Devotion: A New Normal
John 20:26
“…although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them…”
Experts on stress make it clear that some situations bring on more stress than others. Financial hardship, lack of certainty, illness, each of these interrupts routines and brings pressure, which is the main contributor to stress. We walk this path in these days.
The single greatest stressor is grief, especially the death of a loved one; however, one can grieve over a variety of issues. Loss of freedom and social contact with friends ultimately expresses itself as grief. Jesus’ first disciples walked this path in the days after the resurrection.
Our North American Christian expression is one of Easter being joyous; filled with optimism and hope. We see the spring flowers, we have better weather (eventually!) and we no longer “give up for Lent” some of the things we love. Easter signals all good things for us! But this year feels different. This year feels more like it would have for the first disciples, for whom the resurrection signaled the start of an entirely new way of life.
“A New Normal” worship series will help us learn from the first disciples. On Easter morning, they were scared, hiding out and wondering what was next. They were stressed, having been traumatized by watching the brutal death of their beloved Jesus. Without a leader, they lost their livelihood. To say they were stressed out would be an understatement.
Some of the lessons they learned will help us. Things like the reality of the world being a dangerous place, how to manage their fear, working to overcome their spiritual complacency – each of these lessons we also need to learn. And this is a process. It took the disciples until Pentecost to really start to figure things out. We need to be patient with ourselves in these days. But we can’t just wait it out. We need to get to work – spiritual work – to ensure that we continue to learn the power of Christ in our lives. Let’s get to this work, together as a community. Let’s find answers to this “new normal,” together as the church.
Written by Pastor Greg Bouvier
Pastor Greg heard God’s call to Sheridan in 1999 and that began a journey that has become his life’s work. Having played a variety of roles as pastor of Sheridan, Pastor Greg was called as the Senior Pastor in 2011. He now leads the staff and his primary focus is on the creation of culture, the overall direction of worship and partnering with our amazing team.
Pastor Greg has been married to Rose for more than 30 years and together they have two servant-hearted grown children.