Resources for Loving Well in the Midst of COVID-19

One of the gifts of this grievous season is the flood of creative content and resources to help Christians navigate our reality well.

We wanted to share some of the more helpful things we’ve come across to help you grow in your love of God and your neighbor.

If you click on nothing else - PLEASE - read this one. It’s easy, practical, and a helpful way to show the love of Jesus to your (literal) neighbors. (A Practical Way to Love Your Self-Isolated Neighbor)

For help with spiritual rhythms of life, see this page from The Common Rule (Spiritual Rhythms for Quarantine)

For pressing into the Lord’s prayer from Redemption Church Tempe (Lord’s Prayer Guide)

A perspective on how the church has loved in previous pandemics (4 Lessons From Church History)

If you haven’t yet subscribed to our new Good News Podcast for 5-10 minutes of scripture and prayer read my the Union Church family you can find it here.

For a helpful playlist or two (Songs of Comfort for Anxious Souls) (Songs of Hope)

Current Changes with COVID-19

I can’t remember a Monday like this one. Rapid changes, increasing closures, recommendations, stipulations, and a whole lot of speculation. Is this real life?

Can you sense the frustration rising? Panic surfacing? Perhaps some paralysis with what’s going to happen next or what to do next? How do you react with the loss of control? Really? This is real life today. Still, there is good news.

Jesus meets us in that place. In every place.

Two things have been floating through my mind today, in addition to some frustration and uncertainty…

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1) - Read that a few times and let the truth, promise, and hope sink in. He is strong, stable, dependable. AND. Very present. VERY. Present.

The second thing floating through my mind:

“The unpredictability of life clips the wings of our self sufficiency.” - Derek Kidner - There is an odd gift of mercy when the veil of control, comfort, and strength is pulled back and life is shown for what it really is, a beautiful, fragile gift. With the lament, loss, angst all around us, seeds of gratitude, hope, trust and joy can be sown.

So what does life together with Christ and together in life look like right now? It’s been different every day, but here’s our current focus:

First, we will be looking for opportunities to love each other and our neighbors.

If you, or anyone you know needs help or prayer, our church is here, ready to serve. On the front page of our website there is a form that can be filled out and we will mobilize where needed to serve those around us.

Next, we will not be gathering together at the Adult Center for corporate worship on Sundays at this time. We are looking to love our neighbor by following the wisdom given so far by the government and local officials. The current recommendation says 8 weeks for gatherings, but we will be looking at this week to week.

Until we are able to gather all together again we will be providing a short podcast on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with scripture readings, prayers, and reflections. Those will be available on our website and podcast channels (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

On Sunday mornings we will provide an online liturgy for you and your family and possibly a community (again, with officials recommending groups of less than 10) with a few songs, readings, prayers, and short teaching. That will be posted on our social media channels and website. If you aren’t yet following Union Church on social media, I’d recommend you do so. (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter)

Our hope is in the midst of this uncertain season, we can deepen our roots in Christ, and show his love to those around us.

Much love to you all.

Jon, on behalf of the Elders

COVID-19 Update

Dear Union Church,

With coronavirus (COVID-19) looming heavy in our world right now, we want to share with you how Union Church plans to respond as followers of Christ and members of the Prescott community.

GATHERINGS

For Now:

Yes, we do plan to gather for church this coming Sunday (March 15). There will be some modifications. In order to best care for our members who are at higher risk for the more serious complications of the virus, the most loving approach we can have in our Sunday gatherings is to minimize points of close contact. So let’s give big smiles and big hellos and maybe an elbow bump or two and embrace the awkwardness of this season. To help with some practicalities from a medical professional, a local doctor will be sharing his perspective and giving some advice in the midst of this season. Our communal coffee and treats area will be temporarily closed. Additionally, because our communion system is unavoidably a close point of contact, we will temporarily be halting it as well. For those who are avoiding public gatherings, we are committed to making sermon podcasts and blogposts available no later than Monday mornings so all will still be able to be connected to as much of the life of Union Church as possible. Our Gospel Communities will continue to gather for much needed encouragement and prayer.

For the Future:

While we will always remain committed to gathering in corporate worship, new developments with the coronavirus may compel us to make adjustments in our calendar. Like so many, we are staying informed and prayerfully considering the best ways in which we can be helpful citizens during this difficult time. Therefore, if canceling future Sunday gatherings becomes a recommendation of health officials, we will abide by those recommendations. We will move forward together, one day at a time.

