New Wine: A Need For Revival

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXX

“Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, and the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him….” (Ephesians 2:20-21)

Morality cannot be legislated! People will sin; it is in their nature, and people won’t quit sinning jut because it is against the law. Prohibition attempted to outlaw alcohol. When it became law, bootlegging became a profitable industry. Unable to enforce it, the law was repealed. Since “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) we need Jesus. Michael W. Smith sang:

Nobody knew His secret ambition; nobody knew His claim to fame
He broke the old rules steeped in tradition
He tore the holy veil away
Questioning those in powerful position
Running to those who called His name
But nobody knew His secret ambition was to give his life away.

America is ripe for a revival, a time of repentance, a turning from ones sins and acceptance of God’s grace. Only a change of heart and a rebirth of one’ spirit can change a person’s lifestyle. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.” (II Corinthians 5:17)  History records bars were closed because of Charles Finney’s revival meetings. They produced radical change. The prophet, John the Baptist, cries, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2) Evangelist have proclaimed, , “You must be born again,” (John 3:7) to people who saw themselves as “wretched” in need of a savior.

One person can spread the coronavirus to large numbers when in a dense crowd. When Stay-At-Home restrictions were lifted, America partied hearty. The need to party on holidays, to vacation on a crowded beach, to hold large political rallies, and to open bars all added to the perfect storm for viral infections.

The “lack of leadership” in networking chains of P.P.E. materials, ventilators, and testing with quick results comes from the void of releasing people with evangelistic, prophetic, and apostolic passions. We need evangelist to cry for repentance, prophets to set a direct path, and an apostle who sees the big picture and networks people toward an unified goal. Revival always produces new wine, but into what wineskins or structures are we to place this new wine? In the 1700’s, the church pulpit was that structure. The Camp Meeting was the 1800 wineskin. Evangelistic Crusades held in massive tents or large sports venues became the 20th century wineskin. What wineskins are available in the 21st century?

Revivals use new technology. The printing press supported revival in the 18th & 19th centuries. Radio and television advanced evangelism in the 20th century, and now the World-Wide-Web, the Internet, has the potential to change the world, but how? Everything seems to be going virtual due to Covid-19. How will it bring America and the World to its knees in need of a savior? Will the Church respond as an established institution, and effective organization, or a living organism? How to make it an organism only the Holy Spirit knows as He begins to speak, guide, and direct His Church into becoming a living organism known as the Bride of Christ.

Covid-19 spread worldwide in just months bringing the world to its knees, adapting drastic measures to bring about change in an effort to control the disease. In an Internet world, a tweet, a Facebook page, a blog entry, a website can go viral and effect the world in a moment. How can the Church use today’s technologies to bring the world to its knees, acknowledging their sins, and bringing revival? In this age revival will not be local or sporadic; it has the potential of being worldwide. Like its forerunners, the printing press, radio, and television, it will bring about drastic change. As an institution, it took a pandemic to grab the church’s attention to the power of going virtual. As an organization, it’s trying to organize and contain this new technology. As an organism, it will bring life, a rebirth, “the old things are passing away; behold new things are coming!” As our last blog professes, “He who has ears; let him hear.” Let’s listen to the Holy Spirit for directions on how to repent and rebuild.

New Wineskins: The Art Of Listening

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXIX

“After He sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening. He was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23)
“He who has ears; let him hear.” (Many New Testament References)

 -  Graphics in the corner of the cable new screen displays the millions of confirmed Covid-19 cases and the tens of thousands of deaths. Each day the numbers grow. When will it all end?

- President Trump produces another tweet storm, calling his enemies names, promoting another conspiracy theory, dehumanizing another political opponent, while baptizing himself in self-praise. No one takes his tweets seriously anymore, but they still are disturbing.

 - Evening news reports the police killing of another unarmed Black male; unrest is inevitable.

Mustering enough intestinal fortitude, I turn of the television, shut down social networking, and clear my head of all this noise. Sitting in silence, I hear, “He who has ears; let him hear,” so I listen.  I hear nothing. Sometimes it is what you do not hear that is important. The birds aren’t chirping! Why? The birdfeeder is empty, so the birds have abandoned ship. Like Noah, the doves are no longer returning to the ark. In a matter of minutes the birdfeeder is refilled, problem solved. Soon, birds are not only chirping, but they are singing melodiously!

“Sending the crowds away,” Jesus got rid of the clutter. What did he do “up on the mountain by Himself?” Pray. Effective prayer incorporates the art of listening. I use to think prayer was a time to petition, to plead, and to negotiate with God, usually on my terms. It is not! Being “there alone,” He listened. To whom? To the surrounding silence! There he could hear His Father’s voice. Usually the Father gave him directions, which he immediately followed producing miracles. What was natural to the Son is supernatural to the rest of us. The Father told him the good, the bad, and the ugly. He told him of the Cross, that would cause pain, agony, and death, yet he obeyed. It is easy to be reactive during this Covid-19 period. We grab our masks, social distance, wash our hands, and avoid large groups, but we don’t take time to listen. In isolation, Jesus found hi Father’s voice.

So I ask, “What do you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit tell you during this pandemic? What is he telling the Church? How are you to further the kingdom of God during this time? Maybe through all this God wants to revive His people by making “all things new (Revelation 21:5). He wants to create “new” life by pouring “new” wine into “new” wineskins.

Like Moses, many of us want to see a burning bush with a Cecil Be Demille’s voice booming instructions on how to take on Pharaoh. But Jesus says to isolate yourself and hear My Spirit’s soft voice. Personally, I was learning how to journal by listening for the Spirit’s voice. I wrote, “Anthony, I know you like to talk; I’ve been listening to you, but I like to talk too! Are you willing to listen?” Ouch! He knows me too well. That changed the way I now pray. Only after listening does my prayers become a dialogue.

During this Covid-19 period don’t freak out or fill your head, heart, and spirit with negativity. Find an isolated place. Covid-19 has created a lot of those places. Then…

Stop what you are doing!
Listen in the silence…
And be obedient to the Holy Spirit’s voice and directions.

You will not only survive in this Covid-19 tainted world; you will thrive and be a “game changer”.

New Wineskins: Beyond Church Wall

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXVIII

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

Church buildings have been central to a church’s faith, but we have been poor steward of them. Heavily used only on Sundays, most sit idle during the week. They treat their real estate with great care, but churches can better use their facilities.

Old wineskin ways of conducting Sunday services are no longer effective when new wine demands social distancing, smaller group size, and preventing physical contact. Let’s brainstorm creative way to process the new wine, new ideas, of this Covid-19 era. Why are we looking at the back of heads when sitting in pews or row of chairs? People desire relationships over religious exercises. Facing each other, they can build relationships. Developing relationships should supersede the Protestant sermon or the Catholic Mass, which have been the center of “church” experience in the past. Birthing, nurturing, worshiping with, empowering, and releasing other believers in your group is the “new normal”. New wineskins cannot hold the old wine of past centuries; new wine needs new wineskins or you will have disastrous results. Huge mega-church sanctuaries are useless wineskins to this kind of new wine.

