Lessons from COVID-19 – Part 5

From Easter to Pentecost - A Change of Season and System

By Dr. Doug Kayler and ChristianWeek | April 14, 2020

See from His hands, His head, His feet. Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'r such love and sorrow meet? Or thorns compose so rich a crown? - "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross" Isaac Watts 1707

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long, and you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong. Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snow, lies the seed that with the sun’s love, in the spring becomes the rose. - "The Rose" Amanda McBroom, 1977

A flower arrangement with a red rose and a white one side-by-side symbolizes the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1). The hymn and popular song above, though separated in time by 270 years, share the mystery of the side-by-side pain of thorns and love represented by the rose.

Our previous article was about the disquiet of COVID -19 and Holy Saturday. Today is about another period of outward quiet but intense preparatory activity. The Easter season stretches from the Resurrection to the appearance of the Holy Spirit seven weeks later heralding the birth of the Church at Pentecost. It is paralleled by the spring season, as modest early signs of renewal are followed by rapid growth.

These examples are both systematic; meaning according to a plan. Today we will look at adaptability and the definition for systems applied to Scripture. The dictionary supplies two interwoven definitions of a system.

One is a set of things working together, as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.

Examples are the solar system, body organ systems (such as the cardiovascular system), individual cells, viruses and bacteria, and the global climate system.

The other is a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done, as an organized scheme or method. Examples are governments, economics and trade agreements, supply chains, and principles guiding organization of societies around the world.

Jesus worked with his disciples through a system of ministry lasting three years. A new system emerged according to plan with the early church described in the book of Acts.

Adaptability, which we introduced previously, enabled the disciples who no longer had Jesus’ personal presence, to rapidly begin to carry out the mission of the fledgling Church. They were empowered by the Holy Spirit, who only became fully available after Jesus’ physical departure.

Jesus made the humble and shocking statement that :

“Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)

By this empowerment, a group of men and women, scattered at the time of the crucifixion, adapted to the harsh demands of growing the church in an often hostile society. And down through time we see humans and other species adapting to various changing environments and eras.

COVID-19 has brought unprecedented attempts to rapidly adapt to a broken system around the world at the individual, national, and global level.

An essential feature of a Complex Adaptive System is that the whole is more complex than the parts, and more complicated and meaningful than the aggregate of the parts. Scripture has declared this about you and me, and also about healthcare systems and the economy.

So the system we will (eventually) present, must reflect this.

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