St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

Psalm 23

As life is getting more difficult, more thankful we should be, because gratitude is the best weapon to fight against anxiety. Last week, we reflected that when life is difficult, consider, stop, and think. Yes, it is important to stop and think when life is difficult. But I want you to do one more thing. When life is difficult, that is, be thankful. When life is difficult, be thankful. It sounds funny, but trust me, it will do a lot of good to you. Practice your gratitude. When life is difficult, naturally and automatically, our heart looks for reasons to complain. We stand in front of two roads. One leads to complaint, and the other leads to gratitude. The road that leads to complaint will take us to a darker place, a place where death is. But the road that leads to gratitude will take us to a brighter place where there is life. Instead of taking the road to complaints, we should take the road to gratitude. You know, when everything goes well, people are thankful, but when things don't go well, they complain. I want you to reverse this. When everything goes well, be joyful, and when things don't go so well, be thankful. I think that is the secret of a happy life.

Find a notebook. Well, these days you can't buy it, but when you look around you'll be able to find used notebooks, or notebooks that you bought but never used. Find it, and start writing a gratitude journal. Make a habit of doing that in this difficult time. You can do that as soon as you wake up, or just before you go to bed. If you do that in the morning, as soon as you wake up, you start the day with gratitude. When you do that before you go to bed, you go to sleep with gratitude. If you want to do both, you can write it twice a day; once in the morning, and another time in the evening. Don't write it generally. Be specific, about things, about people, about your experiences. Don't repeat the same thing everyday. Be creative. Try to find something new every day to be thankful for. It may get harder as the days go on, but if you keep doing that, you will find new things to be thankful for. Instead of making a list, I want you to write sentences. Why, and what you're thankful for. As you do this exercise every day, you will realize that, slowly, you are becoming free from worries and anxieties.

Today's psalm is a jewel of all the Psalms. It is the most beloved psalm. Read it twice a day until this self-isolation is finished. It can be therapeutic. Once in the morning, and once in the evening. You will become much brighter. David didn't write this psalm when his life was going very well. He wrote this when his life was difficult. His enemies were around him, trying to destroy him. He was going through the darkest valley. His soul was filled with despair and fear, and he was very tired. In the midst of all this, he wrote this beautiful psalm. The whole psalm was summarized in the first verse. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1) The rest of his psalm was an elaboration of this. Because the Lord was his shepherd, he did not need anything else. That was enough.

 St. Paul made a similar confession. Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13) That is the reason for us to be thankful. God is our shepherd. And God is with us, and he provides what we need.

We are all very tired. Parents with little children have to struggle with their children all day, and they still have to work from home. That is not easy. As Stephanie mentioned and shared beautifully, the single people are all by themselves, without any family members, that's not easy either. There are also people who are financially difficult. They worry about their financial future. The longer this pandemic goes, the more anxious people become. Mentally and spiritually, we are very tired. What we need is rest, peace.

 David confessed. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters. (Psalm 23:2) God will restore our souls. When we are thankful, God will work within us. God will give us the power to overcome our anxiety. The more you think about negative things, the more anxious you become. But, when you are thankful, when you want to be thankful, you automatically look for things that are good, things that are positive. That is important, that is why being thankful is important.

The shadow of death hovers over us every day. I mean, we hear, every day, how many deaths we have in our city, in our province, in our country, and in the whole world. We never heard how many deaths we have everyday before, but we hear about death everyday now. We are threatened by death. God, we believe, is God who gives us life. Even though we walk through the shadow of death, God will be with us. Jesus showed us that there is life after death through his resurrection. Death cannot threaten us anymore. It cannot bind us. If we have no hope for the eternal life, death will sabotage us. We will not have true rest and peace. But now in Jesus, we feel the eternal peace. Let us thank God for giving us life, and life that is eternal.

