Trinity Family

Truly, we are a family as Pastor Walter reminded us on Sunday. We are an Easter family, knit together by the blood of Christ, adopted by the Father, and bound to God and each other by the Spirit.

This time of social distancing is truly unnatural for the family of God. We must obey the authorities and lovingly protect the most vulnerable by adhering to social distancing. Yet we must fight all the more for connection. And the word “fight” is appropriate, for truly we are in a battle. We have an enemy, the devil, who “schemes” against us, as Paul puts it (Ephesians 6:11). Satan would love nothing more than to destroy us. Like a prowling lion, he aims for the stragglers, the isolated, those who have peeled off from the safety of the herd. He aims to fragment the family of God. Therefore, it is all the more crucial that we fight for each other in this time.

So we pursue each other in appropriate ways, employing all the means of connection: phone calls, texts, emails, video calls, and even old-school USPS mail. I love the way that an 18^th-century manual on Christian friendship puts it. We are called “to keep up with us, the Communion of Saints, in the most intimate Manner,” even in extraordinary times.

We also fight for each other in prayer. Paul identifies prayer as one weapon against the evil powers (Eph 6:17-18). Prayer is a means of spiritual communion, not only with God but with each other. And prayer transcends physical distance. This time of social distancing is a call to pray with and for each other. In light of this call to prayer, we also invite you to join us for morning prayer (click here to sign up).

Finally, Paul calls us to “keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18). There are so many ways we can weary. Inertia sets in. The path of least resistance is easier. The novelty of Zoom has worn off. We can retreat into the constructed comfort of our homes and into deadening habits of selfishness. Paul calls us to perseverance and prayer. In fact, Paul leaves us a remarkable example. He wrote Ephesians from confinement, a legal quarantine of sorts. He continued his ministry of prayer and connection even in imprisonment. May the Lord give us perseverance to do likewise.