COMMUNITY

This unique moment in history gives us an extraordinary opportunity to love God and love one another. It is possible that we are headed into an extended time of difficulty and uncertainty. Therefore, we are going to need to humbly practice “bearing one another’s burdens.”(Galatians 6:2) In this time, like all times, may we have eyes open to the see the needs of our church, our neighbors, and our community as we love like Jesus has loved us. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10) With our language and our lives may we practice peace and patience with all we come into contact with; humble hearts, hands that help, and mouths that speak good news. This may have surprised us but it didn’t surprise Him. So if our minds and hearts begin to drown in the waters of uncertainty, may we remember that He is our rock and He hears us, even from the ends of the earth. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalms 46:1)

With much love,

The Elders and Staff of Union Church

Sermon Quotes: Not Today Satan

From the sermon on 03/01/2020:

Ephesians 6:10-13

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” - CS Lewis

“Sin is an impossible possibility, an inexplicable mystery, something that defies comprehension, something that is essential irrational and absurd, something that cannot be neatly fitted into any conceptual scheme.” - Michael Williams

“Temptation is when the Devil asks us to ignore the holiness of God. Accusation is when he blinds us to the love and grace of God.” - Tim Keller

“Mention of the “schemes” of the devil reminds us of the trickery and subterfuge (deceit) by which evil and temptation present themselves in our lives. Evil rarely looks evil until it accomplishes its goal; it gains entrance by appearing attractive, desirable, and perfectly legitimate. It is a baited and camouflaged trap” Klyne Snodgrass

“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.” CS Lewis

“Satan is fundamentally a liar. He lies to us about God and attempts to persuade us to worship anything rather than God. However, ultimately Satan is vulnerable. He cannot withstand the truth of God” - Tim Keller

Our Call in the Conflict: See the schemes (where we are)

“If I can recognize a threat looming on the horizon as a deception of the enemy, the battle is more than half won. Once the scheme is exposed, it backfires by reminding me that I am in a position of strength, armed with the real promises of a victorious God against a skilled illusionist.” - Betsey Childs Howard (see the Gospel Coalition Article here)

Our Call in the Conflict: Deepen dependency (who we are)

Our Call in the Conflict: Practice being a prayerful presence. (how we roll)

Sermon Quotes: How the Revolution Began

On 2/23/2020 we looked at Ephesians 6:5-9 and how when we live before the face of God we recognize the image of God in everyone.

Ephesians 6:5-9

“Coram Deo captures the essence of the Christian life. This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.” - RC Sproul

“We have the slaves submitting to their master and we have the master loving their slave, and so what Paul has created is an environment between the slave and master where slavery could only wither and die. As soon as the Christian church was established and the New Testament was written, slavery had an expiration date, because its roots died in the church. It was only a matter of time.” - Anthony Garcia

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (Reconciled people become reconcilers)

“Of all the world’s religions, including the three great monotheisms, only in Christianity did the idea develop that slavery was sinful and must be abolished. Although it has been fashionable to deny it, antislavery doctrines began to appear in Christian theology soon after the decline of Rome and were accompanied by the eventual disappearance of slavery in all but the fringes of Christian Europe. When Europeans subsequently instituted slavery in the New World, they did so over strenuous papal opposition, a fact that was conveniently ‘lost’ from history until recently. Finally, the abolition of New World slavery was initiated and achieved by Christian activists” - Rodney Stark

“The cursed blast of slavery has, like a pestilence, withered almost every moral bloom. I know not how any person can feel a union with such a monster, such a child of hell. I feel a burning hatred against it and look upon it as one of the most odious monsters that ever disgraced the earth.” - William Knibb (Missionary to Jamaica) “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sermon Quotes: Children and Parents

Quotes from the sermon “Children and Parents” given by Anthony Garcia on 2/16/2020:

“God doesn't say, 'Honor your father and mother only when they're honorable.’ Theirs is a position. They hold an office. And even if they are unworthy of that office, the office itself is still to be honored.”  -R.C. Sproul

“Honor is the unsentimental moral nucleus within the complex relationships between any child and their parents. From the day the child is born to the day the parents die—and even reaching beyond their grave as a relationship to an ineradicable memory—everything in the relationship changes except the moral duty of honor. The rule of honor is probably as universal as any human duty. No child, young or old, ought to ever dishonor their parents. In every culture, parents believe in their right to be respect by their offspring. Plato probably registered a universal ethic when he said on the scale of human decencies honor to parents is second only to piety toward God. But absolute as we must admit it to be and universal as we imagine it to be, honor to parents is a duty that shifts and slips in our hands as we try to examine what it calls us, young or old children, to do. - Lewis B Smedes

“My biggest, ongoing problem as a dad is not my children, it’s me. My children don’t cause me to do and say what I do and say. No, the cause of my actions is found inside my own heart. My children are simply the occasion where my heart reveals itself in words and actions. So I need much more than just rescue and relief from my children; I need rescue from me. This is why Jesus came, to provide us with the rescue that we all need but that we cannot provide for ourselves.” - Paul Tripp

Find the sermon audio at unionaz.org/podcast

Walking in Wisdom

As we continue our journey through Ephesians, we in chapter 5 that great attention needs to be given to our lives if we are going to walk in the wisdom of God. The wisdom from God is practical, ethical, and adaptable, but most of all, it’s theological. It starts with taking God at His word. (Proverbs 1:1-7, 3:5-8)

If you missed the sermon, you can listen below:

In addition, we want to provide some resources to help us as a people to grow in wisdom, attentiveness, and gratitude today:

God’s Wisdom For Navigating Life - Timothy and Kathy Keller - A helpful daily devotional that covers many aspects of life and faith.

