Leonard Terry

6 hrs · 

Dear Ones,

As I have been praying and pondering for the last few weeks what Jesus might be saying to His Church as we walk through this crisis I have found a few thoughts to be very clear.

First, I have watched as a fear that is beyond rationality take hold of the nations of the earth. I did not say there is nothing to be concerned about. There is much to be concerned about. But the fear has moved beyond rationality.

I would say the greatest thing to be concerned with is not the corona virus, though it is to be considered as a great threat. The greatest thing to be concerned about is the reaction that is driving us into unnecessary actions which in themselves may become more harmful than the virus that set the reaction off.

Fear causes us to fixate on single issues and lose perspective and creativity. Fear causes us to see our circumstances in ways that are dark and often hopeless. Fear can produce an isolation that becomes so deep that we become mentally unhealthy. I believe we are not to be bound or driven by fear.
There are many times in the Bible where we are told not to fear.

Jesus, Himself constantly told His disciples this.

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom." Luke 12:32 (NASB)

For example, there is a growing body of evidence that the greatest death toll of this pandemic will be not the virus but suicide. If you need proof of this simply Google suicide rates and the corona virus.

As we are correctly told, those with weakened immune systems are at much greater risk of dying of Covid 19 than those who are healthy. When we consider only that aspect of this disease it makes perfect sense to lock down a whole society.

But it also limits our ability to see the potential greater harm that will be done to people’s lives. And that damage can, will and already has resulted in a huge toll on lives….. beginning with the most vulnerable – those who suffer with mental illness -- for whom complete isolation is a death sentence. It will continue to those who are deeply harmed by the almost inevitable financial collapse, perhaps unnecessarily, brought about by an enforced shutdown of much of the world’s economy.

Many will lose their ability to provide for themselves and end up either in a place of deep depression or even ending their lives.

There is a huge body of evidence that during the great depression people’s health suffered horribly and suicide rates increased dramatically directly from the stress of economic security.

This is not trivial.

Nor is it a false reality.

Like people running out of a concert to get away from a fire, many more people die from the mob rush reaction to fear than would have died in the fire.

Yes, we need to respond to this pandemic. We need to do so creatively and rationally.

While we are vigilant in combating the epidemic we must find rational and creative ways to help ourselves and our neighbors.

Our first call as followers of Jesus is to pray.

We need to pray for our governing officials.

"First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." 1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NASB)

I personally am praying some very specific things for them:

I am praying they will keep sight of the larger picture; that they will be guided by rational and creative thoughts about how to fight the pandemic without destroying more lives through policies which will bring greater harm than real protection.

I am praying that the temptation to power will not come into governing rulers' hearts. They presently have taken for themselves unprecedented power. While this may be correct for the present crisis it will be important for them not to continue in a path that can lead to potential autocracy.

I am praying that they will use financial resources of our society in the most efficient way to actually help save lives and that the end result will not be a major financial collapse.

We need to pray especially for health care providers and those who are in vulnerable essential work environments.

These are our true heroes in this crisis. They are the army in this battle. They need all the help and encouragement we can give them. Pray that they will have the resources to do their jobs in safety.

Pray for our church leaders to find rational and creative ways to continue to bring our fellowships into community with each other.

Pray especially for those who are sick or traumatized by this pandemic or the results of the actions being taken to fight it.

Our second call is to continue being the church – the gathered people of God.

"Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." Hebrews 10:22-25 (NASB)

We were not only given Jesus in our salvation, we were given each other.

Someone asked me today if we should begin to meet in secret like they do in countries that prohibit Christians to gather. I don’t really think we are in the same situation as they are. The very real possibility that we could pass on this virus to others and potentially kill them is cause to do as much as possible within reason to keep that from happening. So, no, we should not gather in illegal secret meetings.

But we need to continue to be in fellowship. We can find safe and creative ways to do so.

Some churches are meeting online. That’s a good start.

Last week we had our weekly men’s meeting via Zoom. It was wonderful to connect in that way and almost felt like we were still in the office where we used to meet.

There is a way for us to continue in community and still be careful not to spread this disease. We need to find ways to do so.

Our third call is to touch the world -- especially by helping the helpless.

"They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do." Galatians 2:10 (NASB)

As much as is possible, within the constraints of the actual law…. not just recommendations of those without legal authority, we need to care for those who are struggling.

