The Foundation for Our Joy

Based on 1 Peter 1:3-9
First delivered April 19, 2020
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            Signs of hope are beginning to surface, pointing to the beginning of the lift of the stay-at-home order. Slowly, but surely, we are all making plans on how to re-enter society. The infection rate in Ohio appears to have plateaued. If everything goes according to plan, the infection rate should start declining, and then the rate increase of deaths will hopefully start going down. It’s not like we will get to where no one will catch the corona virus. And, unfortunately, there will continue to be those who die from it. But there are signs that what we have done has flattened the curve sufficiently that our hospitals will be able to manage. We will not see the horrific scenes that have come out of New York City and other places where the health care system was completely overrun. It looks like all of our sacrifice is paying off and we can start thinking about getting businesses, schools, and churches opened up.

            I wish we could just flip a switch. But that’s not how this will work. In fact, those who have underlying health risks will need to stay at home while everyone else starts venturing out more. And even when we do get to go back to restaurants, shops and churches, we will need to maintain that distance. But, if the process we are directed to follow gets done, and everything goes according to plan, we will be back in our sanctuaries sooner rather than later. We will avoid any spikes of infection that would cause us to go backwards. We will be on the path to some semblance of normal, whatever that will mean. At least most of us won’t be cooped up at home like we have been. Maybe schools will even get to have graduation ceremonies. We might even get to watch some baseball games on TV. We are getting there.

            Still, we won’t get back to how things were. There will still be physical distancing. Tables at restaurants will be spaced further apart. Fans at baseball games will be spread out a bit. We will see people wearing masks in public for quite some time. There still won’t be large gatherings of people packed in to small spaces. It’s a long road back to how things were. And even then, will it really be as it was? Won’t we all be extra cautious around each other? I wonder if waving to each other and bowing may become more common than shaking hands.

            Of course, as this time of physical separation has played out, frustration is building. We have seen protests spring up here and there, calling for the authorities to ease the stay-in-place guidelines and the closing of non-essential businesses. Our unemployment benefits system has been inundated, delaying much needed assistance. These checks we are supposed to get from the federal government is taking longer than originally hoped and some are finding that they will not be getting money. So many are struggling to make ends meet and there is real anxiety that a large number of people on the edge will fall into poverty. The closing down of much of the economy has generated a lot of stress and anxiety and frustration. So much suffering, not just among those who are sick with the virus.

            It’s important to remember that all these mitigation measures have been about saving lives. This is not some kind of big government power grab or conspiracy. It is the needed response to a vicious virus that is highly contagious and kills a lot of people. We have seen what happens when communities are not able to control the spread. We don’t want to experience that. So, we do what we do to save lives. And as we move toward re-opening our society, the central reason for all of this is to save lives. Economies will recover. Life is more valuable than money.

            Every life is precious and deserving of protection. So, it is not ok to just open everything up without worrying about the spread, anticipating the development of herd immunity at the expense of thousands upon thousands of deaths. That is irresponsible. Life is too precious to be ruthlessly sacrificed just so we can rush back to the way things were. Think about those essential workers who have been out there keeping the economy we have going, to all of a sudden be engulfed with crowded stores and bars and restaurants and workplaces again. These workers have already risked so much doing what they are already doing. And then we are just going to throw at them all of us who have had the privilege of staying at home? That disrespects the value of those workers who have already risked so much, who have themselves caught the virus and some who have died. This is what has to drive everything we do moving forward as a society: valuing the life of every person.

            This should not be hard for us. As Christians, we value all of life. We affirm that every person is created in the image and likeness of God. We affirm that every person is one for whom Christ died on the cross. As Christians, we resist the power of death. We reject the forces of evil in all forms. Our focus is on life, abundant life, for all people, not just in the life to come but in this life. The teachings of Jesus are all about manifesting abundant life in the here and now, of caring for the last and the least, sharing what we have, opening our hands instead of clenching our fists, making room for everyone. Jesus, who we follow, is the Lord of life.

