More Deadly Than the Coronavirus

Compared to metropolitan New York City (13,538) and Chicago (1,673), the death toll from COVID-19 in Minneapolis / St. Paul (~350) is much less. Of course, the population in those cities is much larger than ours. Numbers in all cities will rise as the months pass into 2021.

Our federal, state, and local governments have admonished us in statute, briefings, charts, and Public Service Announcements to do what we must to “flatten the curve” and minimize the spread of the disease. The hope is less deaths by changing behavior. If less death occurs is anyone’s guess.

We all know that death is not ultimately preventable, and we also know that death is avoidable when we embrace wise behaviors. We are hearty Minnesotans, but we don’t sleep outside in late January in shorts and a t-shirt because we know the potential of death by exposure.

The Minnesota Department of Health exists to “protect, maintain, and improve the health of all Minnesotans” by using “the best scientific data and methods to guide our policies and actions to promote healthy living in Minnesota.” The MDH is at the forefront of the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

The MDH addresses many dangers that face Minnesotans, dangers like alcohol. If I were to hazard a guess, I would guess Minnesota will not have as many COVID-19 deaths as it does alcohol related deaths. According to the MDH,

• The number of deaths involving alcohol has increased each of the last 16 years.

• There were an estimated 1,745 alcohol-related deaths each year between 2013-17.

• 100% alcohol-attributable deaths increased by 94% between 2000-17.

• In 2018, most adult Minnesotans (61.1%) said they drank alcohol.

• Minnesota had one of the highest binge drinking rates (four or more in one occasion for women, five or more for men) in the nation in 2018, with 20.3% of adults reporting binge drinking.

Do these facts stop Minnesotans from drinking alcohol? Of course not. Over the last 8 weeks, alcohol sales in our state and across the nation have skyrocketed as Americans drink away their anxiety and boredom.

While many small businesses are hemorrhaging cash during the stay-at-home orders, liquor stores are seeing record sales. According to our local ABC affiliate, metro liquor stores are experiencing record sales days and months. One store owner offered, “The amount of sales we’ve experienced is something – after 32 years in the business – I’ve never seen anything like this.” Another offered, “It’s been exhausting (trying to keep up with business).”

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise (Proverbs 20:1).

Over and again the Bible warns about the dangers of alcohol consumption in texts like those found in Proverbs. Repeatedly, the Bible holds up as negative examples those who consumed alcohol to their own detriment (See Daniel 5; Esther 1).

Preaching against social drinking is so passé. A quick way for a Bible preacher to find himself on the wrong side of his listeners is to preach the Bible texts about drinking alcohol.

While no single Bible text prohibits drinking alcohol, the whole of the Bible overwhelming warns about the dangers of drinking alcohol…just like the Minnesota Depart of Health warns about the dangers of drinking alcohol.

How many deaths could be prevented if federal, state, and local officials gave as much attention to the dangers of alcohol abuse as they do presently to the coronavirus?

How much physical and verbal abuse could be prevented if federal, state, and local officials gave as much attention to the dangers of alcohol abuse as they do presently to the coronavirus?

How many innocent children impacted by fetal alcohol syndrome could be spared lifelong hardship if federal, state, and local officials gave as much attention to the dangers of alcohol abuse as they do presently to the coronavirus?

I wish I could say this is a problem that appears only outside the church, but we all know that is not the case. To some degree the problem of alcohol abuse is in the church. It’s why Paul wrote, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).”

Sometime in the future COVID-19 will be in the past. To be sure there will be lingering impact we cannot yet imagine. As bad as COVID-19 is in our state, our country, and across the globe, the impact of alcohol is far worse. There is no vaccine against the ravages of alcohol.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

We've Got This, No Need to Bother God

Crises tend to reveal character and belief, so the not yet king bravely and confidently picks up the stones to face the giant Goliath. On the other end of the spectrum, the not yet martyr to the cause of Jesus Christ denies his lord on three separate occasions and after his betrayal weeps bitterly about his unfaithfulness.

Our current coronavirus crisis is revealing character and belief all across the globe. Darwinians don’t actually believe in the survival of the fittest while fatalists believe there isn’t really anything that can be done so just live and let live. Go to the beach if you want; if you catch it, you catch it.