Church revival has always been tied to the use of new technology, Guttenberg’ printing press taught the laity how to read the Bible for themselves and ushered in the Great Reformation. Radio, discovered in the 1st half of the 20th century, broadcasted the Good New to the world. Television, invented in the 2nd half of the same century launched Billy Graham Crusades around the world. The result: World Evangelism. The 21st century is the age of the Internet, the era of the smart phone, personal computers, artificial intelligence, IPads, etc. How will the Church use it to go global, yet remain personal Time will tell.

If churches are to utilize their buildings, they will have to embrace this new technology. Virtual means going beyond your walls. Some mega-churches are reacting to Covid-19 by expanding their Wi-Fi and online services like video teaching, podcasts, virtual small groups, and utilizing social networking, emailing, texting, tweeting, blogging, etc.

Church buildings could be converted into virtual broadcasting centers. Person-to-person small group may yet meet within their walls, but virtual communication is the future. The “old school” method of “going to church” to hear a sermon may be a thing of the past when you can watch the virtual video of the sermon anytime you choose via one’s personal smart phone. Evangelism has broadcasted the “good news” through whatever communication was possible: mail, leaflets, tracts, radio, television, personally, or through social networking. Going to a building to hear the “good news” is an old wineskin; hearing the “good news” virtually is the new wineskin. The “good news” can be broadcast through social networking from your existing building.

Another use: Convert your Sunday school rooms into a physical daycare center for toddlers and/or a virtual daycare for school age students. There is a need for childcare so parents can return to Pre-Covid-19 conditions to work. If they don’t work, they could lose their job. The church could rise to meet this need by using their vacated facilities and retraining or hiring staff to become mentors, tutors, and facilitators of virtual instruction for when students are not attending public education. This way the church could “serve” their members and reach out to their communities. It will also give the church the opportunity to have a spiritual influence in a child’s life. “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

Caution: We dare not make these virtual daycare centers “Christian Schools”, like current old school wineskins. By being virtual educational tutoring centers we can reach out and serve the public. Here is an effect avenue to serve the public if we don’t make it a religious experience. It must be a relational experience between the church and the none-church public. Loving children, feeding children, meeting their psychological needs, nurturing and encouraging them is more important than indoctrinating them. Love and service is the key.

Buildings are only as good as their use. When manufacturing gets old; the factory decays and dies unless it is gets retooled. When a church building ages and decays from lack of use and maintenance, it dies unless it is retooled, revived, regeneration. Now is the time to revive our buildings and bring back life, but that can only be done through new wineskins, new structures accepting new wine, new ideas. Bring it on!

New Wineskins: Better Use Of School Building

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXVII

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

Educational and church institutions are centered around buildings, but we are poor stewards of their use. Because of the nine-month school calendar, most educational buildings sit idle for three months. Church buildings with gorgeous sanctuaries and multiple Sunday school room are utilized for only several hours on Sunday. How can we use our buildings better in this Covid-19 era? Let’s blog brainstormed ideas for our educational buildings today and our church facilities tomorrow.

How can we meet social distancing and smaller class size regulation and still offer person-to-person and virtual instruction? Here’s an idea: adopt a 45/15 year round school calendar where a student goes “to school” for 9 weeks, then have three weeks off. Students wouldn’t lose retention caused by a three-month break. Also families could vacation in a cabin in the fall, ski in the winter, visit Disney World in early spring, and hit the beach in the summer. Prime vacations could be year around. Only 2/3 of the student body would be on campus at any time, reducing the number of students. Instead of 24-30 students in a class, you would have 16-20. If you have ½ day person-to-person and ½ day virtual, you could reduce class size in half to 8-10, perfect or social distancing and personalized and group instruction. Converting large instructional areas into virtual labs with individual booths with Wi-Fi accessibility, you could have professional monitors instead of parents facilitate and tutor. Also at this time small group gym, health, family consumer and science, music and art classes could be offered.

In a 45/15 plan, teachers have options on how many days a year they would teach. They could boost their earning power the more day they work. As we discussed in an earlier blog, educators wear many hats as: academic instructors, monitors, facilitators, guidance counselor, and pathway coaches.

In this computer age, monitoring a student’s personal progress from kindergarten to graduation is possible. A database could track mastered skills for each student. Grades 1-12 would become archaic. Mastering a minimum levels of required skills would prepare you for occupation employment or life skills (like handling your financing, parenting newborns and infants, interpersonal & communication skills, etc.) Mastering higher level skills could be coordinated with local Junior Colleges, 4-year degree Colleges, or Universities. Age does not dictate skill levels, mastering skill levels do. Education would take place on campus, at home, or through directed internships with local businesses. It would be community based. Continual education depends on each student’ academic needs. It would open up a new world of self-discovery and self-achievement.

Old school mindset looks at schools only locally. Virtual education ha world-wide implications. The federal government need to develop virtual academic courses and standards to be consistent globally. A student anywhere in the world with Wi-Fi connection can get the same virtual, equal education. Researching in your small school library is archaic. Search engines find information at the click of a keyboard. Students need to learn how to find information and how to judge its validity, how to distinguish truth from propaganda, how to check out the source. The world has changed. The challenges increased, but the scope of how to teach is changing.

The stereotype image of teachers standing in front of their room with a chalkboard or whiteboard, lecturing to students sitting in rows is history. With social distancing, teacher will “roam” around their room, monitoring individual progress, and connect with student through different teaching styles.

Failed Institution: Look Out Caregivers

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXVI

Welcome to the caregiver’s world. If a family member has cancer, Alzheimer, dementia, a chronic illness or a mental illness, being their caregiver is draining and life altering. What happens when the organizations you count upon fail? Everything falls back on you, the caregiver. When schools shut down, the parent, the caregiver, became a fulltime babysitter, part time tutor, a medical assistant for scrapes and bruises, a tooth fairy, a playmate, a cafeteria worker, and their child’s best and only friend when quarantined or isolated. Totally overwhelmed, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused parents to wear all kinds of hats, but what do parents do when systems and institution fail them? You go into crisis survival mode or give up.

Mental Health System:

Having a family member with a mental health diagnosis, I’ve learned that when there is system failure, care will always fall back on the caregiver. When a loved one with a mental disorder goes to an emergency room, they can’t get help unless they convince the E.R. doctor that they are in danger of hurting themselves or someone else. In spite of medication needing two weeks to stabilize, they are released in three days, adding to your life’s burden and being overwhelmed.

Current Health Insurance System:

Health Insurance is suppose to help you survive, but ironically, you are helping the Health Insurance Industry to survive by paying high premiums, co-pays, enormous deductibles, while signing your financial life away if your insurance company doesn’t pay your bill. It falls back into the caregiver’s lap, not the health insurers. The institution is broken

Current Educational System

Covid-19 closed all schools, forcing educators to teach virtually. Parents, now full time caregivers while working at home, became tutors trying to understand “new math’, physics, chemistry, and a foreign language. Responsibility for a child’s education was a shared experience. Single and low income parents wonder how they will handle school-at-home while having to return to work. They can’t be at two places at the same time and they can’t afford professional childcare. Even if they could, childcare is still closed! The system is broken.