One of our KSM elders is very sick right now, he's struggling with his cancer, suffering quite a bit. I called him the other day, and all he said was, Moksanim, thank you. I have nothing but to say thank you, to everyone around me, and the good life that I have lived. I prayed for him on the phone, with gratitude, and it brought tears to my eyes. Being thankful is powerful. When we are thankful, we can overcome even our own death. Let us be thankful. Let us overcome our crisis with gratitude. God will bless us. Let us be thankful, all of us. Thank you.

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Features:

• “Your Love oh Lord” by Third Day

May these songs and meditations be a blessing to you and help you carry on. We are gifted by the grace of God’s love. May it be your strength and hope!

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1 Peter 1:17-23

When life is difficult, we get a different perspective – it gives us a new angle to see our life. We see something that we didn’t see before. We don't choose life's difficulties, they just come without our invitation or permission. What we are experiencing right now just came to us, giving us no choice to choose. We could never imagine that the whole city could be locked up like this and we would have worship services through computer. This is a surreal experience, but it just came. We can complain all we want and we can blame some people, but does that help? Does that make us feel better? It doesn't help, does it? It just makes us angrier and more depressed. We know that this difficult time will pass. All difficulties will pass eventually. But the remaining question is what kind of person we will come out to be, what kind of person will we become, after everything is over. Will we come out as people with bitterness, anger, and lots of negativity? As very unhappy people? Or will we come out as people who have more compassion and a deeper understanding of those who are less fortunate than us?

When life is difficult, I think that that is a great time for us, a great opportunity for us, to deeply reflect on our life again. Stop and think! Yes, that is what we should do, stop and think. That was the advice of the author of Ecclesiastes. He said, On the day of prosperity be joyful, and on the day of adversity consider.  Consider, think, reflect! Find a new perspective!

Through today’s scripture, two passages came to me for all of us to reflect on. The first one is verse 21. It says, Your faith and hope are set on God. Through this pandemic, I realized how important it is to have faith and hope. Faith and hope kept me from insanity, kept all of us from insanity. In ordinary times, we didn't really see the practical aspect of faith and hope. But when we went through these difficulties and pandemic, we realize how practical, how important, faith and hope are. Before they were just nice words, but now, it is important for us to keep ourselves strong. Without faith and hope, it is hard to survive with a positive attitude. We can easily let ourselves be completely filled with dark and negative thoughts.

But I realized that faith and hope are not something that you can have just because you want to have them. They have to be cultivated within you. If you don’t have them, you don't have them. Dalai Lama said, “Trees with strong roots will survive the storm, but you cannot build roots when the storm arises from the horizon.” Roots have to be cultivated – faith and hope are not something that you can just have because you want them, they have to be cultivated within us. 

Let us try to see every situation with the attitude of faith and hope. Then slowly, faith and hope will become reality within us, they will be cultivated within us.

Tell yourself, “God will keep us safe, God will show us the way out, and God will give us strength.” Let me say that again. God will keep us safe, God will show us the way, and God will keep us strong. When you live your life with this kind of attitude, faith and hope will slowly be cultivated within you, and you will become stronger. You will have the strength to overcome your difficulties.

The second thing that came to me was verse 22. Love one another deeply from the heart. Through this pandemic, we realize how important it is to love one another. Simple words of kindness, warm greetings, considerate gestures, all these things become so important.

I see a lot of people on the edge; we need more kindness, more understanding, more forgiveness, and more giving. Frontline workers, they love people and so they risk their lives to save them. Thank you all. Yesterday I went out onto my balcony around 7:30 and they started banging. Musicians want to support them with their musical talents and raise fund for the hard works of the frontline workers. We all have to work for each other and help each other. I see people help each other. That's how we are supposed to live. We have been so indifferent in our modern life. Now this pandemic teaches us that we need to help each other to survive. How much we have realized that we live on love, not just on food alone. We live on love. Our life becomes abundant not when we have lots of things, but when we receive lots of love and give lots of love. That’s when we become abundant. 

Come to think of it, all these things that I mentioned, are three things: faith, hope, and love. These three things are the three pillars of life. On these three things, our life should be built on – faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. As St. Paul said, And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

These three things should be always with us. When these three things are abundant within our heart, then we start receiving blessings from God, and then our hearts will be filled with thankfulness, joy, and the peace that the world can not give. These are the blessings that God grants to us. 

