Doing things Differently
This time of Covid19 lockdowns and social distancing has forced a lot of change on us. People are learning to work from home, to hold meetings by video conference, to home-school children, to revalue jobs (suddenly farmers and grocery store shelf-packers are essential workers!) and to reconsider many things we've taken for granted.One of the areas we don't like change is in the practice of our faith. Because God is the same yesterday, today and forever, we'd like our rituals and traditions of worship to remain the same too because they comfort us and anchor us in an ever-changing world.
But we've had to put church services on-line, we're doing pastoral visitation by phone calls and even putting memorial services online so that people in lockdown still have the opportunity to grieve together-while-apart.
As Easter approaches we're having to think differently.
Some are saying "let's delay it" while others are trying to make it as meaningful as possible under the circumstances.
King Hezekiah did a bit of both...
Hezekiah wanted to bring the nation back to God and he believed that a meaningful observance of the Passover was the way to do it. But the priests weren't ready, the nation was separated and their hearts had grown cold.
So Hezekiah delayed Passover by a month and sent out letters to all of Israel to come together. This appeal "woke up" the religious leaders who had "fallen asleep at the wheel". And, as the momentum picked up, many Israelites joined in at the last minute. The problem was that the last-minute-joiners hadn't gone through the ritual preparations and were "unclean" and guilty before the Lord.
Hezekiah, in an incredible understanding of God's Grace, prays for pardon and we are told that God healed the people and used the Passover to bring revival.
In my context we're not delaying Easter, but we are going to celebrate it differently. I'm looking at having communion online, getting people to send short testimonies by voice-note, getting kids to send me pictures and setting up music playlists to help people contemplate the cross and the empty tomb. We're going to throw everything we can into making this Easter meaningful.We're learning to separate the ritual from the One being pointed to.
Who knows? Maybe these tough times will bring many people in at the last minute. Maybe this "Easter Unusual" will bring in more people than ever before!
I think we are called to be the Hezekiahs who, with a profound understanding of the abundance of God's grace, will be brave enough to do things differently.
| They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the LORD. 16 Then they took up their regular positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood handed to them by the Levites. 17 Since many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate their lambs to the LORD. 18 Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone 19 who sets his heart on seeking God--the LORD, the God of his fathers--even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary." 20 And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people. (2Chronicles30:15-20) |
