Good morning, Redeemer, family and friends.
Scotty Smith here, one of your pastors at large.
Have the joy of walking with Russ and a mentoring, friendship, mutual encouragement and relationship now for several years.
Russ has asked me to think with you guys about this upcoming season, the transition.
Pretty soon we will enjoy meeting together again.
So, what's that gonna look like?
How can we listen to the gospel together to get a good understanding about what faith expressing itself in love will mean for us in these next several weeks, even months?
So, to get us started, I want to read from the book of Galatians a couple of relevant passages, and you might think of this conversation, brief as it may be, simply as neighbor love in the summer of 2020.
Listen to the way the Apostle Paul writes in the book of Galatians, chapter 5.
Galatians 5, verse 6.
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.
And then a little bit later in the chapter, same chapter, verse 13, 14.
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh.
Rather, serve one another in love, for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
I think these scriptures are so relevant as we think about this next season.
So the question before us today is simply this.
So, what will faith expressing itself in love?
What will neighbor love?
What will the gospel look like as we prepare to resume meeting together and further walking into the season of pandemic?
Here are seven brief thoughts.
I'll send you my outline so you can marinate in these things and add to the list.
But here are seven considerations, seven things that I want to join with you in practicing as we look at these next several weeks and move forward.
Number one, during the season of transition, let's practice the stewardship of freedom.
Opening up must not mean dumbing down.
Now, in the scripture we just read, Paul talked about freedom.
And he said that as followers of Jesus, we have incredible freedom.
Freedom from the law, freedom from condemnation, freedom from performances.
But freedom is difficult to steward, and I think it's an important lesson for us as we move forward into this summer as a church, as families, etc.
We've already seen on the West Coast that when California began to open up their beaches, freedom was not stewarded very well.
And they had to shut down their beaches because we unfortunately want what we want when we want it.
And oftentimes that's more with a horizon of our own joy in view and not those around us.
So I would say to us as a church family, just beginning this next season, we have remarkable freedom.
We are seeking to open up.
We are looking forward to getting out of a lot of the things that have had us in a lockdown posture.
As a church family, as families and friends, let's learn lessons on stewarding our freedom.
Not just limited to this pandemic, but certainly as we are on the cusp of doing some important heart work and community work together.
Number two, as we resume meeting together as a church, let's go.
Slow exercising, great care.
Social distancing, masks, and cough care are going to be with us for quite a while.
Peel off communion cups and limiting singing are only temporary.
But loving well is forever.
I think that's part of my encouragement to you guys and to us here in the Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee area.
We want to be together and yet we have appropriate concerns.
So let's go slow.
Listen to the guidelines your church leaders have set out before you.
What's it going to mean to move towards one another and really go by the guidelines and learn as we go.
I think a good plan has been put in place for Redeemer.
Let's handle it with care.
Let's not be in a big hurry except to love well.
Some of these irregularities won't necessarily be fun.
I hate these little peel off-top communion cups.
We're going to use them in Nashville just as you guys are because we want to be sensitive to touch.
We want to be aware of the fact that every cough and sneeze we hear is likely to trigger us.
So let's know that faith expressing itself in love as a church family means let's move towards regathering because that's a part of our calling as the people of God to be together, not just to be isolated in our own homes, but let's do it well.
Let's go slow, let's be deliberate, let's be very careful to use some of the protocols that are delineated by our government, but stewarded well, there's that word again, by our church leaders.
Number three of seven.
Let's practice mutual respect for each other as we move forward.
We're not going to agree on everything deemed pandemic protocol, especially in an election year.
Now, maybe you've already experienced this among friends and extended family.
I find it highly annoying that this pandemic is landing in an election year because it seems like everybody is wanting to seize the narrative for what it means, and even a mask itself has become a political entity.
I pray that in Redeemer you will learn to respect one another, not just with regard to how you interpret the pandemic, but also as we consider the fact that a lot of us emotionally are gonna hang back for a while.
And let's respect one another.
Some of us are in the world of Winnie the Pooh Tiggers, and we cannot wait to be together.
Well, Winnie the Pooh is a big family.
Let's honor all the representatives in this church family called Redeemer.
So let's learn respect for one another.
Let's listen more than we speak.
God gave us two ears and one mouth.
May there be something clearly demonstrated about faith expressing itself in love as we respect one another.
There will be several lanes for life and Redeemer in the upcoming weeks and months.
And let's just do it together.
Let's honor each other.
Let's honor each other's families.
Some of you have already been to the beach together.
Others of us, like my wife and I, are hanging back.
Well, mutual respect is always an aspect of gospel life.
Let's do it well together.