It Falls Back on Caregiver

When the mental health system fails, all responsibility falls on the caregiver. If you parent a disabled child, when the schools and supportive service close, you are responsible for your child’s care. When systems and institutions fail or go bankrupt, care always falls into the caregiver’s lap. With uncertainty of the future laying on the horizon, what are caregivers to do except bite the bullet?

In the next set of blogs, we will look at some possible new options, new wineskins, new structures we might try to alleviate the pressures caused by institution breakdowns. The 1st century church met many challenges, yet they boasted, “There was not a needy person among them,” How did they meet needs?” All who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” (Acts 4:34-35) They found solutions. In our next two blogs we will look at some possible solutions to current Covie-19 challenges.

New Wineskins: Different Roles

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXV

“I have become all things to all people, that by all mean I might save some.” (I Corinthians 9.22)
“Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life… and put on the new self.” (Ephesians 4:22-23)

It is tough being an adult!

You are no longer a child; but mature, responsible.
In the work force you need to be professional; reliable and profitable.
At home you need to be a parent; a role model who nurtures.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, you need to be a teacher; a mentor and tutor.
Your roles are continuously changing; you are wearing so many hats.
Where in life are you allowed to be yourself?

During this Covid-19 pandemic roles are constantly changing:

If you were a usher, how do you socially distance and “Greet One Another”?
     You must wear masks, elbow bump, and maintain your distance.
If you are a parent, you are now asked to also be a teacher, tutor, and mentor,
     And you might be your child’s best friend and only playmate.
If you are a boss or in management at work,
     you may not have anyone in your building to manage since all were furloughed or sent home to work.
           You may have to manage virtually through Zoom,
                  While watching and tutoring the kids at home.
You were a caretaker of your parent who you helped move into assistant living.
     Now you can only be a cheerleader and visit through her bedroom window.
You taught Sunday School, was a Boy/Girl Scout Leader, coach in a 5 & 6 year old basketball league.
     You can only Socially Network with your kids, no longer giving hands-on instruction.

Bob Dylan keeps singing, “Your old road is rapidly agin'; Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand; For the times they are a-changin.”

As new wineskins, new structures, new organizations, and new institutional policies are formed, new roles are being required, new formats are necessary, new ideas are presented, and new expectations are being developed. Change necessitates new roles.

Can the Covid-19 era church adjust? Will the church’s staff’s roles change?
Mega-church buildings with huge auditoriums are now albatrosses. What do we do with them? Do we convert them into Recording Studios to do podcasts, in-house virtual sermons, administer virtual Zoom groups, be the center for all social networking?
Teaching Pastors who preached to hundreds in those auditoriums have adjusted by preaching online, but are forced to be “out of touch” with individuals in their congregation.
Sunday numbers measured “church growth”, but by what criteria will “church growth” be measured in the Covid-19 era?
With the quarantines required during a Covid-19 pandemic, how can staff do hospital visitations when prohibited?
How can they be effective and personal when isolation is required to prevent the virus’ growth?
Can the staff change hats from being a teacher to a comforter?
What does a hands-on shepherd do when social distancing is required?
What is a janitor to do when the building doesn’t get dirty or need maintaining because it is empty?

The Covid-19 pandemic causes more questions than we have answers because we are in a time of transition and transition demands changes in roles. It will be interesting in seeing what kind of wine we will put in these new wineskins, new roles, new structures. If we do what we have done before because that is the way it has always been done, we will see the wine break out of the wineskins and both will be ruined, so we have to be careful what wine we put into the new wineskins we create.

“Hang Out”, “Hang In”, But Don’t “Hang Up”!

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXIV

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10.25)

The 21st century church interprets Hebrews 10:25 to mean not to forsake “going to church” on Sundays. The 1st century church had no buildings or clergy, so they couldn’t “go to church.” Church was a 24/7, 7 day a week lifestyle as a community. “Assembling of ourselves together” meant “hanging out” together.

Jesus “hung out” with his disciples. While hiking, they talked. The disciples on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’ death exemplify this. While “hanging out”, Jesus taught in parables using real life situations to teach kingdom principle. Today, “forsaking the assembling of ourselves” basically means it is not “cool” being a “loner!” We need each other! “No man is an island; no man stands alone” written on the Statue of Liberty is as relevant in Jesus’ day as it is today. Even after Jesus’ ascension, they hung out in Jerusalem as “the 12”! Hebrews 10:25 does not condemn “Missing Sunday Church Services.” It means “Don’t Stop Hanging Out With Other Believers.” We need each other!

How can we do that during a pandemic? If churches, restaurants, public spaces, and bars are closed, where is one to “hang out”? When “hanging out”, what should we be doing? Teens and 20-somethings can’t exist unless they “hang out”! When Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, they immediately “hung out” in mass, unprotected, feeling invincible, and the Covid-19 virus exploded.

There is no physical contact when people “hang out” virtually through social networking. Previous generations passed notes in school and talked on the phone for hours. Today’s generation FaceTimes, Zooms, Goggle+s, Instagrams, texts, emails, etc. Communication still flows.

Does “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” mean we have to make FaceTime or Zoom meetings with other believers a “Bible Study” or “Prayer Meeting” or a “Regurgitating of the Sunday Sermon”? No, Christians do not have to act pious every time they “hang out”. Be real; be genuine! We do not need to be religious; just relational.

Covid-19’s tactic of isolation is an attempt to disconnect. We need to stay connected. A modern version of Hebrew 10:25 might be, “Don’t “de-friend” your brother or sister in the Lord; don’t block them.” Continue to communicate with them on a daily basis. “Don’t isolate one another.” Communications is so much of the 21st century experience. During life’s storms, don’t let the communication lines fall down, fail, or be broken. “Hang out” and “Hang In” with “one another! Don’t Hang Up! We are a family, the family of God, and to not be dysfunctional we must communicate as peers regularly, honestly, openly, and with transparency.

We do not have to be religious to be the church; we just have to be relational, even if that just means social networking during this pandemic. Again, “Hang out” and “Hang In” with “one another! Don’t Hang Up!

Going Back To School Depends On Us!

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXIII

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” (Philippians 2.3)

People are asking, “Are schools prepared to open up again this fall?” President Trump demands that they will open just as they had closed in March. One problem: Covid-19! Even with the pandemic in full rage in July, people had hoped things would be “normal” by the fall, but that does not look realistic.

Are schools prepared? Yes. Plan A: If the Covid-19 pandemic has not flattened, public schools have no other option to keep everyone safe. Their building will be closed and virtual teacher-to-pupil online instruction will be offered as it had been in March. Plan B: If the pandemic curve has flatten and is falling drastically, public school can then offer limited online training and limited teacher-to-pupil live instruction. Plan C: Only if the pandemic arch flattened and dropped to near “0” levels can a school district risk to go back to the old teacher-to-pupil live instruction people consider as “normal”.