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry - John Mark Comer - An accessible book that encourages wholeness, simplicity, and wisdom in the midst of our culture today. The author also partnered with Jeff Bethke and did a great 10 part podcast entitled “Fight Hustle, End Hurry” - Find in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The Tech-Wise Family - Andy Crouch - A great book for families with practical solutions on how we relate to technology while cultivating wisdom and courage as followers of Christ.

One Thousand Gifts - Ann Voskamp - As Jon quoted from on Sunday, “Gratitude is not only a response to God in good times - it's ultimately the very will of God in hard times. Gratitude isn't only a celebration when good things happen. It's a declaration that God is good no matter what happens.Being joyful isn't what makes you grateful. Being grateful is what makes you joyful.”

Do you just feel stuck? These songs are beautiful prayers to ask for God’s help and trust in His perfect plan:

Teaching Quotes from 12/29/2019

Here are the quotes/cross references from our gathering on 12/29/2019. To listen to the sermon, or other previous messages, you can click here.

Matthew 4:18-22

2 Peter 1:21

“We read scripture in order to be refreshed in our memory and understanding of the story within which we ourselves are actors, to be reminded where it has come from and where it is going to, and hence what our own part within it ought to be.” - NT Wright

Hebrews 1:1-4

Tim Keller - “What is the Bible About?”

“Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The Bible’s really not about you—it’s about him.” - Tim Keller

John 14:15

“Often when we use the term Paraclete, we’re thinking that we’re referring simply to the Holy Spirit. No, the Holy Spirit is not the Paraclete — the Holy Spirit is the other Paraclete. The original Paraclete is Christ Himself…” - R.C Sproul

“As Jesus’ disciple, I am his apprentice in kingdom living. I am learning from him how to lead my life in the Kingdom of the Heavens as he would lead my life if he were I. My confidence in him simply means that I believe that he is right about everything: that all that he is and says shows what life is at its best, what it was intended by God to be. “In him was life and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4) Being his apprentice is, therefore, not a matter of special “religious” activities, but an orientation and quality of my entire existence. This is what is meant by Jesus when he says that those who do not forsake all cannot be his disciple. (Luke 14:26 & 33) The emphasis is upon the all. There must be nothing held of greater value than Jesus and his kingdom. He must be clearly seen as the most important thing in human life, and being his apprentice as the greatest opportunity any human being ever has.” - Dallas Willard

Teaching Quotes from 12/8/2019

Here are the quotes/cross references from our gathering on 12/8/2019. To listen to the sermon, or other previous messages, you can click here.

Opening quote from the gathering:

"Worship works from the top down, you might say. In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down. Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.” - James K.A. Smith

Ephesians 3:14-21

“He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you, in the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.” - Brother Lawrence, Practice of the Presence of God

"The modern loss of faith does not concern just God or the hereafter. It involves reality itself and makes human life radically fleeting. Life has never been as fleeting as it is today. Not just human life, but the world in general is becoming radically fleeting. Nothing promises duration or substance. Given this lack of Being, nervousness and unease arise." - Byung-Chul Han - The Burnout Society

Prov 4:23

“The reach of a tree depends on its roots. Choose roots over reach." - Karen Swallow Prior

"Could we with ink the ocean fill,
  And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
  And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
  Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
  Though stretched from sky to sky." - Fredrick Lehman

"The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands” ― Martin Luther

John 3:16-17

"Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; he is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings…Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all—a vision encapsulated by the shorthand “the kingdom of God.” - James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love

1 John 3:1

“Prayer does not (merely) equip us for greater works, Prayer is the greater work.” Oswald Chambers

“If you have never known the power of God’s love, then maybe it is because you have never asked to know it - I mean, really asked, expecting an answer.” - Fredrick Buechner.

"I will let myself not be overwhelmed with the season, but be overwhelmed with the goodness of God, so I can then overflow with the goodness of God to others. I will be experienced as a blessing by others, to the extent I have slowed down — and counted blessings — and first experience myself as blessed. The greatest gift God graces a soul with is His own presence.” - Ann Voskamp