Number four, let's remember those who remain most vulnerable to the virus, the elderly health care workers and those who are being dramatically impacted economically by this virus.
I'm 70, my wife is not as old as me, but we are told, even by the government, perhaps to not even begin worshiping with fellow brothers and sisters in shared space for a while.
Let's remember those in Redeemer.
I know you're a young congregation, but let's remain sensitive to caring for those who are part of this church family who are in compromised health, for those who are older, but also for those who have lost jobs.
I hope we understand this is a vital part of the story that as a church family, we want to be generous, we want to be merciful, we want to know that perhaps many in our midst are being dramatically impacted.
I mean by decisions that will impact livelihood, housing, etc.
So the gospel always calls us to be aware, to be aware of what presents we bring in every situation, including this one, but also let's look around.
How can we care for those who would love to be with us?
But wisdom would say hang back.
How can we care for those who perhaps out of shame have been impacted by this incredible season of pandemic that we want to love well?
Number five, let's be paceetters and wisdom and kindness to our community.
These next several months are going to say a lot to Marietta and the surrounding neighborhoods about the gospel that we believe and celebrate in Redeemer.
Know that as the people of God, we're not to be codependent upon our community's opinion about us, but we have a chance collectively, as families, as friends, as a church family, to be aware of the fact that we're being watched by our community.
And let's steward that.
Again, that word.
Let's be good stewards.
Let's uh seize the moment to model for our community wisdom, care, good science, uh, and our faith that we cherish.
Let's be aware of that.
Not a slave to it, but let's love well.
Number six of seven.
May we grow a greater awareness and connection with the suffering church as a result of this pandemic.
I've got a lot of friends that serve in many countries around the world.
And this pandemic has impacted them so differently than the way it's impacted us.
For some of them, it's just one more pandemic.
Many in the Church of Jesus Christ around the world have to gather at harm's risk.
The underground church, the suffering church, uh, good missionary friends that live in parts of Africa are always dealing with malaria, Ebola, and now this virus.
And I pray that our disruption, the things that have created a new norm for us, will be used by God's Spirit to help Redeemer, to help our church family go deeper and deeper into God's larger story.
God is a father of mercy and God of all comfort who comforts us that we might comfort others with the mercy and grace and kindness we receive.
May we be sensitized.
May we turn away from Redeemer being a privatized story of a nice little grace-filled church that's living irrespective of how much of our family of God is suffering.
Let's not waste our suffering.
Let's not waste this moment.
May one of the outcomes of this pandemic and Redeemer be a greater commitment to live and to love to God's glory globally.
A global pandemic, uh, it will not outlast God's global, every place in the world story of redeeming love.
Lastly, number seven.
Let's take note of new habits we formed during sheltering in place.
Habits that should be continued and cherished.
Now, maybe some of you are like me, you've welcomed a part of this sheltering in place.
I have uh discovered a quieter heart.
I've actually engaged more with people as an introvert through calls, through being aware of the fact that my normal routines have me moving around, spending a lot more time in the car, going and coming, flying, etc.
But slowing down has been so good.
My wife and I found a new connection.
We've started watercoloring together.
I want that to continue.
But but also the pace, living at the pace of grace.
What do you not want to walk away from that you've learned during this pandemic?
And what are some of the stories we can share with each other about how our families have enjoyed tying together, maybe a little less screen time, a little more actual face time, communing with the Lord, getting quiet, reading, centering, uh, re-examining the difference between a driven life and a called life.
I hope there will be some really good conversations in Redeemer for habits, patterns that you have cultivated, and that you will be sad that they might go away as we start regathering.
So, brothers and sisters, just a few thoughts, important thoughts, but all under this larger rubric, what does faith expressing itself in love look like?
Let's move toward together.
Like I said, it is to God's glory that we want to be together.
Let's do it wisely.
Let's do it in love with mutual respect.
Let's exercise our freedom with great care.
And let's love the city where God has placed us to live out the only love that is better than life, the only love that will never let go of us, the only love sufficient not just to get us into heaven, but to get more of heaven into us.
Let's pray as we conclude.
Father, thank you for the privilege we have in these next several weeks and months to be wise, to be loving, to ask the question, what does faith expressing itself in love look like?
Give us encouragement.
Thank you for Russ as elders, thank you for the church family called Redeemer.
We do pray, Lord, that we will respect each other, that we, even as we see some things differently, even as some families exercise certain freedoms that other families will see differently.
Oh Lord, may it be a grand demonstration of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Together we pray in his name and for his glory.
Amen.
Thank you all.
I cannot wait to be back down and Marietta to be with you.
Love you.
Keep praying for me as well.
I appreciate it very much.
Scotty here.
Goodbye.