Bottom Line: Our children’s return to school depends on you and me! Many want to live “the good old days” as before the pandemic hit, but now there is a cost to that dream. Is America willing to sacrifice for their youth’s education? During World War I & II, America sacrificed for the boys fighting overseas, and we won the war. People were unwilling to sacrifice for the boys during the Vietnam War, in fact the public opposed it, and we lost. President Trump claims to be a War President on the War against Covid-19, but he has retreated from the battle and the public is no longer united in fighting the war as one. We still want to live the American Dream, but it seems we no longer have the will to sacrifice for it.

The Bible says, “With humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” When Covid-19 first hit, American honored Stay-At-Home orders to protect their elders and those vulnerable. It was a noble cause, and it made me proud, but after awhile many Americans withered when times got rough and opted to run to a pre-Covid-19 lifestyle when restrictions were lifted even though the pandemic was still spreading. Memorial Day vacationing at the beach, parties around the pool, the return to close quarters to drink at bars all opened Pandora’s box for the virus to spread, and it did.

Eventually, something as simple as wearing a mask to be preventive became politicized. All though all sporting events and public concerts were cancelled, churches immediately opened when restrictions were lifted, while not making masks mandatory. The Georgia governor would not make wearing masks mandatory because he felt he could not enforce it. He pleaded with his Georgians to voluntarily wear them. If the will of the people is to get their children back to school, then wearing a protective mask is but a small thing to ask of the public.

How local school districts “do school” will reflect the willingness of the public to sacrifice or their kids. Children are not dumb. They know I their parents and neighbors are behind them. The first response to Covid-19 was to protect seniors and the vulnerable. The response now is to protect our children’s future education. Noble causes always require humility, sacrifice, and a willingness to “regard one another as more important than yourselves.”

The Church needs to lead the way by example. If we want our children back in school, then we need to sacrifice, wear masks, practice social distancing and hand washing. We need to show how to “regard one another as more important than yourselves” in real life. Now is the time to lead.

Fear Versus Faith: Responding To Covid-19

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXII

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore I will not fear…” (Psalms 46.1-2)

Churches rushed back to their buildings when Stay-At-Home Orders were lifted claiming, “We believe in faith, not fear.” Some churches encouraged mask wearing to protect those attending their services; others didn’t claiming they had faith. South Korea’s biggest surge of Covid-19 came through a mega-church with multiple campuses that would not give the government information to contact trace when hundreds got ill & deaths occurred due to the coronavirus. This caused their teary eyed Senior Pastor to apologize and plea for forgiveness. A choir practice infected a whole choir. Christians, for some reason, think they are exempt from getting the Covid-19 virus, but the virus is not a respecter of persons. It infects anyone and everyone who allows it. Let’s examine how the fear of Covid-19 is affecting us.

Fear Of Getting Covid-19

Covid-19 spreads through personal contact, air born particles from someone infected to others. Because of its severity and being highly contagious, it has filled hospitals, and over powered ICU units bringing death. It has earned our fear. Although President Trump originally announced it as a hoax, the public has learned how real it is with literally millions infected and tens of thousands of deaths. We need not fear it, but we sure do need to respect it. You can respect it without fearing it. When we recognize its reality and its severity, we can do things to control it and diminish it.

Fear Of Spreading Covid-19

We were given guidelines to follow to flatten the curve. At first we followed them, but as restriction were lifted we rushed towards being independent and were unwilling to continue to follow the guidelines that would bring gradual openings when it was safe. By ignoring the guidelines, we invited its spread, and it responded. We were unwilling to do it the right way with patience and caution, and we paid the Piper.

Fear Of Losing Control

Bottom line: Fear comes when you feel you have lost control. We can still control the pandemic, but it will take self-will, personal sacrifice, and the willingness to put the care of others before our own. The 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews in the Bible begins, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Right now America needs faith, the confidence in what we hope for,” the hope for a vaccine, the hope for our children to go back to school, the hope that something will feel “normal” again. But it is the “assurance about what we do not see.” Currently we do not see an end to all this, but it will end. We do not see a path out of this currently, but there is a path. But even during Covid-19’s darkest hour we have the assurance that there is a path that leads to and end, and we will end up there. That is faith over fear, but until then we must continue to walk through this journey, we must continue to sacrifice to save lives, and we must reach out to our peers, our neighbors, our friend and help calm their fears and join us in doing our part together to end this pandemic.

Faith always overcomes fear. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, or you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4)

Disconnect and Reconnect

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXI

“Let us lay aside every weight… and run the race that is set before us.”  (Hebrews 12.1)

One of the hardest lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic is how to “disconnect” from what use to be “normal” and reconnect to the “new normal”. Unless you’re Amish, you have to give up your horse and buggy when you get a car. We need to disconnect from old mindsets to embrace the new when change is evident.  We are in that period. Let’s examine some disconnects before we establish some connects.

Disconnect:

Church: Quit singing, “Give Me That Old Time Religion. It’s Good Enough For Me.” No it is not! We no longer speak in King James English. Roman Catholics no longer do mass in Latin. People no longer “go to church” four or five times a week. Stay-At-Home Orders exemplified that the Church is not a building; believers in Jesus are!  Many Protestant churches still follow Wesley’s & Luther’s “order of worship,” and yes, the writers of most church hymns died over a century and a half ago.

School: We think “school” is a designated building (Elementary, High School, or College Campus), but education is becoming virtual. Libraries are obsolete; textbooks are archaic. The nine month school calendar built around farming is also obsolete. College social life of partying and drinking are gone if virtual education reigns.

Social Life: Teens “Hang Out”; 20-somethings bar hop. People love sporting events with thousands of fans and outdoor concerts. Letters and snail mail are history. Cyber bullying has become a 21st century problem.

Economics: The tooth fairy still uses coins, not plastic. ATM machines are replacing bank tellers. Paying interest on a “savings account” is minimal; paying high interest on credit cards is acceptable! Malls are dead; strip-malls may follow. Retail stores are going “online.” The service, vacation, and entertainment industry has no idea what hit them. Everyone wants “safe” shopping.

Jobs: Both parents must work to maintain the American Dream. Wages have stagnated, while CEO’s and Wall Street Tycoons get rich. American Unions have been marginalized. Minimum wage and most entry level jobs are below the poverty level.

Connect:

Church: Contemporary worship teams with drums, electric guitars, and amps have replaced four part a capella singing and the pipe organ. You can now go online to get music, offertory, and a professionally delivered sermons; you don’t need to go to a “church” building. The Internet has expanded our world globally supplanting our “little world” local church mentality. Institutional names and labels are falling. Acceptance is being more tolerable. The need for relationship supersedes the need for religious affiliation.

School: You can “Goggle” or use Wikipedia or search engines instead of using your local library because education is becoming virtual.  Merging person-to-person and virtual education is a reality. College social life has to come through social networking. College education may be more “exploratory” and “self-discovering” with more internships than lecturing.

Social Life: Stay-At-Home orders forced families to focus on one another again. FaceTime and Zoom have allowed families who lived miles or States away to experience real-time communications. Instagram is a snapshot of one’s day. Texting has replaced talking. On line dating has become popular.