God haters also declare their positions with candor. In an on-air interview with CNN, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared, “Our behavior has stopped the spread of the virus. God did not stop the spread of the virus.” Later in a press conference, the governor doubled down when he told the gathered journalists, “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Fate did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that.” (April 13, 2020)

Look at great Babylon that I have built.

Past political leaders have not been so brazen, and many actually called the nation to prayer. On the verge of war with France, our first ally in the War for Independence, President John Adams proclaimed May 9, 1798 a day of solemn fasting and prayer.

That the citizens of these states, abstaining on that day from their customary worldly occupations, offer their devout addresses to the Father of Mercies, agreeably to those forms or methods which they have severally adopted as the most suitable and becoming: That all religious congregations do, with the deepest humility, acknowledge before GOD the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation; beseeching him, at the same time, of his infinite Grace, through the Redeemer of the world, freely to remit all our offences, and to incline us, by his holy spirit, to that sincere repentance and reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable favor and heavenly benediction.

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln on three occasions called the nation to prayer for the purpose of bringing an end to the deep bloodshed and gaping chasm between the states.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins…We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God…we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own…It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the Offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

During the Spanish Flu and World War 1, President Woodrow Wilson led the nation to God with reference to Hebrews 11:10.

Almighty God, ruler of all the peoples of the earth, forgive, we pray, our shortcomings as a nation; purify our hearts to see and love truth; give wisdom to our counselors and steadfastness to our people; and bring us at last to the fair city of peace, whose foundations are mercy, justice and goodwill, and whose builder and maker you are.

June 6, 1944 D-Day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation via live radio broadcast. The invasion already under way, FDR informed the citizenry of the colossal undertaking to secure a beachhead on the French coast. At the end of his address, he led the nation in a lengthy prayer. Knowing that many men would not return, he prayed,

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas -- whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them--help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice. Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts…Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.

Of course prayer in crisis is no indicator of new life in Christ, but brazen repudiation of God does indicate a life void of Christ. The coronavirus is revealing the character and belief of all including professing Christians. We cringe at Governor Cuomo’s comments, but what does the silence of Christians reveal about us? Are we any different?

Are we pleading with God in prayer for his intervention, his sustaining grace, the expansion of his kingdom, the protection of the church, for his aid to the suffering, for his emancipation of the renewed addict, and for the glory of his name?

Are Christians praying or is their lack of prayer revealing what Governor Cuomo bellowed, “Not God, but us.”

Pray, Church, pray.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Day a Good Man Died

Tom VerWay, my father, died five years ago tomorrow (April 22). This was my first writing after he passed on to heaven. It seems fitting to speak about death in these days of the coronavirus.

Dateline: May 5, 2015

My dad died less than two weeks ago. At times it feels like his death happened this morning while at other times it feels like I haven’t talked to my dad in years. You who have travelled this road before me know I have much to learn in the days, months, and years to come. For now, I’ve learned this – death stinks.

For many years I’ve thought my dad could die at any time. Like many ministry families, Brenda and I have lived hundreds of miles away from our parents since our marriage. Over the last ten years I’ve said goodbye to my dad, kissed him on the cheek, and wondered if that would be the last time I saw him this side of heaven. Those brief times of separation have given way to the great gulf fixed between us, and I have concluded death stinks.

I suppose I was insulating myself over the last many years for what is inevitable in all of us. In my mind there was no way my dad would live to be an old man. His gene pool has produced zero elderly men or women. To a person my dad’s immediate family all died long before they reached their 70s. I concluded he would not be the one to break the cycle. For years I’ve been preparing myself for his eventual death, silently hoping the preparation would lessen the pain. Still, when I said goodbye previously, I could always call, jump on an airplane to Chicago, or make a drive to Wisconsin. I can’t do that anymore. Death took that from me. Death stinks.

My dad was a strong man back in the day. Before computers and electronics controlled an automobile’s performance, my dad turned wrenches and lay on the damp, cold ground repairing vehicles from compact cars to big, yellow school buses. For the last decade his diminishing body would not allow him to do the simplest of tasks. Where he used to swing a mallet with his right arm, that same arm betrayed him. He couldn’t lift a fork to his mouth with his dominant hand. He no longer walked, he shuffled. He no longer labored, he watched. The life in his body was fading, slow at first and rapid at the end.

