adequate data since any one of us could unknowingly be an asymptomatic carrier of the microscopic threat – and suddenly my mind shifts to God’s blessings.  I am suddenly in awe of the fact that God blesses us at all. I mean, who am I?  I am nobody, yet God - the holy, divine, Creator of the universe, the One with power and authority beyond our imagination – God chooses to dwell within us beginning the moment we first receive Christ Jesus as our Lord, and with His indwelling comes His love and power and fullness and life.  We gain Him.  We gain the all-powerful sovereign One.  Isn’t that incredibly awesome?  

Jesus says, “On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20).  Paul writes, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20), and writing to believers in Rome Paul says, “But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Romans 8:9), and writing to the church in Colossae Paul mentions that generation after generation for millennia longed to know God and through Christ’s indwelling we have what they longed to have – “the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).  We are the recipients of this awesome gift of holy grace.  We are the recipients His holy indwelling.  We are recipients of “the riches of the glory of this mystery.”  

Wow.  What an awesome gift!  What an awesome responsibility, because it is all for God’s glory.  How might we live so God might glorify others through us?

In that amazing chapter-long prayer Jesus prays to God the Father regarding believers saying, “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23).  Unity between each believer and Christ leads to unity between believers, and a unified, loving Body of Christ allows the world to see Christ for who He is and allows the world to experience God’s holy love.  2,000 years ago, between the Last Supper and His arrest, Jesus took time to pray for us.  He prayed for us!  And He prayed for our unity because God’s glory is revealed through a unified, loving Body of Christ.

Given the significance of unity, I consider our physical isolation in response to a microscopic threat with new eyes.  We have endeavored to build unity and allow God to reveal His glory through us while physically separated and technology has certainly helped, but it is not the same.  Virtual connection is better than nothing, but it is not the same.  

God has placed us in this realm of physical and spiritual realities.  We are souls and spirits dwelling in physical bodies, attuned to spiritual influences while maneuvering the tangible realm.  We have faith, we know God is sovereign and for reasons we may not see clearly yet, we know God is allowing the virus to live among us and He sees us change our ways of looking at the world, responding to the world, and interacting with one another, not out of fear, but out of prudence.  

God’s holy word says, “For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).  The word interpreted in the NRSV version as “self-discipline” means proper, right-minded, prudent behavior corresponding to the situation (see Strong’s Greek 4995).  We trust God and we pray for His discerning Spirit and for eyes to see with clarity, and we know that He blesses us with rational minds capable of weighing the evidence before prudently moving forward, and He blesses us with “a spirit of power and of love.”

He fills our spirit with His Holy Spirit, infusing us with His power and love.  I am not suggesting we should act imprudently; however, we must not shrink back in fear.  We must “rekindle the gift of God that is within [us].”  We must pray for His Holy Spirit to truly fill us, pray for the courage and strength to remove things from our lives blocking our holy transformation, and pray for His power and strength and courage so that we might move boldly, confidently and prudently forward.

We should be cautious of the microscopic enemy around us, but not fearful.  God is allowing the virus for a reason and we are each being transformed for a reason, and we know ultimately it is all for God’s glory.  May you seek Him.  May He open your eyes to see opportunities to serve Him.  May you be filled with His discerning Spirit as He dwells within you, may you confidently and boldly embody His power, love and prudence, and may you thank God continuously for His holy, merciful, loving grace.  And regardless of what you are going through, praise God because He is worthy of our praise!  Amen.