Martin Luther

​Matthew 25:40 (NIV): “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
 
It’s been an eternity since our church has been filled with worshipers. Well, I suppose it has only been a month and a half. It just seems like an eternity.
 
Now, the day we have been waiting for has arrived. Restrictions are lifting. Life can finally get back to “normal.” I envision the next several weeks looking like a herd of cow-calf pairs being turned out into a new pasture after winter. The joy, the glee, the kicking of the heels.
 
As restrictions lift, we have to ask: How is a follower of Christ to respond? How do we live our faith during these times?
 
We still live in a time of danger. COVID-19 is still taking lives. We need to ask ourselves: What does it mean to love our neighbor? What does it mean to care for those around us, as we would care for Christ?
 
Martin Luther lived during a cycle of the Bubonic plague, and he faced the question of how one lives during a national epidemic. He wrote:
 
“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”
 
So, as society opens back up, let us live our faith by being wise, not foolhardy. Living with those around us, exercising care. For as much as we care for their safety, so we do for Christ.