By Guthrie Veech
These are unprecedented times. I haven’t met anybody who likes them. These are the days for the church to shine. During the bubonic plague Martin Luther wrote the following words. I think they are very appropriate today.
" Whether one may flee from a deadly plague. Use medicine; take potions which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence or has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire which instead of consuming wood and straw devours life and body?
"You ought to think this way: “Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison and deadly offal. Therefore, I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.
"If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others.
"If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…. See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God."
PRAYER: And now heavenly Father may the hope of Jesus Christ fill our hearts with joy as we touch the lives of those around us. Amen!
By Guthrie Veech
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