Quarantine Devotionals

written reflection with additional links to video and audio

The Sacred Flow of Wilderness [PDF Link]

excerpt: Lent is a sacred flow that is essential to our understanding of and submission to the One who is both among us and yet unseen. It is perhaps because of this practice in this season, that I cannot help but see the circumstances surrounding the Covid-19 virus through this lens. It seems to me that we, as a planet, are ushered into a season of Lent. [Olivia Naum]

Will We Have It? [PDF Link]

excerpt: As disciples of Christ, during this season of social shutdown, we are in a unique spot to submit to the Holy Spirit and be schooled in solitude and sabbath, having our posture toward work, ministry, and consumerism readjusted in the love of God. The Lord has good work for all of His people to do, there is no question about that. But ultimately it is not work that legitimizes us, it is God himself: I am the Lord who sanctifies you (Exodus 31:12 -17). [Justin Ryan Boyer]

Is There Enough? [PDF Link]

excerpt: During the Coronavirus outbreak the ministry I work for decided that it would deliver necessities to clients such as baby formula, wipes and diapers. On one occasion, a staff member delivering baby formula noticed a “free” sign hanging from a client’s porch railing. On the porch were three cardboard boxes, one containing bags of rice, another with fresh hot peppers and a third with a variety of snacks. When the client answered the door the staff member inquired about the free food. The client responded that it had been her husband’s idea. Now, I must tell you that this client and her husband are not in a position to be giving away free food, yet this is what they were doing. When I heard this story, it convicted me. These unbelievers chose not to look at the world through a lens of scarcity, instead they viewed it through a lens of abundance. [Steve Kracke]

A Desperate Life [PDF Link]

excerpt: Jesus is Life. Jesus is my life. Physical bread sustains my body. The Bread of Life sustains my spiritual life—my eternal life. The bread metaphor helps me connect with the immensity of this reality. But, unlike physical bread, I don’t receive bites of Christ-Bread—just to keep me alive for another day. No. Christ is my life. I’m desperate for this connection. My life depends on it. It is both a mystery and what defines me. [Sue Eikenberry]

The Better Thing [PDF Link]

excerpt: What is essential? That is to say, what is necessary or indispensable. The coronavirus crisis has brought up the issue. Our lives are disrupted. Jobs have ended. Livelihoods have been endangered. People have died.Occupations that at first did not seem life-essential suddenly look that way as the crisis drags on. [Jim Eikenberry]

According to the Power that Works in Us [PDF Link]

excerpt: God in heaven has given power to men and women on earth so that God’s capacity and our ability may be joined in agreement for God’s will and work to be done on earth. [Keith Yoder]

The End of The World as We Know It [PDF Link]

excerpt: In a strangely mystical and practical sense, if we are on the path of sanctification then our world as we know it is continually coming to an end because we are being continually transformed by God. We are being changed; therefore, so is the world in which we walk with dominion as the sons of God. COVID-19 may certainly be the end of the world as we know it, but so may dinner as a family tonight, and maybe the normalcy of my prayer time tomorrow morning, or the mundane rhythm of my socially-distanced workday. [Jay McCumber]