Hey Fam!

Late last week, I found myself admitting to myself how this whole social distancing was starting to affect me. I shared this with my wife, who works in the ER in Indy and has been gone a lot with the high demand of healthcare providers. (Shout to all those on the front lines and the families who support them). Even our interactions have been limited. I am extrovert and NOT a homebody, so the lack of in-person interaction along with the home lockdown has been tough.

An unsettledness and desire began to grow in me. I thought it was a desire for community again. A desire for real community with people is not a bad thing at all, and actually a very good thing. But, this felt a little different. I felt God was trying to dig deeper in me, to show me something more.

Before social distancing season started, we as believers were and still are in a season of Lent leading up to Easter. Lent is a season of 40 days where the church remembers our need of a Savior that ends in celebration at Easter. To use verbiage from our Lent Guide, “In the early church, the forty days were to take a spiritual inventory,

to clean out the things that hindered their relationship with Jesus,
to remember why they were baptized, and to
renew their commitment to the way of Jesus by
serving others.”

In this age, many followers of Jesus will choose to give up something such as candy, coffee (God Bless them!), social media, etc. as an act of obedience to God. Ironically, during this social distancing time where many are flocking to social media as a main source of community, I had chosen to give up social media and trade in my Facebook scrolling time with intentional God time. Great timing...

Let’s think about what is happening in the 2020 Lenten season. These things have been shutdown or shaken:

Sports
Entertainment
Restaurants
Malls
Social Gatherings
Schools
Financial Stability/comfort

March Madness and Major League Baseball Opening Day was coming...I love this time of year. All is shut down and gone. Going to movies, musicals, eating out, even the comfort of financial stability has been shaken.

In a season where followers of Jesus are to focus on shutting down the things that pull us from God to focus on Him, many of those things have been shut down for us already.

We are hearing stories of renewed sense of community in neighborhoods where people are reaching out to one another, serving each other, sharing what they have, etc. This sounds a lot like the early church in Acts 4 where they all shared what they had so no one was in need. I was told from a pastor friend of mine that he believes the church will show its face during this time. The church will rise and move.

What a profoundly Lenten season the church is in right now! In the midst of a lot of unknown, trial, and pain, God still can and does work….and He is.

As I sat down after everyone had gone to bed in my house, I met with God and asked him to reveal in me the details of my unsettledness. What was I missing?

He shared that my desire for relationship with people and community had begun to outweigh my desire for relationship and community with Him. The hunger I was feeling was a void only He could fill. I had no more excuses, nothing more to distract me, the only thing holding me back was ME.

This could be the Lenten season that profoundly shifts and changes the Church - that means YOU! What is still holding you back?

- Sam Linette, Formations Pastor

THE TIME IS NOW