Greetings, this is Pastor David Vast at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church, still in the land of the living by the grace of God. I am healthy and fit and still in the saddle, ministering to the best of my abilities in these tumultuous days, and none of us ever knows what's going to happen next. And so, what I want to do today is share with you a letter that I have written to our congregation.

Usually on this program, for the last few weeks, I have been dealing with the particular articles of the Declaration of Independence, comparing them with circumstances today, and indeed drawing the conclusion that we have as much right to establish a new government on principles that we determine, even as Thomas Jefferson recommends in the Declaration of Independence, because our circumstances are egregious enough that we need to call for a Christian, an overtly Christian constitutional republic to replace the one that we have now. More on that in days to come.

But for now, I think it imperative and urgent that we share some things from the scriptures that do indeed minister to God's people today, that are very much applicable to the circumstances of our day. And towards that end, what I thought I would do today is share with you a letter that my elders and myself, our session is what we call that ruling body in the Presbyterian Church, this pastoral letter to the congregation, which we composed and sent out earlier in the week.

But I thought there's probably nothing better for me to share with you today because you are a kind of radio congregation, a beloved radio congregation, if I can put it that way. And so I want to share some of the things for my radio congregation that I have shared with my actual congregation and see if there are some things that might not be applicable to you out there today as we indeed ride the bucking bronco of our earthly circumstances here in the United States of America today and see if we might not tame that bucking bronco in the weeks and months to come.

But this then, what I will share with you now, is the letter that I composed and sent out to our congregation that I and my session, my ruling body, edited, composed, worked over, sweated over, and sent out to our congregation then earlier in the week. And here it is, dear beloved. And to me, you are, dear and beloved. I don't always get to meet you, but I often meet those of you out there who listen to this radio program in the community as I go about my business. And I so much appreciate the love and the faithfulness and the feedback I get from you, too.

Whether it's positive or negative, I get feedback from you guys all the time. And so you have become to me over the years a kind of radio congregation as well. So let me share with you the letter that I wrote to my actual congregation at New Geneva. And we meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. We're still meeting at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street, on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. If you feel good, if you're healthy, you're not sick, come and join us.

But here's that letter. But greetings in the Lord. The officers of the church want to address the immediate issue of the coronavirus and its impact upon the congregation and our life together. And then I give three things that we need to address. Number one, it is a serious health issue that has a potential impact upon all of our lives.

None of us are health professionals. That is, those of us on my ruling session, on my ruling body. None of us are health professionals. And many of the facts are still ambiguous and in flux. Oh, aren't they?

Things change every day, don't they? Consequently, we will not delve into factual details of the matter. But enough is clear that we know that what has now been labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization could affect each one of us. And it has, isn't it, parenthetically? Indeed, this coronavirus and the pandemic resulting has indeed affected all of us and is going to continue in days to come.

Secondly, I point out, the coronavirus is spread in the same manner as other viruses, that is, by casual contact. That is, airborne, physical touching, shared spaces, which is a kind of a combination of the two, and a six-foot separation is recommended, and physical surfaces. Number three, our Sunday worship consists of these elements. And it does, doesn't it, in spades. Therefore, we must be responsible in our conduct of that exercise at all times, but especially now, when the health and well-being of the congregation is at greater risk.

Therefore, your session has determined to adopt the following measures, and there are five. We adopted five measures, and let me give those to you now. Number one, we will continue to conduct covenant renewal worship on Sunday morning. That's our Sunday morning worship. We will do this as long as wisdom dictates that it is practicable.

Sabbath worship is the irreducible prime directive of the organized church and is the last thing to go. We will not relinquish this lightly. And I wish to underline that with you now, parenthetically. If your church has suspended corporate worship, I urge you to renew it and resume it as soon as possible, because this is the prime directive of the church. Virtual worship, and some churches have begun to lean on virtual worship on the internet, perhaps, or even as a lot of home churches do, that kind of thing.

And I just wish to submit to you that virtual worship is virtual nonsense. It is no way, shape, or form does it replace actual corporate worship together, one with another, looking one another in the eye, handing the elements of the Lord's Supper off to one another, taking water and baptizing our children and our new believers, all of these elements. Singing. Oh, how can you sing at a computer? Maybe you can hear the dim voices of others, but bottom line is that virtual worship is virtual nonsense.

So resume your worship together, your corporate worship together, as soon as possible. Badger your leaders until they reinstitute it. Secondly, we also told our people, we will reluctantly suspend our fellowship meals together and our Sunday school classes for the foreseeable future. While precious and essential to our life together, and personally, as your pastor, a heart's delight, they are not the raison d'etre, that is the reason for being, as is the covenant renewal worship. That was our second measure that we have adopted.