Isolation is a killer too.

We, as the church. have the tools of communication to help others feel less isolated. Listen to the Spirit during the day. As He brings people to mind pray for them but then take the next step to call or text them. Be especially concerned for those we know are very vulnerable to the effects of isolation.

Locally, I just received an email from the director of the Centre of Hope in downtown London, Jon DeActis, He wrote:

"The City of London has approached the Centre of Hope to increase its capacity to serve meals to our community in London to every night during the Covid-19 crisis for the next 6-8 weeks. This opportunity can only be met with the help of our community. We are looking for 6 people to serve food each night from the Emergency Truck on the Centre of Hope's property (Wellington and Horton). The commitment is to serve one night every 2 weeks if we can get enough groups as some churches have already committed to helping out. The time is from 4:30pm-6:30pm, we provide all the safety equipment necessary (gloves, masks etc.) and someone from the Salvation Army Disaster Relief Team would be present each night as well. The Centre of Hope will prepare the meal, we just need servers and folks to greet those that are struggling in our community.

The need is great right now as we’d be serving approx. 150-200 people each night. If we can get 8 more groups to help out, it is only 3-4 nights’ times over the next 2 months. If your church can help or if you have a small/home/life group that could help us, please contact me at 519-617-8740 or jdeactis@centreofhope.ca."

If you can help do so. But even if this is not a possibility for you there is a way you can help others. Make it safe. But don’t hide away in fear. There are many rational and creative ways to touch others' lives in this time of trouble.

Doing so is so important. Not just for those we help but to demonstrate that, in spite of much to be concerned about, we can still push back against the great enemy of fear.

Some have said to me that I am not taking the pandemic seriously.

I have two children who are working in health care whose hospital's toll of death is rising daily. My commitment for them and their colleague’s safety is complete. I take this very seriously. I pray for them with great concern and care. It is not a light thing to imagine that either or both could die from their care of others.

I am also immensely proud of them. Yet, just as they continue in their role of care, I believe we are to do so as well in ways that are safe.

Finally I believe we need to personally not surrender ourselves to crippling and isolating fear. Our God offers life that is greater than any pandemic or even death.

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." Romans 8:31-37 (NASB)

In the light of this truth, I love what C.S. Lewis said of the threat of the atomic bomb which so paralyzed my society in my early life and led to many fear reactions that are extremely regrettable in hindsight.

I can easily put in Covid 19 to see the parallels between those days and these days.

"In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."

“On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

May God’s peace and love keep you safe and hopeful in this time of potential hopelessness. You are loved!

Leonard Terry

An Open Door

Message to Philadelphia

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:  

He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: 

8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 

Revelation 3:7-9 (NASB)

The Church of the Closed Door

What I am about to say is not a rant or complaint against any particular fellowship or person. It is not even intended to be negative at all. It is a universal truth I have found in every group of people whether believers or not. And it is an extremely hard truth to identify in ourselves while very easy to spot in others that don't share our little group. 

Every church I have ever been in has had closed doors. It is central to human nature to want to be with "safe" people. I want to as much as anyone else. We may let anyone come in the supposedly open doors of our particular church but I know some leave feeling that they were not even seen, much less welcomed. If it is so with those who actually come to us what is it like to those who we go out to win?

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 

James 2:1-4 (NASB)

I once was the speaker at a church in a town not far from my home. I came early as I always do to prepare and see if I can get to know the church a bit before I preach. Sunday school was just about to begin when I arrived. I came in the building and no one said hello though there were at least twenty people standing in the lobby talking to each other. I went to find where the adult Sunday School class was and as I wandered around the halls no one even looked at me when I passed them though I was looking at them. I thought I would test my thoughts on the condition of the church by standing right at the door of the adult class in the  way of the entrance to see if anyone would talk to me. Sure enough, though people had to literally go around me to get in the class, not a single person made eye contact and no one spoke to me. 

I knew preaching was not going to be easy.

I went back to the lobby and sat there waiting to see if anyone would notice me. I probably could have waited till the service was over and the last person had to usher me out before anyone would have. I finally went up to someone and said, "I am preaching here today." They suddenly were all about me! But I knew what was really happening and shared with them my experience in the sermon. Needless to say I was never asked back to speak to them. If they had asked me back perhaps they would have found the reason they had not grown in years.

