Down but not out

 Locked DOWN...but NOT locked OUT  

When I lived in New York City in the 1980s, some of our congregation would go to the Bowery to serve the poor and indigent. One of the realities we kept before the congregation was that although we were a messianic Jewish congregation, with prayers and songs in Hebrew, and with Jewish roots being clarified in all our teachings, the Bible says, “to the Jew first, and ALSO TO the Gentile.” (Romans 1.16) We didn’t want to forget anyone for whom Yeshua died.

The first committee we formed was the Missions Committee. The churches that grow are those where missions and evangelism are primary concerns. 

Maybe you have noticed this, too. And one of the missions we supported was down in the Bowery. Some of you reading this might remember the movie series named The Bowery Boys starring Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall. (pictured) I grew up watching those sometimes at the cinema and sometimes when they replayed those old black-and-white movies on television. Always full of adventures and often misadventures, this was a lot of fun for me. 

By the time the 1980s rolled around the Bowery was not a place of fun and frolic. It was a place for down-and-outers. Drug addicts and hopeless folks seemed to find their way to that section of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. One of our congregants helped me see that this was a place where we needed to care. He had actually come from that culture; he had been radically saved from that life, and he wanted to make sure the Gospel went to the Bowery. 

Why am I telling you about this foreign and far-away memory and activity? 

It’s about COVID-19. Our staff is reaching out to the Jewish people of Australia, by phone or email, or even personal visit during this lockdown time in Sydney. The number one reaction, after the traditional social convention of “I’m doing ok”, is “actually I’m a bit lonely or frustrated or …”  Real feelings of pain and suffering. 

Being down is a reality for many. Our own staff has had feelings of being down or frustrated or disappointed in this lockdown season. 

But being down does not mean being out. 

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the co
ming of Titus; and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more. (2 Corinthians 7.5-7)

God comforts the depressed. How does he do that? By the “coming of Titus” and also “by the comfort with which he was comforted in you.” The reality of depression can be overcome by the stronger reality of God’s personal comfort in the visit of Titus and by the fellowship he brought in reporting what God was doing among the people of Corinth. 

Dear friends, the pandemic is frustrating many of us. The lockdowns are real in many of our states and local government areas. The Prime Minister as well as each of the premiers and each health minister seem to be trying their best to solve a problem that launched in March 2020, without a user’s manual. 

I lost a dear friend back in the US in May, who a month earlier was a vibrant father of six. He was my mate for 40 years. He died from the disease, and I’m still feeling sad.

Our hope is seriously fixed on Yeshua. Our repair from any down-and-out feelings in this time is the fellowship and consolation we experience with one another. We can meet on Zoom or phone calls with other believers. As I write this, our church is not able to meet in person. And when we could, we couldn’t sing. 

Paul wrote the Corinthians “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” (2 Cor. 4.7-10)

Brothers and sisters, we are family and whether it’s Facebook or emails, Twitter or Instagram, when we can share God’s word with each other, when we report the real news that Messiah died for us and is giving us eternal life, those down feelings are replaced. We are not locked out of God's kingdom; we have paid entry! We are not destroyed. We are down, but not out. God comforts us. The life of Jesus will be manifest in our bodies. May God comfort each one of you. Shalom.