Economics: Virtual banking and ATM’s are eliminating bank tellers. Plastic has replaced copper, nickel, and paper. Amazon.com has refurbished the cardboard industry. Santa Clause does a large part of his business “on line” and deliveries through UPS, Fed-Ex, & USPS; not by home delivers on a sled!

Jobs: Manufacturing jobs died; replaced by robots and Artificial Intelligence. Truck drivers may soon disappear, as self-driving trucks become the norm. 40% of the jobs that exist in 2020 did not exist 25 years ago before the Computer Age. Commerce will be global.

Good Grief Charlie Brown, It’s Covid-19!

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XX

“He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness.”  (Isaiah 53.3)

Grief = loss.

- Televised news reports daily new cases and loss of life from Covid-19. It is staggering.
- When tested positive, a person is quarantined for 14 days; isolation produces loss.
When quarantined at the hospital, the patient’s loss to any outside-world contact is devastating. One may never see their loved ones again.
- A 30 year-old attended a coronavirus party thinking she was invincible and Covid-19 was a hoax. Her last words were, “I think I made a mistake.”
- When they put a tube down your throat and hook you up to a ventilator you are at a loss for words.
- With unemployment the highest in American history, there is a great loss of jobs.
- Many who were furloughed may have loss their jobs.
- High School seniors loss their senior year traditions: No prom and no traditional Graduation Ceremony. Graduation parties were frowned upon. Guess they will have to wait until their 5th year alumni reunion to do this!
- High School and College spring sports, the NBA, NHL, and MLB loss all or part of their regular season as well as losing their chance to perform before fans in the stands.
- Institutions and large group events were shut down to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The biggest loss came in reflecting on what was “normal” and realizing a “new normal” was about to begin, not knowing what that may look like.

The church has been in the business of grief counseling for years; now is the time for it to respond. The Church has experienced loss throughout its history through persecution and even martyrdom. Jesus knows about pain, suffering, and loss. His losses was severe when hanging on the Cross, but His gains were victorious and eternal. Jesus knows all about recovery of loss, grace, mercy, and giving second chances.

How is the Church to respond to the loss of a loved one who died from coronavirus?
With compassion!

How is the Church to respond to the lonely, the isolated?
As an intimate friend who is willing to lay down their lives for them, who will be there when needed!

How is tåhe Church to respond to the unemployed, those evicted from their housing, the homeless?
Matthew 25 says to feed them, give them a drink, treat them as a peer, as equals, visit them, meet their need. ”To the extend that you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”

Even with social distancing guidelines, don’t treat one another as strangers, but as peers, as family.

The Church isn’t the undertaker; it’s the resurrector! It offers rebirth, second chances, gives grace, picks people up, and gives them hope. When everything seems to be collapsing, the church needs to reassure, help people change directions, be positive, and help others move forward. Jesus said, “Let the dead bury the dead; come and follow me.” It is a time to make our losses, pluses.

The church needs to help people identify their loss, face that loss, then help them to move forward in what is needed to gain and fill the void caused by the loss. God knows how to consume the old and transform it into the new. Regeneration is a spiritual principle. Jesus took loss and death when on the cross and turned them into eternal gains through resurrection. Our faith in Jesus and our willingness to listen to the voice of His Holy Spirit can lead us through difficult times and give us hope, and that hope can become reality. That should be the promise the Church is extending during these Covid-19 pandemic times.

A New Wineskin – Home Is The Epicenter

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XIX

“In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; If it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.”  (John 14:2)

In the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the church was the epicenter of one’s private and social life. Much of what you did centered around church activities: Sunday morning and evening worship services, Sunday School, Wednesday Mid-Week Prayer Meeting, Thursday choir practice, Friday youth activities, men’s group, women’s group, etc. Church buildings stood on almost every street corner and were sprinkled throughout most rural areas. During the second half of the 20th century school activities competed for a family’s time and priorities: PTA Meetings, Sports, Clubs, Social Activities like choral and band concerts, and dances. Soccer leagues played on Sundays. High School Football and Basketball games were must see events. Everyone identified with a mascot and logo of their local school district. In 2020, all that changed; the Covid-19 Pandemic hit, shutting down both our churches, our schools, and forcing many to work at home. The home became the epicenter of life.

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, adults were forced to work at home. As the 20th century featured stay-at-home moms and a single wage-earning households, by mid 21st century it takes two incomes to maintain the American Dream. Childcare and public schools, who had become necessary baby-sitters, were now closed. Not only did the parent have to be the breadwinner working out of his/her own house, he/she also had to be an educational monitor and tutor to their children, doing “home-schooling”, something they neither sought to do or were qualified doing. On top of that they had to be a parent and provide an in-house social life when self-quarantined.

There were some silver linings around these self-contained dark clouds: Dad’s didn’t have to stay “late at the office” anymore; he could throw baseball with his son anytime during the day; and you could not be a dead-beat parent living around your children 24/7. Family members who basically just lived in the same house, now had to get involved in each other’s life. Families played games together, did projects together, went on hikes together, and talked to one another. It wasn’t easy at first, but as families continued to live under Covid-19 self-quarantined conditions, what once were dysfunctional families began to learn to tolerate one another, support one another, and solidify as a functioning family.

Then restrictions were lifted, and everyone immediately sought to run towards their old social structures or wineskins which remained closed or were limited. Teens “hang out”! Socializing & partying is what 20 year-old do, and the virus spread again.

The “new normal” may not include a 5 day a week, teacher-student instructional days “at school”. The “new normal” includes virtual education, which is morphing into a totally different creature, structure, or wineskin right before our eyes. You don’t go “off to college” anymore; college has “come to you” virtually. Your home can become an elementary school demanding you to be the tutor, or a high school where you now regret that you weren’t the best algebra, chemistry, or physics student when you went “to school”.  Who knows how you are to function with a college student locked in his/her room cramming while not being able to go to Frat Parties on the weekend or do serious dating with a 6 foot distancing rule in place! Romance with masks? Forget it!

If schools and churches were the institutions that helped stabilize family life prior to the Covid-19 era, what new wineskins or institutions are needed to support family life in the Post-Covid-19 era? This is where the church must come in when the opportunity presents itself. Change is not the strength of the church, but without change, it will not be able to compete with the “New Normal” posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. What new structures will morph out of today’s “home-centered” environment? There are plenty of creative opportunities present if the church wishes to tap into them. But the Church will have to embrace innovation!

We use to (and most still do) “go to church” when what they saw as “Sunday Church” has come to them virtually. The children use to “go to school” Monday through Friday; no more! Some schools have chosen 2 days for personal and 2 days for virtual instruction with 3 day weekends! Church and education is molting into family life…

And Bob Dylan sings another verse of “The Times They Are A Changing”!

Running To Or Running From Old Wineskins

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XVII

“Moses saw the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and become a laughing stock to their enemies”  (Exodus 32:25)

We usually run toward that which is familiar and comfortable to us. When Covid-19 hit, it tore us away from that which we were comfortable. Schools, churches, bars, restaurants, barbershops and beauty saloons all closed. Isolation became the side effect of self-quarantining.

