This week's Minister's Monday Moment comes courtesy of our National Superintendent (Acting) Rev Brett Jones.
What an unsettling week this has been! We’ve all found ourselves having to make adjustments big and small. It’s been destabilising and disturbingly familiar all at the same time. “We’ve been here before, we know what to do, but we wish we didn’t have to!”
Times like these bring all kinds of responses to the surface. Sometimes we see great kindness as people prioritise connection and care. Other times we see anxiety and concern as people are weighed down with the burden of change and uncertainty. For some, fear becomes a driver of behaviour – we panic-buy and we panic-share – social media breeds its own viruses with all the chaos of a super spreader. We’re particularly susceptible in these seasons of great uncertainty to explanations that reinforce our own convictions. Anger is on a hair trigger. We swing between over functioning or withdrawal. We find ourselves binging on whatever brings us comfort – food, social media, Netflix and sometimes even exercise! We’re not the first with things to worry about. We’re not the first to hold concerns for our welfare and wellbeing. We’re not the first to encounter Jesus with these anxieties. We’re not the first to need these words: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matt 6:33-34
It’s not a call to careless living. That’s not what we need in this season. It’s a call to careful living. To live for those things that come first. To prioritise our seeking towards the God who makes us right and the Kingdom which is he is ushering in.
And so we seek the rights and needs of other ahead of our own. We seek to be truthful in living out our faith rather than pursuing social media prophets. We seek the presence of God rather than the comfort that satisfaction of our appetites promises but does not bring. We seek peace-making and reconciliation – becoming a part of God’s desire to make all things right rather than always needing to be right. We seek the scripture’s whisper to us as we still the noise of constant updates. We seek relationship and connection ahead of distraction and isolation. We seek the King and his Kingdom.
Praying it may be so for us. Rev Brett Jones National Superintendent (Acting)
Comentários