yes, Corona.

"These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:14-15, NIV).

I promised myself I wouldn't use this medium to talk about the Covid-19 crisis, but Lord, I can’t sleep. I keep watching the news and the problems around us, and I am tired, There is only one thing in people’s minds, and it’s this stupid pandemic. 2020 has been a lost year, a lost year for everyone. Corona cases keep spiking. The economy is spiraling down again. Everyone is scared. Politics stink with the most unbearable odor. No one tells the truth, and we have no idea who to believe any more. If there was ever a time to look up and turn our eyes to you, this is it. My question is, are we? As I wonder, my spirit takes me to Isaiah 6, as the prophet was worshiping before you. Though not in the same words, I found myself praying in the same manner: “Woe to me. I am ruined.” Lord, I am so sorry. I am a member of a body that has become complacent, a body that has formed allegiances with an ungodly government. A body that has been swimming with the current instead of against it, and now, we ask ourselves why our children can’t swim. A body that has become so callused, it can’t feel the consequences of its own actions. A body that calls good evil and evil good.

No, I am not talking about the world. We expect that behavior from them. But we do not expect it from the Church that I love. “Woe is me!”, I cried. “I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and (yet) my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!” Oh, Father, we are reaping a harvest of our own doing. We have left the true worship of the Living God to pursue big buildings that are pretty and comfortable with plenty of parking, perfect worship, and awesome programs. We have neglected the care of the elderly, the widows and the orphans among us, and have turned them over to be cared for by the government. We are drinking or own bitter wine, product of our desire for the lie of popular ministries, many of them have become nothing bur family businesses. I cry, Lord, woe on me because I am part of it. I have done it all. I have unclean lips just like the people do.

I know that God does have His people, and I am not talking about the entire church body. There are many who are still standing in the trenches doing the work God has called them to do. But, let's face it, we've had it real good in our country. We have enjoyed privileges and no persecution. We have been allowed to build those nice buildings without opposition. How ironic that many of them now sit empty, while we all have to stay at home and watch online.

I don’t know when this pandemic is going to end, when our children will go back to school, when the racial tensions will subside. My mind goes now from Isaiah to 2 Chronicles: “If my people, who are called by my name, would humble itself and pray, I will forgive their sin, and heal their land. My people. Lord, My church, not the society, not the world. “I will forgive their sin.” O God, our sin, my sin. Please forgive us. Allow us to be the Church again. How many times I heard this and thought about whoever said it, “Now, there goes an arrogant fellow!” Yes, there is indeed an arrogant fellow: We! How many will read this and think the same of me? There is our sin. As long as we, the Church, think we are doing things right, and feel there is nothing to repent from, we are people of unclean lips. We need to humble ourselves and pray, and maybe, after the Lord has forgiven our sins, He will heal our land. O, Father, open our eyes that we can see you, the King, the Lord of glory. Search me, oh God, where have I failed you? Where have I been too busy (perhaps even doing “your work”) to look up to the altar? Then I will experience the peace that surpasses all understanding. Your peace.