I am now starting to understand the impact prisoners must face when solitarily confined. Long periods of isolation can produce disastrous psychological effects. As the Covid-19 self-quarantine wore on, people became restless. As soon a the pandemic curve flattened, even there was still a pandemic of viral cases, people began “running wild,” as they ran back to their old wineskins, old habits, and old institution that had earlier made them happy. They were willing to run towards the “familiar” rather than towards the “new normal”. Instantly forgetting why they were self-quarantining, they thirsted to return to their old lifestyles.

The results: The pandemic grew, spread, and spiked, and infected millions more!

America, who was respected as a world leader in fighting infectious disease “became the laughing stock to their enemies.” As much of the world’s infectious curves flattened and diminished to safe levels, America’ grew. Rather than joining the cause, America withdrew. We became isolationists. The virus’ most effective weapon, isolation, was defeating America.

Where was the American church in all this? They too ran in mass from isolation. Then ran back to congregate in mass on Sundays as had been their habit, their old, familiar wineskin. Meanwhile sporting events totally shut down, concerts were cancelled, and restrictions were put on group size at 25 or less. The church defied those restriction claiming they had Constitutional rights in spite warnings from local and national healthcare systems not to meet in large groups.

Unlike the 1st century church that had no buildings or religious facilities yet evangelized the entire known world of its time, the Covid-19 era church chose to run to their old wineskins, their old institutions, their old buildings and met in large numbers, becoming stewing pots for the Covid-19 Pandemic. Pews are not very conducive for social distancing. Elbow bumping instead of hugging or shaking hands was not “cool”. Intimate praying, close personal counseling, and the laying on o hands breaks all social distancing rules. Weddings, funerals, potluck dinners, etc. became Covid-19 breeding grounds. Even though masks were available when entering, many opted not to wear them. Why?

While many non-Christians complied to the CDC Guidelines of social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands, and self-quarantining, Christians rebelled against government leaders who were making decisions for the public’s welfare and to save lives. The government was not persecuting the church nor its leaders, yet Pro-Life Christians were unwilling to sacrifice a little discomfort and voluntarily distance themselves from old wineskins for the safety of others, especially the elderly and vulnerable. Those outside the church were shocked at their attitude, and couldn’t understand why,

I too wonder why the church has ignored the passage in Philippians 2, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also the interest of others.. but (Jesus) made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has revealed the church’s desire to return to old wineskins instead of embracing new one. Instead of evangelizing and serving the world outside their church walls, they opted to run back inside those walls and expect their clergy to do it for them. How discusting! Instead of practicing Matthew 25 of feeding the hungry, clothing the homeless, giving water to the thirsty, taking care of the widow, orphans, elderly, needy, etc., and becoming advocates for those in prison, which is risky, the church has run for cover inside its buildings and institutions, isolating itself from the world. Our Covid-19 response should be running towards Jesus and His mission for us on earth, serving each other and others in our communities, not running away from them.

From Disciple To Apostle

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XVI

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  (Luke 22:31-32)

Often they lacked faith, questioned everything, did not understand his parables, fought over power positions, doubted, denied, and even betrayed him. They were common, uneducated men, some simple fishermen. None were Pharisees or Jewish scholars. What did Jesus see in the twelve he chose to be disciples? What leadership skills Jesus saw in them is beyond me, but as mere mortals, they were willing to lay down their vocations and follow him.

Jesus had spent three years investing in them walking, talking, teaching, encouraging, and confiding in them. He would even be willing to die for them. He would later empower them with His Holy Spirit, making these men “fishers of men.” What can the Covid-19 era church learn from this?

First, Jesus placed His faith in the common man. Not one of the twelve had earned an academic degree from any higher educational institution. None of them looked at discipleship as a career opportunity. In fact, after Jesus’ crucifixion, most of them would return to their previous careers, like fishing. Only Paul, not one of the twelve, had any formal religious training, and he had to be religiously detoxed and earned his livelihood as a tentmaker. Jesus came to earth as the son of a carpenter, without distinction, rank, or honor. He invested Himself in mankind and died for them. After His death, He would ascend to a position beside His Father, as King of Kings, still interceding for the common believer.

Second, if His disciples were to become apostles, they would have to learn how to make disciples as Jesus had modeled. Jesus taught them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 18:9-20)

A disciple of Jesus is a follower of Jesus. An apostolic believer has the desire to network and bring these multi-passionate disciples together. Peter influenced the Jewish brethren; Paul influenced the Gentile brethren. They united as recorded in Act 15. If there ever is a time to network a fragmented body towards unity, it is today, because Jesus is coming to return for His Bride, His Church, who is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but is holy and blameless. The Church needs believers gifted in networking.

Third, now is the time to develop, equip, and release believers with apostolic passions, with expanded vision of the Church, and is able to see the Church locally and globally as the Bride of Christ. We need gifted networkers to equip and release believers with different passions to serve.

Last, apostles are common everyday believers who will train, nurture, equip, release, and lay down their lives for the brethren. They are not professionals, senior or lead pastors, bishops, or superintendents. Paul equipped the saints for works of service before leaving to start a new work. This five-fold networking became the DNA of the early Church. An apostle is neither an administrator or a micro-manager, but is an ordinary believer who listens and obey the Holy Spirit. He is not an “over-seer” but “sees over” what the Holy Spirit is already doing. He quickly learns that the Holy Spirit does the work, not the apostle.

We are living in an age when God’s people need to be birthed, developed, nurtured, and equipped to do work of service. It is now, in the Covid-19 era where buildings are not needed, but disciples are prepared, equipped, and released to minister. No longer confined inside a church building, the Covid-19 era church must break out of these barriers and be released. The Church must have their veil to their sacred cows rent in order to release the saints to minister. The believer functioning as an apostle is the person who knows just how to do that!

A 21st Century Apostle Could Help Meet Needs

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part XV

“For there was not a needy person among them, or all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” (Acts 4:34-35)

The Covid-19 Pandemic has brought change. Institutions unwilling to change have failed. Old paradigms are now inappropriate. Churches with a myriad of pews are trying to figure out social distancing. Huge crowd, the goal of most Pre-Covid-19 churches, are now troublesome. Ministering virtually has had its challenges. Larger is no longer manageable; smaller, more intimate is the goal. A new paradigm, a new wineskin, is the empowerment of common believers of their five-fold grace passions listed in Ephesians 4. These five fold grace gifting can already be found in most churches today. Evangelistic believers long for birth and rebirth. A shepherding believer nurtures. A teaching believer is willing to walk beside others in a one-on-one relationship as Jesus did with his disciples. A prophetic believer desires intimate worship and hearing from God. Unfortunately, most churches do not understand the apostolic passion embedded in some believers.

A Covid-19 era apostle sees the big picture, the Bride, the Church, in it entirety. His or Her passion is to “network” believers with different passions to work together as one body. The 12 apostles and Paul saw the big picture. They believed, “One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slave or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” (I Corinthians 12:11-13)

“All who were owners of land or houses would sell them” and then “bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet.” What did the apostles do with this? “They would be distributed to each as any had need.” The results: “There was not a needy person among them.”(Acts 4:34-35) The apostles networked incoming financial assets to meet needs by letting others minister out of their passions.