My friend, life is not always kind to us. We cannot even expect that from life. Sometimes I feel that life is cruel. Yes, life can be cruel. And these days, I feel that life is so sad. We have enough of trouble of dealing with this virus. As though it is not enough, we hear the news of 22 innocent people being killed by this man who is troubled, in Nova Scotia. I see video clips of children going to nursing homes to see their dying, lonely parents. They can not even go in, and through the window they say “hi”. When I wrote this part, I cried a lot. It is sad – life can be quite sad. I see their aching hearts and the painful loneliness of the elderly parents.

Life doesn't come on a silver platter. We try to bring life on a silver platter, but life simply doesn't come on a silver platter. Sometimes it comes as darkness, other times as a storm, and still other times as a whip and tears. We can survive in the midst of all this because we have faith, hope, and love.

My friends, let us always keep these three things in our heart. Then we can see light in the darkness, calmness in the storm, and even smile in the midst of deep sadness and sorrow.

May God be with you and bless your family.

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John 20:19-29

It’s been 5 weeks since we’ve been behind shut doors of our own places. 5 weeks of me being here in an empty sanctuary, and today, being all along and seeing you all on screen, it’s a very weird feeling. The sanctuary is empty, but I know you’re all there because I can see your faces. I know you’ve all been dealing with the situation in your own ways. For the young couples or single people, you’ve been enjoying time alone. I know it’s challenging at times. For the younger kids, I know it’s been a hard time trying to juggle your school work and what not. For our Hi-C and college students, I know there are times when you are bored, when your schedule’s been thrown off routine. Some of you guys have become nocturnal creatures; awake at night, asleep during the day. And some of us, with elderly parents, have been dealing with separation from loved ones and worries about them. All in all, as human beings, we’re resilient. We’ve accepted the situation and we’re all dealing with it in our own way behind closed doors. 

The disciples of today were also behind shut doors. They were in fear. They were in shock. They were in grief. Because they had dropped everything to follow Jesus. For three years, they spent every day, every waking moment, together with him. They ate together, they walked together, talked together, and they witnessed many wonderful things. They had intimate fellowship together. But now, that leader of theirs, whom they followed, was gone. The powers that had killed Jesus were now looking for his followers to get rid of this new movement. Fear, shock, grief, loss, and cloudiness. They had not processed things yet. They were lost. 

When I think about us, underneath our day-to-day coping with this situation, we too feel lost in many ways. There is still a sense of lament, mourning and grief at the loss of life as we knew it. The immediate and acute shock of it all may have worn off now, but I still sense worry, concern and uncertainty. There is a restlessness at the current status quo. We’re wondering: How long will this last? When will things get back to normal? What will that normal even look like? We don't know what to expect going forward.

The disciples were lost, scared and disoriented. In this state of being, behind locked doors, Jesus came and stood among them. When they saw Jesus, they rejoiced. In their presence, Jesus gave them a new calling – to carry on the work that he had begun. He empowered them with his Holy Spirit. When the disciples were most lost – when all they saw was darkness and gloom – Jesus' presence brought about a new reality.

Now this new reality was not an easy thing to believe or accept. When things are dark for us, we don't easily believe that things will just be alright. We see that Thomas, who was not there when Jesus appeared the first time, did not accept what the others told him. And I don't think that Thomas was a skeptic and doubtful guy, he was a serious man. Earlier on, when Jesus and the disciples were about to head down toward Judea, he was the one who foresaw what might happen. He said: Let us also go, that we may die with him. He saw the seriousness of the situation. What he was being asked to believe now, by the other disciples, was just incomprehensible. Jesus had been crucified and was dead. So, he asked for proof. But I don't think it was proof that Thomas was really seeking. He was really seeking Jesus' presence, that’s what he was grieving. And when Jesus did appear to Thomas, he did not need proof that it was Jesus. Jesus' presence was enough. Thomas was the first to see Jesus for who he really was when he declared: My Lord and My God! Jesus' presence was the peace and the new reality.

