Rejoice in the Lord always

We are living in a very strange time at the moment. Most of us are feeling quite anxious as our way of life seems to be on hold as we all, as a country and indeed as a world, seek to see the back of the coronavirus. We may have many reasons to be anxious; we may be worried about catching the virus ourselves, or even more be concerned for those people who are more vulnerable to the ravages of the disease. We may have concerns about our children, with the prospect that schools may be closed for some time to come yet. We may be worried about our jobs, about where we might find the money we need to live on. We may be concerned that we will still be able to obtain the basic essentials of life.

In his letter to the church at Philippi, written about 2,000 years ago, Paul wrote some words in Chapter 4 about anxiety that may still be of help to us today. He said firstly that we should be joyful in the Lord always. One of the things this enforced shutdown may have done is to have enabled us to slow down and look at the world around us a bit more. The sun is still shining, the birds have started singing, the flowers have started to come out, the trees are starting to sprout leaves once again. And we may be appreciating once again the benefits of being part of a family, and part of a community. Even in times of such anxiety there still things to be joyful about.

Paul also wrote that our gentleness should be evident to all. At times of anxiety, our feelings may be closer to the surface and we may be quicker to lose patience. But how much better if we could be gentle with each other – and there are so many examples where people have shown that gentleness already in the current crisis. We are all feeling anxious, we are all trying to make the best of a pretty awful situation. We need to show each other some gentleness.

Paul also reminded us that Jesus is near. We have just celebrated Easter, the time when we remember that Jesus was raised from the dead. From Good Friday, a day when the disciples must thought that their world had come to an end, to the joy of Easter Sunday and the day that Jesus was raised from the dead. That is a reason to give us all hope – even though things might seem bad, there will be a way through. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!

Tim Hedgecock