            This is what we celebrate during Easter. We are celebrating the defeat of the power of death and the new life we have in Christ. We celebrate that although death will claim each of us, death will not hold us. The grip of death has been broken because of what Jesus has done. Jesus broke the chains of death by rising from the dead. Because of this, we have the promise of everlasting life. Death is not the end, but a moment of transition to new life. This is what we celebrate every Easter season. In fact, every Sunday is a day to celebrate the resurrection.

            This season of celebration should spark in us a desire to “rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy” as we read in 1 Peter 1:8. Easter is meant to be a season full of joy. But, have you felt that? Have you felt a lot of joy recently? I know I haven’t. I have felt a lot of things since last Sunday. Joy isn’t on the top of the list of feelings.

            I think we will be filled with joy when we gather together again. What a day of celebration that will be! There will be every temptation to embrace each other, which we won’t be able to do! But at least we will all be together in the same place. That will be a joyful time. But we aren’t there yet. How do we express joy right now, in this season of global pandemic? How do we “rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy” in this moment?

            This letter we call First Peter was written to a cluster of small churches throughout Asia Minor. These Christians were going through a time of persecution and suffering. This was not a government sponsored persecution. Instead, this was just informal harassment. Being adherents of a new religion, perceived by many as some weird cult, Christians were mocked, harassed, mistreated, discriminated against. Life was not easy for them.

            They felt like exiles in their own land. It’s not like they were some immigrant community that moved in from somewhere else. They were locals. They were born and raised there. But then they heard the gospel and came to believe in Jesus. They were baptized. They identified themselves as children of the one true God. They stopped worshiping the gods of their ancestors. They acknowledged Caesar, but claimed Jesus as their true lord. They claimed a new citizenship. They saw themselves as citizens of the kingdom of God. And all the people they grew up with, their friends and neighbors, and even some in their own family, thought they had lost their minds, swept up into a ridiculous cult that worshiped a crucified god. These Christians were pushed to the margins of their own communities. Becoming a Christian in those days was not a popular move. There came a real cost. Committing to the way of Jesus meant walking a road of suffering, even a road of exile.

            Peter wrote them a letter of encouragement. He wanted to remind them of who they are. They are children of God. And that means that they have promised for them an inheritance as children. This inheritance was waiting for them in heaven. It would not fade or be defiled. God held it in safekeeping. All of this was due to what God had done for them by an act of great mercy…the resurrection of Jesus. Because of Jesus, they were born again. They were once no people, but now are God’s people. Everything had changed. They had a hopeful future.

            These Christians were not living in a time of rainbows and unicorns. Anything but. Yet, Peter writes of their believing in Jesus with an “indescribable and glorious joy.” Well, I guess it would be indescribable. How do you describe having joy when you are in a season of suffering? How do people who feel like they are living a life of exile, filled with harassment and rejection, also express joy?

            Whatever joy they had was not founded on their present circumstances. Being persecuted, harassed, pushed to the margins, was not something they found to celebrate and be joyful about. No, the foundation of their joy was their faith in God’s promise. They believed that Jesus defeated death. They believed they had received new birth through baptism. They believed they had been claimed as God’s children. They believed they had waiting for them an inheritance in heaven which would not fade or be lost. In other words, these Christians believed they had a future with hope. And it was this belief, this faith, that provided the foundation for their joy even though they were living a life filled with suffering.

            We are living through a time of suffering that is very different. Christianity is not some new cult on the fringe of society. We have a place at the table. We have a space in the public square. It’s not the way it used to be, but Christianity has not been pushed to the margins, despite what some people might claim. The suffering we are enduring has many faces. But the main source, of course, is this common experience of the pandemic. All people, regardless of their faith or religious tradition, are suffering the impacts of the coronavirus.

            Our suffering is different from the suffering endured by those Christians in Asia Minor when Peter wrote that letter of encouragement. But the foundation of our hope can be the same as theirs. In the midst of the suffering we are all experiencing, we too can believe that Jesus defeated death. We can believe that we have received new birth through baptism. We can believe that we have been claimed as God’s children. We can believe that we have waiting for us an inheritance in heaven which will not fade or be lost. In other words, today, this very hour, we can believe that we have a future with hope. This can be the foundation of our joy in this time of suffering.

