The Very Rev. Ken Weldon is preaching during the online service on March 22nd, 2020 at St. John's Church Florence, SC.
I speak to you all this morning in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. "So now faith, hope and love abide these three, but the greatest of these is love." Friends, we are living in crazy times. The fact that we are doing our Sunday service online through our Facebook page or through our website is a testament to this. It is a scary time; it is an uncertain time. Many of us are feeling isolated, many of us are feeling like our legs have been taken out from under us. In short, brothers and sisters, it is a crazy, crazy time. So then when so, so much of what we take for granted has been taken away from us-- being physically present with those we love, going to school, going to work at our jobs, going to church for Sunday worship service--when so much of what makes our lives normal, reliable and comfortable has been taken away, where does that leave us?
I believe our lesson from Corinthians, which Corey just read to us, speaks to this. Paul concludes this section of his letter to the Corinthians with the well-known verse, "so now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love." Friends, during this time of certainty, during this time of fear and confusion, during this crazy, unbelievable time we find ourselves in--faith, hope and love, abide. Faith, hope and love remain. They are steadfast. They do not leave us. They do not depart from us as God's people. Friends, during this crisis, our Lord is steadfast. I want to repeat that: during this time, we need to remember that our God is steadfast. He will never leave us; he will never forsake us. He who has not abandoned us to our sins, brothers and sisters, he will not abandon us to this either. Friends, our faith is in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Himself. Our hope is in the One who created the world, the one who made the moon and stars and hung them in their places. Friends, our faith is not in worldly authorities, our faith is in the living Son of God. Our hope, brothers and sisters, is not in modern medicine. Our hope is in the risen Christ. He that conquered death, friends, trampling hell and Satan under his feet. He can handle the situation we find ourselves in. He, that gave sight to the blind man--he can handle the coronavirus. Friends, he, Jesus Christ, that took on the sins of the world, his promise is that he will never ever leave us. "Lo, I am with you always," He promises, "even to the very end of the age.
Friends, Jesus Christ loves us and his call to us is to continue to love one another. During this crazy and unsettling time, friends, our call as the church, our charge as Christians, as Christ's ambassadors to the world, remains the same. To love the Lord with all of our heart and all of our mind and all of our strength and to continue friends to love one another. The way we do this may have to look a little different during this time, but the call is the same. Our call, friends, is to place our faith and our hope in Jesus, and to continue to find ways to love those around us. Brothers and sisters, my prayer for you and for me during these unsettling times is that we might indeed, keep the faith. That we might continue to put our hope and our trust in Jesus Christ himself, and to allow his peace, which passes understanding, to fill our hearts. Friends, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is present with us through His Holy Spirit, his love for us will never end and his grace and mercy are sufficient. Friends, Christ is present with us even in these uncertain times, especially during these uncertain times. His love for us will never end his grace and mercy are sufficient. He is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and always. His love for us will never end.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.