From the 1984 blockbuster movie Ghostbusters and pop song, I took the line “I ain’t afraid of no ghost” and titled my sermon: “I ain’t afraid of no virus!” This is one of those times in our present circumstances, when I decided to take a slight detour from our study in Leviticus and chose to address an issue that most of us in this country are thinking about. If you haven’t had your head in the sand, then you have seen the wall to wall TV coverage of the corona virus, COVID-19. Many of us in this room have already directly or indirectly been affected. The mayor of Williamsport has banned group gatherings of 250 or more. The governor has closed schools for 2 weeks. Flights, cruises, travel, and conferences are all being canceled. Major sporting events are being cancelled as well. And for crying out loud, all the toilet paper and hand sanitizer has vanished off the shelves! Not to make light of the situation, we’re in a crisis. A pandemic. And there is a lot of fear, a lot of worry, a lot of concern, on the part of our public officials, in the news media, and for all the citizens. Even my 11 year-old daughter is concerned that the mailman is going to spread corona virus to every house he delivers the mail to. I had a conversation with my father, a pastor in Houston, who remarked at how people are hanging on to every warning and heeding every instruction that the government health officials, the CDC, etc. have issued, but when we tell them Jesus is coming, that this is not only a life or death issue, but an eternal one, those warnings go largely ignored. People are on edge, some on the verge of panic. So how is the Christian supposed to think in times like these? How are we to behave? What kind of example should we set for others to take note of? Scripture has much to teach when it comes to facing illness and disease. There are many passages where we can find sound teaching. This morning I chose Psalm 91.
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