I hated watching my dad go through the dying process. His nurses in the ICU were kind and gentle to him, fitting for a man who was described by those at his funeral as kind and gentle. These compassionate women performed the unpleasant tasks that accompany a frail man in the hospital’s ICU. While I appreciated what they did for him, I hated that death required them do it. I watched as death forced women who were complete strangers to my dad to clean him up after a normal, human function. I hate what death did to him in his final days of life. I hate the physical pain death inflicted on him. I hate the emotions death pressed on him. I hate the confusion death put in his mind. Death stinks.

Death is our mortal enemy, and will be the last enemy of humanity to know the crush of our Savior’s foot (1 Corinthians 15:26). For now death roams the earth taking the lives of the Nepalese via an earthquake, of the unborn via abortion, of the sick via cancer, heart disease, or Alzheimer’s, COVID-19), or the faithful via the persecutor’s sword.

Wherever death slithers, it leaves coldness in its path. Even when we say how glad we are someone’s suffering is over, we say it with resignation. Our preference would be to keep the person here without the suffering. But death will not allow another day, another month, or another year. Death shows no mercy. Death is satisfied only when a heart stops beating, a lung stops breathing, an eye stops seeing, lips stop talking, and ears stop hearing. I hate death. Death stinks.

The psalmist tells us, “Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints” (116:15) – precious in the Lord’s sight, but not in mine. What I see is a lifeless body. There is no answer when I call his cell phone. He does not sit in his seat at the table. I cannot hear him thank the Lord in prayer for the meal we are about to eat. Death took that from me. Death stinks!

I sorrow, but not as one without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Apart from Jesus' resurrection which is the first of what will be true for all who die in faith (1 Corinthians 15:20), I would have to find a way to dull the pain of death. Worse still I would need to insulate myself from the deaths that remain in my future. How can I ever face them apart from the resurrection of Jesus?

O Lord Jesus, death has delivered a punishing blow. Help me, help all of us, to look to you, the captain of our salvation, who has conquered death in his own body and who will crush death once and for all. Except you deliver us, we shall all perish. I have no other hope.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

More Than a Walk in the Neighborhood

Among the many strange and curious practices of these COVID-19 days is the myriad of people walking through my neighborhood, maybe yours too. I've seen people I've never seen before, and I've seen some people I do know do things I've never seen them do before.

In my neighborhood a few days ago, I saw a husband and wife on an evening stroll which would not be unusual except for the fact that I’ve never seen the two of them walk together anywhere in our neighborhood, and I have never seen either of them walk farther than the mailbox at the end of their driveway.

Maybe you’ve taken up the spend time in nature vibe by walking the streets near your home. Good for you, and keep it up when the imperial forces allow us to regain our former way of life (sarcasm detected). In addition to stretching your legs and easing boredom, there is a way to make good use of your six-feet-separation parade down Main Street. Pray.

Why You Live Where You Live

Christians believe God has us where he has us to serve him for the time he has us there. You live in your residence at this time in human history for a divine reason. A significant part of your presence in your neighborhood is for gospel influence. You are not likely to have occasion to give the gospel to every house you pass on your morning run or after dinner calorie burn, but you can pray for the occupants of every house you pass whether you know them or not. As you walk, pray,

O Lord, would you save the people who live in that house? I don’t know them, but you do. Would you bring the gospel to them? Would you open their minds to understand and believe the good news about Jesus? Lord, if that is a house where believers live, would you bless them?

Then pray again for the next house you pass. By the end of your walk, you will have prayed for dozens, if not hundreds of people who live near you.

Why Your Church Exists Where It Exists

Somewhere in the past a group of people gathered to form your church. They settled on a location they thought would best serve the community. Maybe they acquired or built a building. The point is the church and the church building have a geographic setting for a reason. God put us where we are to impact the community where we live and worship.

I’ve never experienced a runner’s high, but I do like to eat…a lot. So, I run. When I run the neighborhoods around my home or in the communities near our church building, I pray for the whole neighborhood. If there are church families in the neighborhood, I pray for their influence. If there are no families from our church in the neighborhood, I ask God to bring people to our church from the neighborhood. Maybe there is a recently relocated Christian family who needs a church. Maybe there is a household that is trying to find a more biblically faithful pulpit. While there may not be any believing families in that particular neighborhood in our church, there may be believing families in that neighborhood. I pray for their godly influence with their neighbors.

