In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling where God lives by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:22).

The Jesus way is the only way God goes about God’s business.  

We’re looking at God’s new-Temple building project, as Paul unpacks it in this week’s passage (Ephesians 2:11-22).  And very suddenly and unexpectedly, we’re thinking about this in the face of a pandemic. We all feel some sense of being in “uncharted territory,” of having no clear maps.  

But God is still building.  The purposes for which Jesus died and was raised again have not changed because of coronavirus.

Note the grammar of our verse: we “are being built.”  We’re not the builders, architects or owners, we’re the building materials.  But we are living, responsive, responsible building materials—we are not in charge of the process, but we are invited by God to participate with him in that process.

So we will need to learn new things, new ways of being built together, despite frequent hand-washings and six-foot-distancing and whatever else may be ahead.  But we have a great Teacher, one who is making all things new.

We are entering a kind of wilderness which will also be a kind of Sabbath, an opportunity to “lie fallow” in some ways that may grant surprising new fruitfulness down the road.  And we have a better Moses, who is more than able to get us where we most need to go, if only we will follow, as we listen and put into practice what we hear.

“Corona” means crown.  Our King was crowned with thorns.  God took the worst thing we humans ever did, took an evil so great it is beyond imagining, and wrought from it the best thing that ever has or ever will happen. The corona virus and resulting pandemic is not the worst thing to ever happen, but it is and will be a source of confusion, suffering, pain and very real loss.

But we are known, held and loved by a King who is more than able, more than willing, to birth new things, good things, true things, and beautiful things, even in the midst of whatever we’re facing.

In the midst of the uncertainty and fear, the anger and frustration, the “how long, how long will this last?” there are also gifts.  Opportunities. Invitations. From God, to the people of Christ. May God grace us to give ourselves afresh to how he wants to build us together into a dwelling where he lives by his Spirit … into a temple that is a place of worship, prayer and healing for our neighbors and the nations … into a people who are not defined or constrained by our circumstances, but set free by the cross to live in the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, the way of a love that is willing to suffer and die so that life, life abundant, life overflowing, life eternal might flood and fill the earth.

Wilderness seasons  s l o w u s d o w n.  How are you experiencing this—and how are you reacting?  What are the gifts in suddenly having a radically reordered calendar?

What are you most afraid of just now?  (Don’t worry, Jesus already knows all about it!)  How can you bring that fear to God, give it over to God, hear the Bible’s most frequent command, “Fear not!”, and find one way to practice “Fear not”?