While indeed our corporate worship together is our raison d'etre, that is our reason for being together, other fellowship things that we do together have been temporarily suspended. Our fellowship meals, which not only increase our social spaces together, but also actual physical contact with food, which can be tricky. And so we have suspended those fellowship meals and then our Sunday school classes too. We have a Sunday school class, oftentimes in conjunction then with our meals. And we have a fellowship potluck meal every single Sunday.

Some of you have it maybe once a month or on occasion. We have found them to be such a sweet blessing in our fellowship and our life together that we have a fellowship meal every single Sunday. Some of us come from great distances, as far as Income there to the south and then as far as Teton Valley to the north. And so when we get together, we like to extend that time of fellowship together and we do so then with a fellowship potluck meal every single Sunday. And then in conjunction with that, we have our Sunday school with the whole family there.

So that is one of the features of New Geneva. And we invite you to it too. When indeed we resume our fellowship meals together, we'd love to have you come and visit us for them. Well, the third thing then that we adopted, the third measure we adopted. Number three, we will alter some of the casual contact practices in our liturgy.

For example, we will now have the congregation come forward to receive the elements of the Lord's Supper from the elders. And we do this to reduce the contact of many persons with those elements. And then also, we are going to have the elders and deacons proffer the collection bag as we exit the service. That's our third measure that we've adopted.

And once again, all of these and more are to reduce the level of and the frequency of contact with the various elements of our service, whether it be the elements of the Lord's Supper, that is the bread and wine, or whether it be the collection bag that we usually distribute among each family and pass it out, so to speak. But now we're going to have only the elders and deacons hold that collection bag. So those are three out of five. Our fourth measure that we have adopted. Please be aware of your own casual contact and its impact upon your brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We all have our own boundaries for a variety of reasons. Some of us have helpable health concerns and others varying perceived needs and concerns. So do not be offended by anyone's particular social distancing if it distances you, right? Number five, the fifth measure that we have adopted. While this may seem obvious, we want to be perfectly clear.

If you feel sick or have family members who are sick, stay home and self-quarantine. As is the case with many viruses, you can be a carrier without necessarily manifesting symptoms yourself. That was the five different measures that we have adopted. But we also discussed, and I go on in the letter, we also discussed the burden which this crisis imposes upon the resources of God's people. Some of us will be more affected than others.

The normal commerce of the American system has already contracted. Oh, parenthetically, isn't that the case? Indeed, our economy is beginning to collapse. And this is one of the things that infuriates me. And I think we need to brave up a little bit and get out of the house, circumstances permitting.

And then I go on in the letter, and I say, some families are already feeling the impact. Therefore, we urge the people of New Geneva to prayerfully keep in mind, number one, if you find yourself in a time of need, contact our primary person, our deacon. He is our clearinghouse for deaconal needs. Secondarily, feel free to contact me or our elder. Above all, let us know.

And this is within the field and realm of our own particular congregation. So, don't be calling New Geneva asking for financial help because we will not give it to you. At least right now, we are first going to meet the needs of our own people within the church. If there's anything left, then perhaps we'll share it with others outside of our own particular congregation. This is one of those advantages of being a member of a local particular church.

If you're out there these days, and there are many of you out there, I know, I call you kind of facetiously, I call you cowboy Christians because you're on your own. Maybe you worship with your family. Maybe you've decided that the church is full of hypocrites. And you, until you find a perfect church, will not join it. And I'd like to meet you because you would be the only perfect person I know that is not in fellowship with the church.

And we should join you. But, until then, I recommend to you, find yourself a congregation. Begin to worship in the body life of a local congregation. And one of the advantages of being part of a living part of a living congregation is that you have help in times of need like this, financial or otherwise. And then, secondly, I say, and I quote then from our letter, these are days which absolutely require and test the sacrificial giving of God's people.

My own personal instinct is to hoard, to cling, and clasp at every crumb I have when days are desperate. But the gospel requires open-handed generosity instead. Therefore, we ask two things of you. A. Give financially to the deacon's fund at this time so that we might have resources upon which we may draw for those in need.

Yet, we also recognize that many stores do not have the resources on hand that our people may need like toilet paper or baby diapers. Parenthetically, there are many of you toilet paper trendies out there who have stacks of toilet paper in your house but no generosity in your heart to share. Oh, so, therefore, we ask of our people, B. Be prepared to give in kind. That is, be prepared to give toilet paper or baby diapers or, God forbid, chocolate if someone has a need.

Oh, my wife is hoarding her chocolate but she is willing to share as well. And for me, I need to be ready to relinquish coffee if the stores are empty but someone has a need for it. Oh, Lord, give me strength. Well, I also say then in closing, let's remember that we live, brother and sister, we live in historic times and our children will remember us for how we responded to our circumstances.

Once again, I'm still reading from my pastoral letter to our people which both I and my leaders, my session is our room and body and our deacons, we all combine then to edit that letter and to make changes when necessary but our letter goes on to say our children will remember us for how we responded to our circumstances. History is watching, brother and sister, and it's watching you as well. My letter goes on to say this is our moment in redemptive history when we witness to the Savior.

Oh, yes, parenthetically, again, brother and sister, if we're Christians, we will witness to our Savior and we will demonstrate that we are His by behaving like Him, like He would in our circumstances. Our Savior would respond with grace and with poise and with generosity centered in His Father. We centered in Him and so we are capable at least of responding to our circumstances no matter how tumultuous, no matter how chaotic, no matter how deadly our circumstances may be.

If we indeed are in our Savior, we have been saved by His grace and we've been renewed in Him and we have the eternal life in Him laying before us, then we can indeed respond to any earthly circumstance. The potential is there for us to respond to any earthly circumstance with grace and with poise, with generosity and with the love of Jesus Christ. Will we respond like the panicked worldlings at Walmart who fistfight for toilet paper or will we respond like the church fathers who gave a last crust of bread in desperate times to a brother in need? Yes, brother and sister. Some of you may be blushing even at this time.

You toilet paper trendies who have stacks of toilet paper in back of you even as I speak. And some of you, I've seen it in your faces when I go out to the stores with the shopping carts full of things that you're hoarding from others and preparing at the last moment for yourselves stacks of toilet paper. That's the classic metaphor, isn't it? You toilet paper trendies. Well, some of you need to take some of that toilet paper and wipe off the looks of fear and panic on your faces.

That's where a lot of crap is these days because, indeed, people are acting out of fear. Fear makes you do stupid stuff like hoarding toilet paper and some of you, indeed, need to act to tamp down that fear. You need to turn to the Lord and center yourself in Him. Let fear go. We must, indeed, respond like our brothers and sisters before us.

We have many examples from church history of the generosity of God's people in the very midst of chaos and death and disease. Will we act like life is a matter of the Darwinian principle of the survival of the fittest or will we act like life is, indeed, a matter of the providence of an all-wise loving God? It is He, after all, the Lord God, the living Lord God, Yahweh, who makes certain our future. And, brother and sister, there's perhaps nothing that says this more eloquently than our Heidelberg Catechism used by Reformed and Presbyterian churches to help inculcate the truths of the Christian faith.

Heidelberg Catechism question number one, the first one out of the gate, asks, what is your only comfort in life and death? What a beautiful question to begin and end with for that matter. What is your only comfort in life and death?

And the answer comes back, that I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who, with His precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins and delivered me from all the power of the devil and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head, yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, whereof, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him. What a beautiful, beautiful question and answer from the Heidelberg Catechism.

And that was question number one, filled indeed with the assurance of the providence of God, oh yes, so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head. That is indeed the providence of God from the Sermon on the Mount where indeed our Lord says, every hair of your head is numbered, is it not? Yea, all things must be subservient to my salvation. That is, this is what is chief in my life. Nothing can steal that away from me.

I have been renewed in the Lord Jesus Christ and I have eternal life with Him so that by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life. It makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him. So in these days and times brothers and sisters know that these things are true. So please be, and my letter concludes then by saying, please be in mighty prevailing prayer for us in these days. We are small and but a few yet we have a profound impact on our days.

Ah, brother and sister, we indeed as a congregation New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church, we are a small church and we have just a few of us in number but we have nevertheless had a profound impact on our days. With all of our ministries we've seen this, the Lord has been gracious and He's given us an impact beyond our numbers and beyond our resources and we hope to continue to have such an impact on the church these days and so I have read for you then our letter to the congregation concerning this present crisis in which we find ourselves. Now it may be a crisis then for many but it indeed is not a crisis that's unmanageable for us, the people of God and one of my favorite psalms and I'll close with that, one of my favorite psalms is indeed a psalm that deals with this very issue and that is Psalm 46 and what a beautiful psalm it is and let me read that for you now and that is Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea though the waters thereof roar and be troubled though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof Selah there is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early the heathen raged the kingdoms were moved he uttered his voice the earth melted the Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah come behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth he maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth he breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder he burneth the chariot in the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah dear brothers and sisters I consider you to be my radio congregation and I have grown to love you and pray for you many of you I don't know your names never seen your faces I hope we can fix that in days to come as you consider worship worshiping with us New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 on the corner of 4th and Boulevard and we're still meeting for worship and we'll continue to do so for days to come and we urge you then to join us once again with the proviso that you don't feel sick that you aren't sick or that those you that are near you your family or workmates that they we ask that you join us for worship we're going to continue to do so as long as it's practicable and so therefore let me assure you again that the Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge this has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church and you can call us for more information or that's area code 208 523 0196