            Of course, we are not all suffering to the same degree. This pandemic has revealed how fragile our society is. How can you stay at home when you don’t have a home to stay in? What do you do when you live paycheck to paycheck, and then the paycheck is gone? It is telling that one of the first things our community did was organize for kids to still get school lunches because there are many kids in our community for which that was the only nutritious meal they were able to have each day. I have heard people say that the pandemic affects us all equally, regardless of class, race, gender, sexual orientation or however else we classify each other. But that is just not true. The pandemic is not affecting us equally. Some people, some groups and communities are suffering much more and are under much greater risk. I acknowledge my privilege of being able to work from home. And if I were to get sick, I have good health care options. But Syrians who live in a large refugee camp, or Palestinians contained in the West Bank where there are less than 100 ventilators are not as fortunate. Yes, this pandemic has been quite revelatory, of how fragile our economy is for many of us. And we are left with a lot to deal with in the wake of this transformative event.

            The main point I’m trying to make is that no matter how intense our suffering right now, Jesus is still the source of our hope. We are still God’s children. In God we still have new life. The power of death has still been defeated for us all. Our future remains secure. Our heavenly inheritance awaits us still. We still have hope. And this hope does not disappoint for it is a hope founded on God’s great mercy.

            Now, this is not a call for us to put our heads firmly in the clouds, or to stick our heads in cotton candy sand, and not be honest about the suffering that is all around us and within our own lives. We need to name the suffering we see and not turn away from it. I admit, there are some news stories that have come across my news feed that I skipped reading. I just didn’t want to face it. I didn’t want to read the descriptions. I didn’t want to see the pictures. And that’s ok. There is only so much we can process. I love what someone said recently about 24/7 access to news as something for our convenience and not for our consumption. So true. But when we see images of people in cars that stretch for miles waiting to access a food giveaway, or hear of how black and brown people are dying at a higher rate than white people as a consequence of structural racism, we need to let this sink in. We must resist the temptation to look the other way all the time. And we need to name our own struggles. This is not an easy time for anyone. We are all dealing with lots of stress. There’s no need to deny the obvious.

            We don’t have to turn our face away from suffering. We can face the reality of suffering and still have hope and not despair because of Jesus. It is possible to feel sorrow and joy at the same time…joyful sorrow.

            My feelings have been all over the place the past several weeks. Sometimes I feel energized and optimistic. I think about the new possibilities that are emerging around how to be church in an online world, for example. Other times, I feel discouraged and pessimistic. I see how this pandemic is impacting so many communities and vulnerable people, and I see how people are responding in ways that are not helpful. I wonder if we will have the capacity as a society to recover from this in healthy ways or if it will take us to a bad place. And a lot of times I feel tired and even a little numb over the whole situation. Maybe you have felt all kinds of ways during these past several weeks.

            I want to remind all of us that no matter how we feel at any given moment, the resurrection did happen. Jesus has defeated the power of death. We do have a future with hope. We are and will forever be God’s children. These are claims we hold by faith and they don’t change depending on how we feel. By the grace of God, we can hold on to our faith regardless of how we feel at any given moment. And even if our faith falters, God will never let us go. As the scriptures say, in Colossians 3:3, our lives are hidden with Christ in God. We have security in God, no matter how we feel or how insecure our health, livelihood or well-being may be.

            So, hold on to your faith. Keep trusting that what God has done through Jesus Christ is still in effect. In spite of the strange, even surreal, times we find ourselves in, this is still Easter season and we are still Easter people. Let this be the foundation of your joy.

            This joy we have may well be indescribable. It may even be indecipherable. But, deep down in our hearts, that joy is still there. And the time will come, hopefully soon, when that joy deep in our hearts will burst forth. We will express that joy when we are together again. And what a glorious joy that will be.