For all the Saints, called and consecrated in Christ Jesus, sharing as Sisters and Brothers the righteousness and faithfulness given to us by our Gracious and Merciful God,

If you are wondering how to transition through this viral pandemic, you may be asking yourself, "What is the RIGHT THING to do?" What will classify as right thoughts and right actions to put forward in these challenging times? Such concepts of "RIGHT" are being addressed in uncharted territory; we have little historical precedence to support what is the right thing to do now. Responses to the questions of "how much longer?," "what are the best safe practices?," "what are the lasting effects?," come to us with no certainty. We find ourselves in a new fold era of projection, conjecture, surmise, and estimation. May I suggest that rather than dirtying the water of the doubts and uneasiness that may cloud and surface a perspective of doing the "RIGHT THING," we may turn instead to the biblical concepts of righteousness and faithfulness and their inter connectivity.

The prophet Isaiah proposed that human thoughts and behaviors are deeply intertwined with God's righteousness and faithfulness, the eternal qualities of God that are revealed in and through God's word to establish relationships that are "right." Therefore, thoughts and actions are to be commiserate with that which establishes, supports, and sustains relationships. Doing the "right thing" is entwined to the relationships we are to have with God and with each other; it's ultimately about relationships. 

Our understanding of the importance of our relationships we have with God and with each other will be the guide directing our thoughts and actions. What we are to do will be reflective of the strength and support we find in our relationships. Whatever actions we propose to do need find both source and direction from the qualities of righteousness and faithfulness that we have and practice in our relationship with God through Christ Jesus and our relationships as Christian sisters and brothers. Doing the "right thing" is to find its full weight and measure in whatever may support and sustain our relationship with God and the future of God's will as it yet plays out.

The Apostle Paul firmly addresses the inter connectivity of faithfulness and righteousness as it relates to the quality of God and within us as the recipients of God's grace in and through Christ Jesus throughout his letter to the Romans. He first indicates that no human being is able to do the "right thing" if divorced from a faithful and righteous relationship with God and one another. As such, all fall under the power of sin which prevents any notion of being able to do the "right thing." But in and through Christ Jesus, the faithfulness and righteousness that defines God is extended by grace to us: "But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed... the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified (made righteous) by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 3:21-24). 

Attempting to do the "right thing" apart from a relationship with God in Christ Jesus and all of God's people will be futile; such activity merely perpetuates the power and presence of sin. Paul adds, "No longer present yourselves to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to lifer, and present yourselves to god as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:13-14).

So rather than fretting over doing the "right thing" may we set our full attention on our thoughts and actions that sustain a faithful and righteous relationship with God and all of God's people in Christ. In so doing, we have the assurance that God's "Spirit will intercede (on our behalf) for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:27).

Grace and peace,  Pastor John