Rev. Kris Mutzenberger currently serves as the discipleship pastor at First United Methodist Church in Fargo, North Dakota. On July 1, 2020 she will serve as the Northeast District Superintendent for the Dakotas Conference.

I am a pragmatic optimist with the spiritual gift of faith, which I have discovered is a combination that is a huge blessing in times like these. As a pragmatist, I don’t wear rose-colored glasses (at least not deeply tinted ones); I see and understand the reality of what’s going on. It’s tough; it will get tougher. Everyone is shaken out of their normal routines. People have been laid off. Uncertainty runs rampant. Anxieties are high. As we maintain physical distancing, especially in our care facilities, people have been cut off from their family and friends. These are crazy times. We are living in the midst of an event that will be written about in the history books of our grandchildren.

However, as an optimist with faith, I am also blessed to be able to see the hope, joy, and transformation that these times are bringing to our world and our churches. There are signs of hope everywhere. People are singing songs of faith from their balconies in Italy, cheering health care workers at shift changes, and purchasing take-out from our local restaurants to help them stay open. Manufacturing plants are laying aside their product to make essential medical equipment. These responses are amazing.

I am inspired by the way the people of God are responding too. Out-of-the-box thinking is running rampant. Pastors are jumping way out of their comfort zones to broadcast worship and encouraging messages by whatever means they can easily acquire. Christian educators and youth pastors are connecting with the kids and families in their churches via YouTube, mailed Sunday school packets, story time online, and video youth group meetings, to name a few. Church folks are checking on one another and their neighbors in an unprecedented effort to make sure everyone knows that they are essential, and everyone has what they need. The people of God have mobilized and are living the mission of the church to share Jesus and transform the world in new and creative ways, and it’s awesome.  

So with all this in mind, a saying that is not biblical in phraseology nor officially attributed to anyone, in particular, comes to mind- “This too shall pass, like a kidney stone, but it will pass.” Wrapped in this phrase for me is our current reality, that it hurts, and it is troublesome, but also the hopeful reminder that this is a temporary problem. This present trouble will pass, and we will have been faithful and done everything that we can to transmit the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world in crisis. This present trouble will pass, and we will have used the creative capacity given to us by God to maximize our mission and outreach. This current trouble will pass, and we will have trusted in the promise that weaves throughout the entire biblical narrative of God’s presence at all times and in all places even to the end of the age. This present trouble will pass, and we will have born witness to the resurrection hope found only in Jesus Christ. This present trouble will pass, and we will have been a part of God’s transforming work in the world. 

Friends, we will walk on through this valley because God is with us. So take heart church, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD, your God will be with you wherever you go (including Facebook live).” Joshua 1:9