“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me”

When I read this gospel reading today which is a passage normally read at funerals and memorial services, I felt this our service this morning could be a memorial service for our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives because of the corona virus pandemic, but then I said to myself, who am I to conduct such a service for them when I do not know much about them, as each of our departed brethren from around the 190 countries in the world affected by this pandemic is so unique, so unique that only God knows each of them by name and knows even the length of every hair on their heads and loves them uniquely. So, what could I say other than to pray for them that, God gives each and every one of them his peace, comfort their bereaving families, heal those who are still ill and hospitalized or are home bound and pray that God will be the fortress of all of us at this time.

I am also sure the whole picture of this corona virus may be making an impression on you just as it has on me. For me the greatest impression in this country that it has made was when a Malawian nurse (Elsie Sazuze) died of the virus in Birmingham. At her funeral her fellow nurses called her name and as there was no response they said “her shift is finished”-probably likening it to Jesus’ last words on the cross which in Greek is ti-te le stai or it is finished. Yes, all who have died from this virus have finished their shift on earth, but hopefully our Lord who gives us hope of eternal life when he says “I am going to prepare a place for you in my kingdom”, will offer all our departed brethren, as well as those of us still alive a new shift in his eternal kingdom when we stand before him one day.

Our gospel reading from John, may cause one to ask this question, what would Christ have done if he had been in our midst at this particular time? The answer from me is I am not sure. But one thing I know is, Jesus who was born in a much worse situation than some of us might ever know, bearing in mind that, at the time of his birth Israel was under foreign occupation where the people did not have much to say for themselves so much to the extent that, our saviour himself had to be born in a stable in Bethlehem and later with his family fled to live as a refugees in Egypt, would at this time of the corona virus  not self-isolate himself in his palace or house or tent somewhere but would be visiting the sick in hospitals and in care homes, he would be healing those infected by the virus, he would be feeding those whose livelihood has been taken away by this disease, he would be comforting the bereaved and visiting the lonely and for those who are dying as a result of this virus, I am sure Christ will weep with the bereaved families just as he wept before raising Lazarus back to life and assure the deceased and their families that, as the Master carpenter, he has built many rooms in his kingdom for all those who believe and trust or as Paul said to people of Thessalonica, Christ will be saying to us at this point: “Absent from the body, present with the Lord forever”. And if he could not do any of these things I have mentioned, I am sure he would be praying ceaselessly for all affected by this virus and his prayer would be for God to give his peace and good health to all and he would be assuring all of us by saying “do not to let our hearts to be troubled but believe in God and believe also in me”. So dear friends we have a hope, our Lord Jesus Christ offers us that hope in times of our troubles, so let us remain faithful in him, let us ask for everything in his name and let us talk to each other always in prayer.

So let us Pray: Almighty God, we thank you for your word and for your assurance that, we should not be troubled or worried, but believe in you. We humbly ask that you strengthen our faith and make strong our belief in you whenever we falter. Let our belief in you encourage us to do greater works in you name like bringing your word to others, comforting and supporting others and loving others as you love us.  Be our peace Lord and let your name be always a blessing, be always celebrated and be always exalted by us, from this day onwards in Jesus name we pray. Amen