Apostles delegate responsibility through others. For example: Acts 6:1-3 Need: “A complaint arouse on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.” Solution: They let the body minister – “Brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.” They released other members of the local body who were full of the Spirit to do the work to meet the need. Since “pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and Father” is defined in James 1:27 as “to visit the orphans and widows in their distress,” relationships were built among the locals to meet those needs.

The Covid-19 Church needs to release believers gifted in “networking,” and allow the Holy Spirit to be in charge. Being “full of the Spirit and wisdom,” they have learned to follow the Holy Spirit in all things. Let’s recognize those believers motivated by an apostolic gift of grace to network the body of Christ to meet needs. Since they are driven to equip the local saints for works of services, let’s release them.

Historically, the institutional church has failed in releasing its laity, fearing it would diminish the role of the professional clergy. Currently, if a clergy leaves his position, another professional replaces him. To train, equip, and release the laity is a novel idea, a new wineskin, to today’ church, but Paul did it in the 1st century. After birthing a church, he would leave to start a new work at a new location. The boys from Antioch or Jerusalem were not sent to replace him. He had nurtured and equipped the locals to grow in Christ. It was they who he would release. That is how it worked then, and it may be the new wineskin of the future!

The Problem of Wineskins – The American Dream

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part XIII

I’ve been taught that if you work hard enough, you can attain the American Dream of being anything you want, but that is not the attitude of Americans today who feel endowed. They no longer want to earn things; they expect things to be given to them. No longer respecting authority, we rebel against it. Our political leaders called for a voluntary Stay-At-Home quarantine, social distancing, hand washings, and mask wearing or our own public safety, but when bored, we demand our freedoms and rights while putting the lives of others in jeopardy. I was proud when young people were willing to sacrifice for my safety out of respect. Bored after weeks of isolation, those same young people were willing to give up their sacrifice, and even refused to wear masks in the midst of a pandemic because they “had a right” to do so. All of a sudden wearing masks became political. Christians who claimed to be Pro-life were now unwilling to do simple things like wear a mask or not meet in large groups at the expense of their elderly who were high risks of dying if they caught the virus.

I John 3:16-17 (NIV) says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”  The only way as Christians we can overcome this pandemic is if we are willing to “lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” It means sacrificing for others.

Rather than counting on the Church during a pandemic crisis, we count on our government to bail us out, give us stimulus checks, provide unemployment and healthcare. Our big government believes “we are too big to fail”, so they will do anything to keep our economy going. But during rough times during the 1st century, the Church took care of people’s needs. Acts 4:34-35 records, “For there was not a needy person among them, or all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” (Acts 4:34-35) The Church took care of the widows, the orphans, and the poor; in fact, anyone in need. Even when persecution forced them to isolate themselves, they still took care of one another.

The world use to respect us because of our generosity, but today our President wants everyone to “Pay us back”. Roman 12:20 says “If your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Historically the United States has made old enemies our allies through out generosity. Germany & Japan were our mortal World War II enemies, now our closest allies. We lost the war in Vietnam, yet today they are one of our strongest trade partners!

The American capitalistic dream is to take care of #1, yourself! Less than 10% of the United State’s population controls 90% of its nation’s wealth. Billionaires control our politics and our economy and their desire is to get richer. Meanwhile the minimum wage worker, working two jobs with little benefits cannot stay home, cannot quarantine, cannot help but go to work when living paycheck to paycheck. When the Covid-19 interrupts their lives, it has disastrous results. Where is the Covid-19 era Church at this time?

We must develop new wineskins to be filled with the new wine of Godly generosity and sacrificial living. Such new wineskins like “storehouse tithing” where believers give to a storehouse during times of plenty from which to draw from in times of need. (See other blog posts on that topic.) A new wine concept may be, “I am willing to sacrifice, so others may live.”

Is the American Dream biblical? Are we all to seek prosperity? Jesus said, “You will always have the poor among you,” the question is “What is the Church to do with them?” As Christians is our goal in life to seek wealth? If so remember Mark 10:25, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than or someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Or as Christians is our goal to enter the kingdom of God and advance His kingdom? Is our mission to “lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

The Problem of Wineskins – The Catalyst or Blockage to Revival

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part XII

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”  (Mark 2:21-22)

I have pondered how revival might come to this generation. I have experienced revival through the Jesus and Charismatic Movements of the 1970’s. New wine is new wine, so revival comes in new forms and seeks new structures, new wineskins. The institutional church tried to adapt these movements into their old wineskins but it “burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins were ruined.” Feeling threatened by the Charismatic Movement, the church rejected this new wine fearing it would totally burst their wineskins.

I’ve asked, “Can revival happen in our current church structures? Revival requires relationship over religion. Will current church leadership be willing to reevaluate relationally how to do church? We, the Church, could evaluate our wineskins relationally, be open to new wine through a metamorphosis, and become butterflies embracing new wineskins, but that has yet to happen.

The other option: revival could come as a tsunami, a tidal wave or a series of waves that destroy everything in its path. It neutralize for the briefest of moments before receding, violently sucking it debris back out to sea as an awesome, unstoppable force of nature.

Covid-19 is a viral tsunami that has swept over the entire world, closing down entire countries, devastating economies, taxing health care systems, spreading contagiously with no cure, no vaccine. When its curve is flattened, there is a lull, a complacency caused by isolation, social distancing, and the wearing of Personal Protective Equipment and masks, but will a second and third wave be more devastating?

The Covid-19 tsunami closed church buildings, tore at our mega-church mentality, and isolated laity from their “church staff”. Unfortunately, passive pew sitters became passive sofa sitters watching online church service streamed over the Internet. Maybe God is trying to shake us out of our passivity, question our surface relationships, calling us lay down our live for our Christian peers during times of economic distress.

We’ve experienced the initial hit, but immediately ran back to our buildings, our old wineskins, as soon as there was a lull. Why do we fear isolation? It is during our quiet times with God we hear Him speak. He’s supplying the quiet time during this pandemic; are we listening? Will it take a second or third wave of contagious infections before we are willing not to meet in large groups out of habit or tradition? Maybe in these times God is trying to speak to us, teach us, hoping we will put His new wine into new wineskins!

The bursting of new wine out of old wineskins is not new. God sent Jesus, His Son, and later His Holy Spirit as new wine to the Jewish race, God’s chosen people, but by 60 A.D. Herod’s Temple is destroyed, no building, the Levitical Priesthood disbanded, no clergy, and the Sanhedrin, their governing body, dissolved. The old wineskins could not hold the new wine. We may be in another historic period where God is testing His Church to see if she is willing to embrace new wine and be open to new wineskins in preparation for the upcoming Wedding Feast of Jesus returning for His Bride, the Church! The first time Jesus came to earth He brought destruction to Israel’s old paradigms, old wineskins. Is the destruction of today’s old paradigm wineskins forehadowing his Second Coming?