Most of us have considered how to make the best use of the reality of our coronavirus situation. I think praying for the salvation of people in your neighborhood and for the strengthening of your church in your community is a great use of your time. So put one foot in front of the other and pray as you go.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

To Recover Is Christ, To Die from Coronavirus Is Gain

For all the puzzles completed and walks in the neighborhood, home cooked meals and learning to use technology to connect with family and friends, most hope for a return to normal. But that’s the problem, is a return to normal all that great? I want to make a bold statement to you who are Christians.

It is better for your Christian mom or dad, husband or wife, son or daughter, brother or sister, pastor or small group member to die from the coronavirus than to return to what was normal.

The magnetism of this world pulls strong on every human being including us Christians. So strong, in fact, is the attraction that many Christians would push back when the Bible says, “to die is gain” and “to depart and be with Christ is far better” (Philippians 1:21, 23). Not you? You don’t push back? Please continue to read.

Paul wrote those famous words while under arrest in the imperial city of Rome. For Paul, the previous two years delivered blow after blow to his physical and mental wellbeing (Acts 21-26). Now he finds himself perilously close to the executioner’s blade. What will happen he does not know. What he desires to happen he is quite certain. He wants to depart this life by means of his death to be with Jesus which, Paul proclaims, is far better. To which most reply, “Well, of course it’s better to die and to go be with Jesus than to live under persecution.” But that response misses Paul’s point.

Paul is not saying that departing this life via death is better than the parts of this life that stink. Paul says departing this life via death is far better than the best this life can offer to us. Paul is saying it is better for every Christian to die from COVID-19 than it is to enjoy the best of a coronavirus free world.

We agree departing this life via death to be with Jesus is better than Christian persecution, better than viruses, better than cancer, better than bankruptcy, better than fighting, better than pain, better than divorce, better than infertility, better than temptation, better than addiction, better than paralysis, better than abandonment, better than jealousies, better than bitterness, and better than heartbreak. But the Christian view is departing this life via death to be with Jesus is better than the very best this life can offer to us.

• Life on earth with Brenda, my wife, is wonderful but departing via death to be with Christ is better.

• Life on earth with two sons, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, and a son-in-law is wonderful but departing via death to be with Christ is better.

• Life on earth with a beautiful grandson is wonderful but departing via death to be with Christ is better.

• Life on earth with a healthy heart and lungs and strong arms and legs is wonderful but departing via death to be with Christ is better.

• Life on earth with expansive liberties because I am an American is wonderful but departing via death to be with Christ is better.

• Life on earth with financial freedom is wonderful but departing via death to be with Christ is better. Life on earth with family and friends enjoying good food and drink, mountain slopes, wilderness lakes, and tropical breezes is wonderful but departing via death to be with Christ is better.

• Life on earth seeing all my dreams come true is wonderful but departing via death to be with Christ is better.

Do you push back against any of those declarations? Frankly, I do. In reality, I, like many of you, have little interest to leave this world for another better world in order to be with God. “My life is good,” I think, “There is so much left to enjoy here and to look forward to here. When I get old and frail, suffer memory loss, cannot see or hear well, then I’ll want to go be with Jesus.” Our contentment with the best of what this life offers reveals how far away we are from God, from His love, and the blessed life which is in Him.

Now, don’t be argumentative or worse, foolish, and conclude that you should end your life today because the Bible says, “to depart and be with Christ, is far better.” Paul determines in the next line, “Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” For Paul the timing of his departure via death to be with Christ belongs to heaven. Paul desired to die, but he was willing to live. While death would have been gain to him, he would endure the personal loss of living on earth if it meant a benefit to others.

What do you desire? Do you desire to depart and be with Christ or to have a little more of the good life here? Your answer determines in part how you will live your life here and what will hold the passions of your heart.

O Lord, while I am thankful for the life you have given to me here, I often find myself far more interested in this life than in the life to come with you in heaven. I want to hold this life loosely, even the very best parts of it that you have given to me to enjoy to the max. I want to be like those who have gone on before me who desired a better country, a heavenly country (Hebrews 11:17). Separate my heart from its love for this broken creation and stir my heart to want to be with you. Amen.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision