Keeping Safe

                                                                                                                     

Psalm 16 verse 1

 

“Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.”

That’s the beginning of our first reading this morning and it seems to me to be a very good prayer at this extraordinary time. Psalm 16. verse, 1 “Keep me safe O God, for in you I take refuge.”

I want to make a couple of points out of this verse and the first one is that on many occasions we are part of the answer to our own prayers. So if we pray to God for safety at the start of the day and we do not look out for traffic when we want to cross the road then we cannot expect to remain safe. In the same way if we ask God for safety at this time of Covid19 we cannot really expect to avoid the virus if we ignore the guidance about social distancing and the other restrictions. If we want God’s protection in this time of pandemic then we need to take all responsible precautions.  Which means that we will also want to ensure the safety of other people, physically, emotionally and in terms of their practical needs. So our prayers for safety are largely dependent on the actions and precautions which we take and which others take in order to protect us. In all sorts of ways we human beings are often a big part of the answer to our  prayers.

Now here is my second point out of this prayer for safety that only in the God who is stronger than death is ultimate safety to be found.

We are living in unprecedented times.  Like you, I do not want to die of the terrible disease that is Coronavirus and I try to take all recommended steps to ensure my safety and that of others. But in a world in which the powers of disease and death are still so very powerful (and will remain so until the end of human history) then tragically many have died of Covid19. It seems that many more will still do so.

Every death from Covid19 is profoundly sad and even more so when it seems that this virus strikes and kills so randomly.  Hundreds of thousands are mourning at this time and experiencing all the grief and pain of their personal losses which have changed their lives for ever. My family experienced something of this when our 24 year old son was killed in a road accident 19 years ago. Our ever painful loss will be with us for as long as we live and more and more people are experiencing the tragedy of untimely death and devastating  bereavement at this time.

All this is making many people increasingly aware of their own mortality and that our time here on earth is limited. We are all too aware, many of us, that our lives here on earth may be cut short.  We realise in a fresh way there can be no guarantee that, whoever we are, we will not be struck down.

Which all raises the matter of ultimate safety, ultimate security, ultimate protection. And in answer to the question is there any such thing (?) the Christian Gospel gives us a resounding yes.

Gospel means good news and part of this good news is that our God is stronger than death. He is the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead on the first Easter day. It was not a resuscitation but resurrection which means that Jesus overcame the power of death and will never die again. It also means that those who belong to Him will also be raised from the dead to live in the place where there is no more dying, no more death and no more of all the struggles and sufferings that we experience here on earth. It is the place of ultimate security and protection that can never be taken from us.

I am sure that many of you who are listening to this in your homes will know these words of St. Paul which come at the end of Chapter 8 of his letter to the Romans. He says this “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And when Paul says that nothing can separate us from God’s eternal love then that most certainly includes Covid19.

That’s Christian faith, that’s Christian hope, that’s ultimate safety. And may each one of us, and more and more people at this time, be those who live and die in this faith and  hope so that when our time comes we will move from all the uncertainties of this world to be with God in the place of ultimate security  and protection.

Amen.