What kind of wineskin am I? Are you? Is the current church structure? What kind of wine do we seek to indwell us? The old wine of centuries of tradition, or the new wine of revival and reform? Historically, we’ve experienced a previous Reformation, but their wineskins are now aged, old. Are we willing to embrace a new Reformation? How the Covid-19 Church responds will determine that factor.

The Problem of Wineskins – Our Educational Systems & Institutions

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part XI

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”  (Mark 2:21-22)

Institutional school buildings were forced closed in the spring of 2020 due to Covid-19. Educational instruction was forced to go virtually “online”. Teachers, never trained for this experience, had to innovate new wineskins, new structures. Parents were forced into becoming educational tutors when confined to their home with their children. Home school became the norm, the only alternative.

We’ve learned several things: 1) 9 month schools built around an agrarian calendar of planting and harvesting is now archaic. 2) The public realized what teachers already know: Most parents need “school” to be a baby-sitting service, so they can work. Some politicians believe that the economy cannot fully rebound unless the public school baby-sitting service is open again. 3) Covid-19 had defined where American now work and where their children can be educated. Self-quarantining exposed the need for social education as part of the educational process. 4) Jesus modeled small group individualized instruction by personally interacting with only 12 students. He never founded a Christian School nor a Bible College or University. He taught common laborers how to be “fishers of men.” He never used a textbook, a website, Wikipedia, or search engine. He modeled everything, even how to lay down your life for one another. Experience overrode academic. The book of Acts records the Holy Spirit continuing this teaching strategy as believers were forced to “act” out, or experience, their faith.

After experiencing isolation due to Covid-19 quarantines, the majority rushed to the return of person-to-person, teacher-to-pupil instruction while social distancing, providing small groups and personal protective gear to staff. The 24-36 students in a room is an inadequate, old wineskin. Educators are struggling to figure out new wineskin structures to hold new wine methods of instruction through the use of the Internet, Social Networking, and other virtual paradigms. “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined.” Putting new forms of instruction into old paradigms or old forms of instruction into new paradigms will not work, so it is time for true educational reform to come to America.

Jesus used the Jewish Lamad method of learning, which is the working and living out of life experiences. Heart knowledge and the Spirit’s leading supersede head knowledge. Living the Word is more important than reciting the memorized Word. Jesus is the Word because He lives the Word. Academic studying of the Word has always led to legalism, sectarianism, and has divided the Church.

I believe Covid-19 has thrust the Church towards a season of revival, forcing it to reexamine itself. Many great men were made when isolated. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness before He ministered. Paul was detoxed from religion that a wilderness experience. Moses spent 40 years isolate with sheep to prepare him or another 40 with the nation of Israel isolated in the Wilderness of Sin. Jesus actually sought isolation from the masses, so He could hear the voice of His Father. Even Mandela spent 24 years in prison on an isolated island to prepare him to lead South Africa out of apartheid. Covid-19 period should have been a time for listening, but the church instead ran back to its old wineskins as soon as possible. Church, let’s start listening!

Without a school building or a church building in the 1st century, education prevailed. The Covid-19 era is demanding educational change and reform demanding new paradigms and new methods of teaching. The question is, “How will we respond?”

The Problem of Wineskins & Nelson Mandela

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part X

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All quotes by Nelson Mandela:

- “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” 
- “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
- “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.” 
- “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
- “For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” 
- “I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”
- “A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones” 
- “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.” 

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As the astronaut stepped on the top rung of the ladder to descend upon the moon in 1969, I laid on the floor as gunfire pinned a police officer under his car only a block away. I missed seeing “The Giant Step For Mankind” and had to watch the rerun! I vowed that day, if I could go anywhere on the earth to share peace, I would do it.  In the fall of 1993, I got to go to South Africa weeks before Mandela was elected President. Those also were turbulent times!

After officially ending apartheid, Mandela established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was a court-like body that heard testimony of victims of gross human rights violation. They could request amnesty to those who offended them from both civil and criminal prosecution. The laws stabilized South Africa and prohibited a revengeful blood bath. Unfortunately, in America, it took a century after the Emancipation Proclamation to pass Civil Rights Legislation. It took another half a century to elect a Black President, yet racism still raises its head. We still are unwilling to forgive and accept one another as peers. Why?

America hit the streets protesting in the ‘60’s. They came out in greater numbers in 2020. Change is in the air. Today’s protestors are multi-racial. While some are still looking to the wineskins of the ‘60’s, many are looking to new wineskins to solve today’s dilemmas, but new wine will not fit into old Civil Rights wineskins, so new wine must be poured into new wineskins.

The American church is still a prejudicial institution. American church = Black church + White church is not a correct formula. Neither is the American church = Evangelical church + other churches. There is only ONE CHURCH, an all-inclusive family of peers.

The American church needs to practice reconciliation, forgiveness, and peer acceptance. It needs new wineskins that will take new wine. Today’s young people are seeking relationships over religion. When church buildings were shut down by Stay-At-Home orders, many Christians took to the street to build relationship with those of different races, social backgrounds, and economic levels. This is only the beginning of some new wineskins.

Empathy: Sheep & The Goats

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part IX

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on his let. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared or you from the foundation o the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink” When did we see You a stranger, and invited You in, or naked, and clothed You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extend that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.’

“He will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me….. To the extend that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”  (Matthew 25: 31-46)

The church needs to be shaken out of its Pre-Covid-19 mentality by extending empathy, encouragement, compassion, being none judgmental, and striving for justice for all. How is that to be done? According to Matthew 25, by feeding the hungry when unemployment is so high, by provided fresh, clean, natural water to the thirsty, by embracing diversity, no longer treating them as strangers, but accepting them as family as equal peers, by clothing the homeless, and revisiting prisons and nurturing and mentoring them upon their release.

The church must cease being one of the most segregated institutions in America on Sundays. Jesus offered living water to a Samaritan woman. The Covid-19 church must also offer living water to anyone who is thirsty no matter of race or social status. We must accept the Samaritans, those different from us, of our day! “Truly I say to you, to the extend that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.”

“Passivity” should no longer be a part of the church’s vocabulary. The book of Acts is all about “activity,” “action” led by the Holy Spirit. The 21st century church needs to share meals, hang out with one another, take care of the sick, orphans, and widows on a daily basis. Eradicating poverty, hunger, while providing affordable housing, clothing those in need, and include strangers in our fellowships should be top priorities.

We will be judged as sheep or as goats by our very “actions”. The church needs wineskins and tabernacles that are flexible. That’s why God chose His people to indwell as disciples to be flexible and willing to serve.

New wineskins and new structures are useless unless new wine, the Presence of God’s Holy Spirit, is put within them. This new wine placed in new wineskins will produce new ways to do church and be the Church, the Bride of Christ. Will the Church embrace the medieval wineskins it has followed for centuries and remain a medieval minded church, or will it be willing to embrace new wine in new wineskins that will produce a totally different looking church. In the future, will the Covid-19 Era church be judged as sheep or as goats?