My friends, when we are lost, the last thing you need is help or advice. When we are scared, empty words like everything is going to be alright by themselves don’t help. When we are lost, there is only one thing that can really help: the comforting presence of someone who cares. The understanding presence of someone who cares brings us peace. A warm presence that empowers us to believe that, “Maybe I can get through this.” My friends, God comes to us when we are most lost. God comes to us when we are most lost. This is the center of our belief as Christians. That is the meaning of the cross. The cross is the place where we are most alone. The cross the place where we are most lost.

As Christians, we believe that to live the most authentic life, we must carry our own cross. A life without the cross is a life of just ignoring the pain, anxiety and lostness that lie underneath our everyday life. My friends, it is at the cross that Jesus is present with us. Jesus' dying on the cross is the ultimate expression of God's presence and solidarity with us in all of our pain, in our lostness. It was only through the cross that Jesus was raised up to new life. And, it is only through our cross where we meet Jesus and find peace and a new reality.

When we are lost, let us not seek to go around it or avoid it. In a time like this, let us courageously bear our cross. For when we do, God will be present with us there.

This is a time for presence. If there's anything we should be learning from this pandemic, it's that nothing matters more than the presence of others. Christ comes to be present with us now. So, let us not ignore what it is that we're truly feeling or thinking. Let us be honest about it, let us acknowledge it, and let us name it. So, are you feeling lost? Anxious? Uncertain? Whatever it is, it is time to be honest and name it. Then God will come where you are.

This is also the time to be present for one another. We, even thought we’re here virtually, we are the body of Christ: the very Christ who appeared before the disciples in today’s passage. We are his body here on earth, given breath by the Holy Spirit. We are to be the presence of Christ for each other.

I don't know what the world will be like after this pandemic is over. I read the news, and I'm concerned. I do see so many inspiring examples of selfless service and generosity; like those on the front lines. But I also see so much fear, animosity and division.

What I do believe is that during this time, we, as a body of Christ, have a unique calling and opportunity to become the presence of Christ for one another and this world. This is the time to practice bringing this new reality into existence.

Here are some concrete things we need to do:

1. As I mentioned, be honest about what it is that you're truly feeling underneath. Name it and claim it. That is your own cross.

It comes down to the sincere question we have for others: how are you really doing?

I know that none of this is easy. Living a new reality of presence is not easy, because we have old habits of avoiding presence. But a life with Christ is about this uneasy new reality. It's uneasy, but this is the new reality that brings peace and joy. This is what the world needs; it’s what the world can not understand or offer. And we might find it hard to do by ourselves, but this is why God has given us the Holy Spirit, to empower us in this new life of presence.

So, this is a time for presence everyone. It is perhaps the most important thing for this time, while we are physically isolated from one another. We can and must be the presence of Christ for one another.

When we are lost, presence is what will bring about peace and a new reality. We haven't had much time to process everything yet. But for now, when we are feelings lost, may the presence of Christ bring peace to your hearts. And may we be the presence of Christ for each other during this time.

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“It is well with my soul.”

As the pandemic goes on, we can find our strength flagging and our faith waning.

Times of difficulty have been times when faith is not only tested but formed. Faith is a gift from God that can sustain us and carry us through.

This episode features a recording from a choir group that is physically distanced from one another. They recorded their voices on their cell phones and put them together to declare that “it is well with my soul.” Be inspired by these soaring voices!

It also features Scripture readings and meditations on faith. May you blessed by the music, readings and meditations!

When peace like a river, attendeth my way

It is well, (it is well),

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

It is well, (it is well),

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,

It is well, (it is well),

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Mary came to the tomb after Jesus died. Mary truly loved Jesus. You know, the deeper you love a person, the greater loss you feel. She was in deep sorrow. You know, in deep sorrow, you cannot see things around you. She saw the angels, but she did not really recognize them. She saw Jesus, but Jesus was only a stranger to her. We become blind when we are in deep sorrow. Our tears blind our eyes, and we cannot see anything. We see a lot of tears these days. Their loved ones are sick, and yet, they cannot even be with them. Some of them die alone without the presence of their family. There are a lot of tears in this world. People are dealing with their pain in their own ways. Some of them suffer quietly. There is so much pain in this world.

