Have you heard of the movie “Outbreak”? It came out in the mid 90’s and starred Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo. That movie freaked me out.

The movie was about a viral hemorrhagic disease that breaks out in a small American town and how CDC scientists race against time to stop it from spreading. It was a made up story inspired by the nonfiction history of viruses like ebola (and if made today COVID-19).

Fiction meets Non fiction.

At the end of the movie the remaining residents of the town are successfully cured but not before 120 mins of action filled drama!

Interestingly the movie is not about a community of people whose lives intersect because of a pandemic, but rather the story is about a single character played by Dustin Hoffman who is the only one who understands the real threat of the virus. The movie highlights heroic individualism.

Individualism and doing life on our own is not part of God's design. We are meant to be in community. After all, God is a community. Existing for all of eternity past, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have enjoyed the love and fellowship of their perfect triune community. In creating humankind, God desired for us to participate in that community and know the perfect and joyous love the Godhead share.

Scripture is all about community.

Following the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, God then instituted the church, the Body of Christ as a community of believers. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:27,

"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."

Not only were we created to be in community but we also need community. We need each other. We need to trust, rely, and depend upon on one another.

The writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 10:24-25,

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

I understand that that becomes all the more difficult when we are not meeting in-person during this new and more contagious wave of the pandemic. It might be difficult but not impossible. As you are praying for your loved ones, pick up the phone and call them. Send people, who come to mind, a quick email or text. Arrange to have an outdoor visit. We are not in this alone. We are in this together and together we are stronger. Together we can encourage one another to get through whatever this world throws at us. Our story is not about heroic individualism but heroic Christian community.

For the next few weeks Amberlea church will be meeting exclusively online. The desire of the Session is to do our part in, keeping us safe, mitigating the risk of contraction, and curbing the burden on our already taxed Health Care System. The decision to not meet, as is our practice and desire, was a difficult one but the decision was made as a community for the community.

Join us online for part two of our new sermon series, Keep the Change!