As more and more people in the US are vaccinated against the dreaded COVID-19 virus, the instructions keep changing about what we can and cannot do. Who is allowed to hug friends and family and who should wait? How many people can be in a room together? Do they have to wear masks? Who, if anyone, needs to wear masks when shopping for groceries, waiting in the doctor’s office, or taking the bus? Is it safe to eat indoors in a restaurant? To dance at a wedding or a party? To swim in an indoor pool? To go for a walk on a city street or in the park? I get confused by all the talk of probabilities, of risk, of particles and airflow and community spread and test positivity rates. I’ve been vaccinated, but am I safe?
I also get confused by talk about being born again, eternal life, and how Jesus came to save the world. Like Nicodemus,* who snuck around at night so his fellow Pharisees wouldn’t notice that he was interested in what Jesus had to say, I spent a lot of my life trying not to let my Jewish friends and family know that I wanted to follow Jesus. My questions were not about what happens after we die, but about how to go on living in a world that is filled with suffering and evil, and Jesus seemed to have the answers that I needed.
I’m still asking that question, and Jesus is still answering me. While what he said about being born of water and spirit and coming to save the world remain puzzling, Jesus is perfectly clear that God loves the world and wants us to love it, also. When Jesus says, “love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “love your neighbor as yourself,” these simple instructions tell me that love should guide everything that I say or do. When he forgives the people who are crucifying him because they have no idea that what they are doing is wrong, he shows me how to forgive people who hurt me. When he tells me to pray for my enemies and to repent of my own failings, he gives me instructions on how to follow him into the realm of God. He never said that it would be safe.
―Deborah Sokolove, Seekers Church
Questions:
- Who do you need to forgive, and what will it take for you to forgive them?
- Who do you wish would forgive you, and what can you do to make amends?
- What does eternal life mean to you?
