How COVID taught me to trust God, see Him at work, and love His church

Confession time: I don’t work well at home. Maybe it’s the four kids running around, or the proximity of screens and snacks. I probably still need to grow in discipline. So COVID has been…interesting.

I think like everyone else I’ve been searching on the one hand for something that is regular, consistent and solid. We have routines as a family: school in the morning, prayer, dinner and games in the evening, “virtual church” on Sunday mornings. Yet on the other hand I also crave something incredible, heroic and supernatural. We took on some projects around the home, splurged on a few things for the kids. I’ve been watching “The Last Dance” trying to relive my teenage appreciation for Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

None of them really work, though. The trouble is that the routines aren’t special, and the special isn’t routine.

But this isn’t true with God. He is immanent, with us, caring for us, and in Christ even like us (Heb 2:17). God is also transcendent. He is distinct, unique, high above us in authority and power (Ps 113:5-6). So, during these times of self-isolation, I’ve made it my goal every day to see God as the only person who can deliver to me both the security I need when I am anxious, and the hope of things to come when I am feeling trapped and alone and aware of my own sin. O, for grace to trust Him more.

Through these times, I have been helped so much by reading God’s word, listening to podcasts and audiobooks, and seeing the church in action—even just in my own home. One help that we don’t always know enough about to use is the great history of Christians who have come before us. I’ve been studying the ancient Church recently, and I’ve been so encouraged as I read their stories and letters to each other.

Three things have stood out to me as I have studied the early Church. First, those early Christians couldn’t stop talking about Jesus. They loved Him, trusted Him and hoped for His return. Second, that Spirit-led love for Jesus motivated those Christians to do amazing things—care for the poor, sick and needy, declare their faith to family and friends, even suffer and die during times of persecution. Third, through all of the events of world history, God is working to care for His people. In those early years of the church, God used natural disasters, attacks from the outside and even infighting and false teaching to help people around the world hear about Jesus and join the church.

In the last six months, we have gone from fretting about a potential world war, to seeing the devastating fires in Australia, to the current pandemic encircling the globe. But times like this are not new. In AD 250, political scandals rocked the Roman Empire, which was also hit by natural disasters and a plague that would last for more than a decade. During this time, Christians were persecuted, hunted down, arrested and killed. Here is what one pastor in Egypt wrote at the time: “we found our joy in the peace of Christ…. Our brethren showed love and loyalty in not sparing themselves while helping each other and tending to the sick.”

That reminds me of you, West London Alliance Church. So, just as you help each other, take hold of joy in the peace of Christ. That’s what we need. Not Netflix and routines. The ecstasy of transcendence and the comfort of immanence go together in Christ. This is how God satisfies us today and forever.