God sees our tears, and he comes to us. And that's what Jesus did, Jesus saw Mary's tears, and he came to her. Jesus said to Mary, Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking? It wasn't a criticism about her crying. Jesus knew, very well, why she was crying. Jesus simply wanted to be with her, and help her. For whom are you looking? A very profound question, actually. For whom are you looking, Mary? As a matter of fact, Mary was looking for the dead body of Jesus, the corpse. She was crying because the dead body of Jesus was gone. Now Jesus wiped the sadness that blinded her, and opened her eyes and let her see, not the dead body, but the risen body of Jesus. She was looking for the dead body, but now she sees the risen body of Jesus. That's why she called him, Rabboni! which she used to call him during Jesus' life time. Then she went to see the disciples and cried out, I have seen the Lord!

I want Jesus to wipe all our tears. I want Jesus to wipe your tears that blinded you, and let you see the risen Christ. When you are hurting inside, on the outside, you shed tears. Tears are not a bad thing. It's just our hurt and pain flowing out of us. God sees that pain. God sees that tear. And God sheds that tear too. God sheds our tears. That pain of God is the pain we go through. It is our pain. When we go through our pain, it hurts God. That pain of God is God's compassion and mercy. The cross is Jesus' pain of embracing our pain. That is what the cross is. When you embrace others' pain, that is what it means to carry your own cross. That's when healing comes.

My friends, often and too often, one's pain hurts others rather than healing them, because they are just carrying the raw pain, the raw hurt within them. Unresolved pain, they carry within. They don't even know that they are hurting inside. When you carry your unresolved pain within you, that hurts others. Only when our wound is healed by Jesus, and when our tears are wiped away by Jesus, then we can have the power to embrace others' pain. Love is not just a good feeling. Love is embracing others' pain. It is the power to embrace others' pain. This love brings about the power of resurrection. Pain causes pain. Death causes death. But when there is love, our pain causes our compassion, and our death causes life. That's why Jesus' cross brought about the resurrection.

You don't need to hide your hurt. Don't hide your hurt. When it remains in you, no matter how much you pretend that you don't have it, it's still there. It still hurts you. And the worst thing is: it hurts others. We need to come humbly before God, and simply cry out, God will heal us. God will wipe away our tears. That is when we can accept each other with compassion. Then this will bring new life. What we need right now is healing, and the hope of resurrection. Let us turn our eyes to Jesus. You will see the risen Christ. We will be able to stand up again, and go out to embrace others' pain. That is the power of the resurrection, and that is the message of Easter.

Happy Easter!

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Matthew 27:27-31

Yesterday I left my house for the first time in a week and got a takeout coffee from the second cup to prepare for the sermon. There was one customer ahead of me. So I kept my distance. I ordered my coffee and as I was leaving, there was another customer way back at the entrance. keeping his distance. I don’t know. As I walked to the car, for some reason, I started tearing up. I didn’t know why, So I thought about it and I realized, on the one hand, I was touched that much of society is on board with physical distancing to save lives. We are all somehow in this together, but on the other hand, my heart was sad that we are forced to be so isolated from one another. Our whole way of life. Living in proximity with others has been turned upside down This past week, I took my two kids and drove to my parents’ house to pick up some food. They had made. They put the food into the trunk and were talking with us and the kids through the windows. My mom’s first desire was to go and rub Nathan’s face, but she remembered and stopped herself and that made her start tearing up and crying everyday simple joys of a grandmother, hugging her grandchild have been appended. This distancing makes us incredibly aware of our aloneness.

In our aloneness and separation from others. We suffer most deeply. Students are bored, unmotivated, and undone by the lack of structure that governs their lives. And many of them now suffer from a lack of meaning and purpose. We prayed from pastor Dave’s leading of prayer of the many people that are suffering people with mental health issues or those in poverty who are in isolation are suffering as support systems like food bank deliveries are overloaded and under-resourced in our seniors in nursing homes have been hit the hardest over half the deaths in Canada from COVID-19 have taken place in nursing homes. They are forced to die all alone in isolation. Some family members have said goodbyes through a window. Others, maybe through FaceTime, facilitated by a nurse and yet others have had only the nurse by their bedside as they departed from this life. The image of seniors dying alone is the closest image in today’s passage. Jesus suffers humiliation, insult, and ridicule, but more than the humiliation, I think it’s the fact that he was all alone. Jesus had said that all would desert him. That’s someone close would betray him and that his closest friend Peter would deny him being alone was the greatest suffering Jesus experienced on the cross. His final words were my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? Even God had abandoned him and left him alone on the cross.

Today is Passion Sunday. It marks the start of Holy Week. This is the most important time in the Christian calendar. As we reflect on the life and suffering of Jesus, passion means suffering and I wonder, why did Jesus suffer as he did? Why did he have to suffer all alone? I don’t have all the answers, but I do see that in his suffering, he could relate to human suffering at its deepest level. sometimes the greatest suffering is to be completely alone, to feel that no one is with you or understands you to feel that even God has abandoned you. Empathy is the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes, compassion stems from the Latin words, suffer from compassion. Jesus comes to us when we are alone with empathy and compassion. Our Lord is not a distance. God removed from our troubles. Our Lord shares our burden and carries our pain. Our place of aloneness, that where we suffer most deeply is where we experience the healing touch of Jesus. Jesus comes into our empty space and heals us there. We may feel alone. We may be distanced from others, but in this place of aloneness and distance, let us seek out and embrace that healing touch of Jesus.

The healing touch of Jesus transforms our calling to be the healing touch of Jesus for others, to be connected with others, to share in the suffering of others, to bear the burdens of others. Yes, this connectedness is our true calling in life and it flows from the healing touch of Jesus. I’ve seen this healing touch in many pockets and corners, and it’s often the simple act of reaching out and checking up on people. You know, when I email someone to ask how they’ve been, the usual response is an appreciation for thinking of them and this healing touch of Jesus also extends out to those. We don’t know in one low-income apartment, building people who went to the common laundry room, found a basket full of fruits. And when that basket became empty, it would somehow be replenished. It was a simple message that someone cared. We hear of landlords, not charging rent for the month of April. We’ve seen some businesses offer free food and coffee for healthcare workers, More than the concrete materialists’ assistance. It is the solidarity and connection that stirs hearts and brings healing. We are called to be followers of Jesus, not as what we reflect on this week. Being a follower of Christ is to be the healing touch of Christ for others. It’s at times like this, that the aroma of Christ must be even stronger. The love of Christ must shine even more brightly in times of darkness. We’ve decided that the part of our church mission statement to be a compassionate community that stands with the weak and vulnerable will be a driving focus of our church. During this time Each month, we will focus on a different area of vulnerability. We will actively seek your support for people and organizations aiding these vulnerable groups and people. We will not shrink and look only to our own needs, but this is the time for our hearts to grow and become bigger. So I ask that all of you prepare your own budgets and finances to become the healing hands of Christ in this world. I mean, I was so inspired and encouraged by your support for Evangel hall. So we will continue this focus and do a fundraising drive each month. I know that our own circumstances might become more challenging as time goes on. Our own finances may be tight, But may our hearts grow stronger and larger and this time of distancing and separation, Let us seek out the healing touch of Jesus and be healed and comforted. Let us reach out to those around us with a simple, how have you been, And let us be that healing touch of Jesus for others in a time like this with generous and open hearts.

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Welcome to our second episode of “Becoming Together”! We’ve changed the format of this second episode to be more of an uplifting spiritual experience to help you get through the day and week. During these unprecedented and anxious times, we need spiritual food to keep us going.

We hope that this blend of songs, Scripture readings, music and meditations will be helpful to you. We are here to be with you and for you in life’s journey. Please enjoy and may God bless you!

