Welcome to The Problem of the Pandemic Predicament message post that was given by Dr Edward Allen on 9 May 2020 in an online zoom room for the Church of the Advent Hope based in Manhattan, New York City. Dr Allen is the Chair of the Department of Religion at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Dr Allen has this statement in the PowerPoint slides he used for the meeting.
Our Mission:
To cultivate a community that learns and teaches how to follow Jesus.
Our Predicament:
We Are Afraid
We Are Anxious
We Are In Pain
We Are In Mourning
It feels like a bomb has exploded in our midst and blown us all apart.
Our Predicament?
How do we face trauma and death?
With fear?
Anxiety?
Foreboding?
Is it also possible to face trauma and death with Power, Grace, and Gratitude?
Psalms 1
The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly
1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
The Problem of the Pandemic Predicament
How do we face trauma and death?
With Fear? Anxiety? Foreboding?
Is it also possible to face trauma and death with Power? Grace? Gratitude?
God is the hidden source of power that enables us to flourish in difficult times, the pandemic places of our lives.
The heart of Biblical Religion is an experience with God.
The Psalms are the Hymnbook of the Hebrews.
The Psalmists are not just venting.
They express themselves within a trusting relationship with God.
Dr Allen chose Psalm 1 for his message because the psalm reveals:
1. Sin
2. The Hidden Source of Power
3. Flourishing
The above image is an older man that has lived a blessed life. His life has flourished. It is possible to live a blessed life. He has experienced:
1. Abundance
2. Affirmation
3. Empowerment
Some people fail at life and some people flourish.
Illustration of this principle is that Edward went to the farmer’s market with his wife. She bought some herbs. She planted the herbs and watered them. Some of the herbs dried up and died. Other herbs flourished.
There Are Two Paths In Life
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers.
I never thought I would upload a photo of Hitler on my blog but Adolph Hitler is an example of a man that walked in step with the wicked of the world. These people are not people whose sin is momentary or just a bad choice. Hitler stands in the way of sinners. It was necessary to add his photo to my site for The Problem of the Pandemic Predicament post.
To begin with, it might have seemed like their lives were flourishing. The problem with a life preoccupied by living in sin is that people that take the wrong path are dealing with sin in the flesh.
Flesh is human nature apart from God. Living in the flesh is relying on self and our own resources.
Sin Brings:
1. Death
2. Decay
3. Wickedness
Natural human life lived apart from God.
Not necessarily evil, wicked, or pathological.
Rather, it is whatever we do that brings decay, destruction, and death.
The wicked see sin as a means of reaching “The good Life.”
The religious person struggling with sin sees it as the great enemy to be conquered. They are both dealing with sin “in the flesh.”
Romans 8:7-8
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
People most eager to get rid of sin can perpetuate the greatest evil.
Saul was a devout Jew. In Saul’s mind, he was doing God service by stoning the Apostle Stephen. Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and sharing the Gospel message of Salvation by Faith Alone in Jesus Christ.
Remember the photo of the older man above? He had a goal of riding his bicycle a million miles. He reached his goal. His life has flourished. He has abundance, affirmation and empowerment.
What is the source of flourishing?
How can we thrive in the face of the pandemic of evil?
Psalms 1:2
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
The Law is the entire revealed will of God.
Psalms 119
Never is the law separate from the Lord Himself.
Delighting in the law of the Lord means coming to understand the big picture of what God is doing in our world and why He is doing it.
The Psalmist is delighted with God because His way of doing things is so much better than the ways of the wicked, the sinner, and the mocker.
The world is about getting ahead, getting wealthy and destroying your opponents. God cares for the oppressed, disabled, and the hungry.
Wicked ways lead to destruction and death.
Psalm 1:4
The wicked “are like the chaff that the wind blows away.”
Psalm 1:2
The blessed person meditates on God’s will and His ways day and night.
The more you take in and practice God’s ways, the more abundance, affirmation, and empowerment you will experience. A blessed person is focused on God’s will.
Psalm 1:3
The blessed person is like a tree planted beside streams of water.
David showed Saul grace and mercy. He could have taken the wicked path.
David was motivated by God’s Grace. He was connected to God’s power.
He accomplished God’s goals and flourished.
Remember that the Apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh. Paul prayed 3 times for God to take the thorn away from his flesh. Paul said: “When I am weak, I am strong”.
The Bible teaches functional perfection. Any one can have it at any time.
Psalm 1:3
It “yields its fruit in season and [its] leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”
When you plant a seed, a green shoot of the plant comes up. Nature is designed perfectly by God. The plant ends up a healthy and flourishing plant. It started from a seed that was watered.
Meditate on God’s word day and night.
If I desire God’s ways and if I treasure other humans around me, I don’t have to think about not hating them or not calling them idiots.
Not sinning is a very poor plan for truly flourishing. Example of not going to Philadelphia is a poor plan for getting to New Haven.
Martin Seligman is the author of the book “Flourish”. He spent his life trying to remove disabling conditions and habits from his patients.
Martin shifted his focus to enable people to focus on what you can do to flourish. In his book he writes about Creating the Enabling conditions for people to flourish.
The Bible has the power to help you flourish. Take your focus off sin and connect to the hidden source of power.
Hope you have enjoyed reading the The Problem of the Pandemic Predicament post. There are hundreds of other spiritual messages in my Spiritual Category below.