Good morning! On behalf of Jesus Christ, welcome! On behalf of the members of the First Church of Squantum, welcome to the first of our Coronavirus Sundays. I’ve been thinking and praying for you each day this week. Still it’s not safe for us to be in the same space—to shake each other’s hand, give each other a hug and pass the peace of Christ to each other—at least physically. Since we are going to go like this for a while, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve turned our sanctuary space into a TV studio. I’m really hoping that we can do worship and Bible Study together from here as we go forward. One of my buddies gave four reasons that online worship was great—1. You don’t have to worry about parking or finding a seat. 2. You can refill your coffee or get a snack whenever you want. 3. You can relax in your pajamas. 4. You can mute the pastor.
Perhaps we will try some live worship next week, but for now let’s gather in an attitude of worship.
Opening Prayer
Lord, You are the One Who makes heaven and earth, and You care for each of us. Thank You for all the blessings of today, and the chance to gather in Your Name to worship You. By Your Spirit link our hearts and minds across the distance, so that we might be Your people gathered in this moment. To say that we want to be Your people, Your children, is to say we want to be like You, Jesus, that we want to live like You, so that together with You, we can be the hope of the world. Hear us now as we pray the prayer that You still teach those who seek You to pray, saying, “Our Father…”
Song Spoonful of Sugar (Mary Poppins 31:20–36:32)
Stewardship Minute Showing people how to find the donate button online.
Scripture Matthew 16:21–26
Matthew 18:1–4
Prayer Song More Precious Than Silver
Devotion Letting God Drive
I grew up wanting to drive. Driving is how you got to go places and I wanted to go places. Driving was a way I knew I was in charge. I wanted to drive.
When I watch Mary Poppins, I see Mr. Banks loving to drive, and he’s having a great time leading his family—blissfully unaware of how miserable his children are in the back seat, or how disconnected he is from his wife in the passenger seat. He’s so busy going places, having fun with his power and authority, that he has become miserable to live with.
What I love about this movie is that the children, Michael and Jane, and their parents are on opposite trajectories, all circling around the song, “Spoonful of Sugar.” Michael and Jane are learning that there can be fun in every bit of work if you look at it the right way. A little sugar to help the medicine go down. Meanwhile, their parents, George and Winnifred, are so involved in their own jobs—George at the Bank, and Winnifred working for women’s suffrage—that to one degree or another, they have stopped at adding any sugar to their medicine, any fun to their work. The kids are learning that work is ok in the middle of their play and the parents are learning that play is ok to balance their work. That’s fine, even a good plan.
But the movie, Mary Poppins, hints at deeper meanings. Whether it’s work or it’s play, Mary Poppins lets the moment lead. I would say that she lets God lead, changing course in mid-stream as something unfolds differently than she planned. One of my favorite parts is when Mr. Banks begins his “you are getting fired” speech, and winds up taking his kids to the bank the next day. When he gets to the end, Mary has so successfully summed up his thinking that he’s convinced it’s his own idea! Or the time she’s headed out on errands with the kids and goes to help Uncle Albert with his laughing problem. One has the sense that Mary goes through her life looking for the next thing to unfold and then jumps into whatever it is like she jumps into the chalk painting—with both feet.
Which gets me thinking about living with Jesus in crazy times like these. All of a sudden, we have to rethink everything! My brother is in upper management for a world-wide tech support firm. They are having to completely retool how they do things for their 40,000 employees around the world! I feel like such a slouch—I have to look after you all and my family! But we are having to rethink things too, right? How are we going to do school? Many of us appreciate how hard teachers work, am I right? How are we going to work? Some of us are still working—people who are keeping everything else in working order, keeping people safe, keeping people fed, keeping people healthy. My hats off to those of you who are on the front lines doing these important things. Some of us have lost our jobs. Some of us are trying to figure out how to make ends meet. Some of us are working from home. Some of us trying to find new ways to play and spend time—no playgrounds? no problem! Family games are coming back in. Puzzles too. Reading books, magazines and news—some of it online, some of it on hard copy. I’m valuing the Patriot Ledger more than I have in a while. Some of us can’t go to see our loved ones in nursing facilities or even at their homes to limit their risk factors. In crazy times like these, many of us have realized we are NOT in the driver’s seat. The question I would ask each of us today is this: have we put Jesus in the driver’s seat? Do we trust that God is still driving? Do we look for signs that Jesus is adding a twist or a turn to our path? We can look at everything as a pain and a frustration—or we can look for the element of fun, embrace the change, see others with compassion, and recognize that Jesus is going a different direction than we had planned.
The other day I was out for a walk and going by someone’s house, and saw them outside, washing their car. Now I don’t want to break social distancing, but I took a few minutes to see how they were doing. We had a great conversation. I’m pretty sure I didn’t save the universe with that one, but it seemed like a good idea, so who knows. I do still love to drive, but I’m trying to leave more space for unexpected blessings. In the bitter pill of all this shut-down, we are learning new ways to sweeten our lives by moving over and so Jesus can drive. Amen.
Song 10,000 Reasons
Benediction
We gathered in hope today, and now we head into the rest of our lives. We trust that You will go with us, Jesus, and that Your guidance and strength will come when we most need it. May others see Your grace shining through us, and know the power of the new life we are finding in You. Amen.