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Scripture: John 11:40

What does faith do in our lives? Faith gives us new eyes. Faith gives us insight. Faith helps us see the things that we did not see beforehand. That was what Jesus said in today's passage. Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? (John 11:40) If we believe, we will see the glory of God. If we have faith, we will be able to see what is good in life. Today's story is about Jesus raising the dead Lazarus. If you have time, please try to read the whole chapter 11. When you look at the scene, they all saw death. They all smelled death. When Jesus said to take away the stone of the grave, Martha said: Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days. (John 11: 39) That was when Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? (John 11:40)

It is similar to what we reflected last week: the born blind man. People only saw the sin of the born blind man, but Jesus saw the hands of God working in him. Faith gives us new eyes and with these new eyes we see what is good.

Faith is the light in a world of darkness 

Hebrews writer said this. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) Faith gives us the assurance of what we hope for. Through faith we will have the conviction that things will work out all right even though we don't see it yet. Every day, we hear threatening news. I don't think the media just sensationalizes the fear but nevertheless what they tell us is threatening. Every day, the virus becomes stronger. More people get infected and more deaths we see. The virus infects everyone: the young and old,  movie celebrities, princes, and the prime minister. In Italy, so many people died and the military had to be brought in to move the bodies to the neighboring village. We are surrounded by darkness. Surrounded by death. Surrounded by fear and worries. This is when we need faith. Faith that gives us new eyes. Faith helps us see hope. Faith lets us see the glory of God. Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead is right here with us.

Faith grows from suffering 

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live (John 11:25) Even if you die, you will live. Jesus is saying that Death does not have the final say. Death will not drive us into devastation and fear. If my soul is alive, we will live even though we die. It is faith that makes our soul alive. How can we have faith? Faith is not something you decide to have. It is not about your will and your decision. Faith grows mysteriously within us. And I believe that suffering has a lot to do with the growth of our faith. Suffering makes our faith grow. Suffering awakens us and when we have a right attitude in our suffering, faith grows within us. What is that right attitude? The right attitude is the desire to know God and trust God. When suffering is combined with the right attitude, faith grows within us. And with the faith, we can see beautiful things in the midst of our suffering. In the midst of ashes we can see beautiful flowers. We can see not only death but the goodness, warmth, and sacrificial attitude of people. We can see that in the front-line workers who try to save people's lives, risking their own.

In France, last Tuesday, people came out onto the balcony and clapped for the front-line workers. It was a beautiful image. One woman shouted out, Bravo to Caregivers! This attitude spread and it happened in Italy, Spain, Britain, and Canada. Somebody said, Not all heroes wear capes, the real heroes wear scrubs. Even in this crisis, we see the beautiful love people show to each other. Not only doctors and nurses, but also people working at grocery stores who help give us essential food, paramedics, TTC drivers, and to all those people who are working so hard to fight against the virus and give us advice to point us in the right direction. While some businesses do despicable things such as jacking up the price of wipes, there are people who give helping hands. Evangel Hall asked us whether we could provide gift cards from the grocery stores instead of coming out and serving the meal. Simon will put it out on our website, asking for donations. I think it is time for us to be kind to each other. 

Faith humbles us 

Through the eyes of faith, we can also see how weak and fragile we are. We have no choice but to be humble. We have realized that the walls we have built around us to protect ourselves are not indestructible. We are not invincible. Our economy is not invincible. Everything can collapse in an instant moment. Let us see that God is our wall; God is our fortress; God is our refuge; and God is our shield. With the eyes of faith, we should be able to see this. We need God's mercy. We can see how precious it is to have God's mercy. We also need to be kind and merciful to each other. That's what we need. When we have eyes of faith, we can overcome our challenges. We will get through this crisis. We will come out stronger. My friends, with the eyes of faith, let us see, again, the glory of God.

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Introducing our new podcast series!

In challenging times like this, it is important to reflect on our lives and circumstances around us. Join Pastors Dave and Simon as they discuss and interview others.

Highlights of this first episode:

Coming Soon…

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