Not Afraid

Life is changing fast due to the coronavirus! I’ve been working on an internment for my parents in the veterans cemetery in Ohio for many months now. My mother died in 2007. She had given her body to medical science. So six months later we received her ashes from the medical school. I asked my Dad, “When should we have an internment for Mom?” He said, “Well, we can do that later.” It wasn’t urgent to him, and so Mom’s ashes sat on a shelf. Dad died a year ago. He also gave his body to medical science. We received his ashes in September. Then we tried to set up an internment with the veterans cemetery in Dayton, Ohio. It took a long time. My brother Pat, in Ohio, had filled out an application and faxed it. But we didn’t know: you have to call immediately after faxing, or they won’t do anything with the application. Finally my sister-in-law called, we got the application sent in, and all was set for the internment on April 23 in Ohio.  

I was just telling someone this week, I’m so glad we finally will have this internment, and do things right for my parents

Friday evening my brother Ed, who lives in Florida, called. “Do you think we’ll be able to have this internment? Maybe because of the corona virus, things will be shut down, and we can’t fly?” Ed had a plane ticket from Florida, my brother Joe in Los Angeles and his wife had a plane ticket. I said, well, hopefully this shutting things down won’t go on forever.  

Schools are closed for two weeks, large gatherings like sports and concerts are cancelling to slow the spread of the virus. We don’t want lots of people sick all at once. Our hospitals can’t hold that many people. There are not enough ventilators if there is a huge spike of infections. 

Joe in Los Angeles said he thought it would be ok to go ahead with April 23rd. It won’t be as crowded on the airplanes. So we are going ahead with the internment. Whew! I was glad we were back to doing this! But then I hear there is a chance that flights will be cancelled in places where there are large outbreaks! It’s frustrating! But at least I know my parents ashes will keep if we have to wait another year for this! 

If you’ve been hiding under a rock, there is a lot of anxiety, tension, frustration, just not knowing what lies ahead due to this virus. Stocks are dropping, people are panicking, and there’s no toilet paper in the mega mart store. Schools are closed for two weeks. 

We are living in a crisis, and we don’t exactly know what the future holds. But we are Christians. Our faith means we live with hope. Faith triumphs over fear. Jesus told his followers in John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” 

A woman of faith found herself in a crisis. Her name was Esther. She has her own book in the Bible. Esther was raised by her cousin, Mordecai. The King of Persia, King Xerxes, was angry at his wife, the Queen. So he looked for another Queen. Esther was a candidate. Before she sees the King, she has to go through a year of beauty treatments. Husbands, if you think your wife spends too long getting ready, that’s nothing, compared to Esther. She spends a year, before she is ready! Be happy you’re not married to her! 

Esther is great. She becomes the Queen. But she keeps it secret that she is jewish, because her cousin, Mordecai, who raised her, told her to. An evil man, Haman, becomes an advisor to the king. He says to King Xerxes: 

“There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. ⁹If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.” 

Esther 3:8-9

The king gives Haman permission, not realizing he is giving permission to kill all the Jewish people, and his own queen, Esther! A decree goes out to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, women and children, on a certain day. Mordecai, who raised Esther, sends word to her to go in to the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. 

Esther sends a message back to Mordecai. “I am not allowed to just go speak to the King whenever I want. I can only go to the King if I am called. If I just go on my own, the sentence is death.” Esther is saying, don’t look at me, I can’t help. 

Mordecai responds, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ”

Esther 4:13 

It was a crisis, a time when thousands of people would be wiped out. Mordecai tells Esther she can’t think only about saving herself. Even as Queen she can’t escape the fate of all Jews.  

Mordecai says, “¹⁴For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.“

Esther 4:14

 Mordecai trusts that somehow God will intervene and save the Jews. But if Esther thinks only of herself and her safety, and disregards her people, she will perish! 

Mordecai finishes: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” I love that: Mordecai says to Esther: God has put you here, in your position as Queen, for such a time as this!

Right now we are in a crisis, and it is at least frustrating, and at worst frightening. It’s frustrating that plans for seemingly everything are being changed. The idea of people in nursing homes catching the virus, like in Washington state, is truly frightening!  

But Mordecai asks a question that a person of faith asks: Who knows: maybe you are here in this crisis, for such a time as this? He helps Esther to think of the oportunity she has as queen. God made her queen so she could save her people. 

Esther moves from thinking only about herself, to deciding to try to save her people. She says, “If I perish, I perish!”, and goes to see the King. Esther saves the day, and saves her people!

If Mordecai were with us today, he would tell us to think not only about ourselves in this time of crisis. We need to pray for those impacted. It is tempting at a time like this to hoard supplies. It’s tempting to put ourselves and our needs above others. It’s tempting to ignore warnings: that can be selfish too. It’s not about me I’m healthy, I’ll probably be ok if I get the virus. But I can spread the virus, before I even know I have it. So I need to wash my hands to help others. The temptation is always there to just think about me. But our faith calls us to love our neighbor. Just don’t shake their hand!  

This is a time to think of those who are sick and elderly, and try to do social distancing or whatever we are asked to do. This can be a difficult time. Isolation can be very lonely. Our faith calls us away from our fears and frustrations, and instead to reach out to people we may not be thinking about. Just do it by phone!  

It’s a time of crisis. But it’s not a time to be afraid. It’s time to think about everybody. It’s time to reach out with help, and friendship and care. Who knows, maybe you were put here for such a time as this? 

My homework for you is to reach out to someone. Ask them, “How are you doing? How can I help you?” I believe God put you here, during this coronavirus outbreak, for such a time as this. 

We have a mission! To say, “No!” to fear, and “Yes!” to faith. To make hope spread faster than the coronavirus! If we’re feeling down, we’re not the only ones going through this. We’re all a little knocked off our feet by this. So put others first, bring some hope to someone else, because you were put here, for such a time as this!