THE DOOR WAS OPEN BUT NO ONE WAS WELCOME

It is a hard thing for us to welcome people who are different or just new to us. 

I find that the simple act of honest welcoming is one of the most important indicators of the success of any group. 

It is true of every human interaction. From Walmart to coming home after work the simple act of greeting people with warmth and appreciation for their presence is crucial to any relationship building that occurs afterwards.

As Christians we struggle with a tendency to believe association with others who do not share our exact theological perspective will somehow be wrong and must be avoided. 

I have been seeing this massively in the last few years. And it is interesting that very few can see it when I mention that perhaps they might be as guilty of it as I am. 

The ability to see life in a compassionate and understanding way from other's perspectives is vital to our having a successful relationship with them. 

Perhaps you will recognize the struggle I have had when I have felt that I either had to cover up my differences with others or else put it right out there so they would reject me before I had a chance to invest my life into theirs and end up hurt by their rejection of me when they found out that I did not always think the way that they did. I have often felt I must fight or flee.

The problem with flight or fight is that neither stance is life giving to relationships. When we flee, we are not hurt but end up alone. When we fight, we break the very life source of relationship. 

Of course the most prevalent stance of our generation is neither flight nor fight it is just ignore them and they will go away. And that is the most devastating stance one can give as a symbol of God's nature. 

No one ran from me when I came into the church. No one tried to push me out. I was just not seen. 

I wish I could say that was the only time that I experienced that kind of attitude in a church. Sadly I could tell of countless stories in my own and other's lives that tell the tragic tale that though we say we want to win the world for Jesus we can barely go out of our way to greet and welcome someone when they come uninvited to our fellowships. 

I also know that there are more intentional ways that we open the doors and put out the welcome mat but don't really want anyone to show up. And if they do show up and don't fit in our little enclave we make sure they know it and leave right away.

As I have looked for this quality, in every human group, every organization, nation and family I have found it. Especially as I have have looked for it in myself I have been shocked to find it deeply rooted in me. 

Our faith worldview can be one of the areas we engage in it the most without realizing it. 

Spend a little time with us and you will find where we close the door. Even if we are exceptionally broad minded or loving we all have a place where we retreat into our inner fortress in either fear or pride.

It is because we are flesh and blood. I see it as a universal trait endemic in our fallen state. 

Yet I am not content to leave it there. I have never been so. I want to ruthlessly see my life in this mirror of relationships to see how I can move beyond my humanness to being like the one who set an open door to me and did so when I was not welcome in any church or group of people

As individual members of Jesus' body and as churches we need to constantly ask the questions, "What am I doing that welcomes people into my life as Jesus did?" "What am I doing that makes it impossible for them to get close to me when Jesus lets them get close to Him?" and "What am I doing to drive people away from me?"

The best but most vulnerable way to find out is to begin asking the ones we close the door on, or at least listening carefully to them, with a heart to know to what they say. If you listen without defenses they may hint at it. If you can manage to not respond in pride they may take you seriously and actually let you know. That knowledge is worth more than all the gold in the world.

We need to identify anything that places a block to the welcome Jesus gives them when he invites them to come to the open door of His house. We need to not deceive ourselves that we have no road blocks to take down...... not even with those we love the most.

And we need to go into that open door he set before us first so we can know how to lead others into it.

This all sounds good until we come to the thorny "issues" that make us rethink openness. 

I am amazed at how much unconditional love is preached yet in practice we believe it is for us few that gather in our little group but not for others. Again this is universal. 

I have a friend who has given up church. He feels that going to a building and sitting for an hour or two listening to a man or woman preach and looking at the back of his brother's or sister's head is nothing about the real fellowship that the Bible teaches the first Christians enjoyed. And he is absolutely right. Unfortunately he missed that he too could be caught in the horrible vice of elitism as many who are part of the "no church - home church - para church - true church" movements can be gripped in. He does not reject others on the basis of their denominational label, particular sin, views on the last days, gifts of the spirit, church government, or even the celebration of holidays. He rejects them because they go to a building based fellowship. 

I have no issue with house meetings. The early church was only house meetings. 

I have no issue with para church ministries..... they are not actually para-church for anywhere the people of God do the work of the kingdom there the church is. 

And I have no issue with those who build magnificent buildings except that perhaps we could consider the needs of the world in equal fashion to our own. 

But what seems to be the case - often even in me - is a need of grace so can let others do all these things without separating ourselves into our own little groups and pushing those who don't agree with us out the open door Jesus sets before them.

I believe the enemy of souls has used this tendency in us to quite an advantage. 

In a very practical way I want to share at least one area I have seen it to be so. There are thousands of others.

USING SIN AS A BASIS OF REJECTING OTHERS

I once listened to a preacher belittle homosexuals and lesbians to such a degree that I wondered if he was struggling with those very issues in his own heart and could not find grace for himself. I found later through a great tragedy that he was profoundly struggling with his own sense of belonging in God. 

When we choose a rejection of a particular sin as the hallmark of our fellowship we close the door to those who need Jesus's help and for whom he does not close the door. We also do not walk through the door of grace ourselves.

Right now some who are reading this will say in their hearts, "There it is! He is soft on homosexuality." 

Perhaps my experiences with those who have struggled with their sexuality whether homosexual or heterosexual and especially my own personal struggle with heterosexual lust makes me realize that just knowing something is wrong is not life giving. We might as well go to one of the most divisive points in the church today to see the problem of grace and truth meeting. 

When we make one particular sin the point we stop welcoming others to the open door of God's grace, we close the door on all He wants to do for them, all He wants to do through us for them and on ourselves.

My best friend in my early life with Jesus struggled so deeply with his hidden homosexuality that one night he put a hose to his exhaust pipe and took his life. 

I don't need to ask if homosexuality is wrong. It took his life. But I also don't need to ask if it was right for him to hear a pastor belittling and vilifying homosexuals from the pulpit. Yet there I sat with him at church not understanding how the message of this also bound preacher we were listening to would affect him. I so desperately wish I had been able to show him the open door of grace that Jesus sat before him before he believed it was forever closed to him under our pastor's teaching. 

The Bible clearly teaches all sex outside of marriage (which biblically is the cohabitation of one man and one woman in a sexual union) is forbidden by God and called sin in scripture. 

Yet I see also that Jesus lived, ate, drank and related to those who practiced such things. And he found a way to bring the truth to them without rejection or condemnation. And their lives actually changed.

We can't communicate with people we don't spend time with. 

We can't communicate effectively with people we do not value.

We can't communicate with people we have already consigned to the outer darkness of our rejection.

And we can't communicate with those we pretend to agree with so we can remain in relationship with while in our hearts we know we are being false.

How do we communicate the Truths of the Bible and yet hold out the Grace of God?

That has been a life long quest for me. It has caused me to have to look at myself very closely for the unintended or intended messages I send along with my witness of Jesus. Both denial of the truth that God speaks about sin and denial of the Grace he has for those captured in it's grasp are wrong.

I have come to see that Grace and Truth met in Jesus and brought life to the world. Wherever they meet in our lives they bring the same life forth.

The Word Made Flesh

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

John 1:14  (NASB)

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

John 1:17 (NASB)

I would like to give three easy steps to how truth and mercy meet in every situation. I can't. 

I see in Jesus' life that it meant telling an adulterous woman to go and sin no more after saving her from and angry mob of men who did not see their own need of grace. 

I see that it meant telling that same group of men that they were sons of the devil..... 

Yet I know the driving heart of Jesus was to see all of us come to understand his actions have always been out of the meeting of truth and grace in his heart of love for us. 

He loved the Pharisees as much as the adulterous woman. He sat before both of them the open door of grace. 

To the woman, he let her know she could enter in even though I am sure she could hardly imagine it to be so. 

To the others, he showed them their pride kept them from finding the door they so deeply needed to enter and by their actions and hardened, proud hearts kept others like the adulterous woman from finding as well.

Both were true.

Both were an invitation to grace.

So today I find an open door before me. It is a place of welcome for me to come to Truth and Grace. The question is not, "Is the door is open?" 

It is, "Will I go in?" 

It is, "Will I show others that it is open by my showing grace to them and welcoming them to enter it just as He does?"

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

Matthew 23:13 (NIV)

Leonard Terry

Here is a related sermon:

https://youtu.be/PU8jRbAONcc