“Overflow with Hope” Devotional | April 20

Each Monday during this season of remote living and learning, the Chapel Office is sharing a devotional written by a member of the Gordon community.

We’re All in This Together By Sean Collins '21 "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20 NIV) If you were like me on Easter this year, you probably watched your church’s Easter service online. I, at first, did not have that sense of joy that comes with an Easter service. In fact, I was pretty depressed. I am someone who has not been a Christian for a long time, and Easter is an exciting time for me. I get to praise that Jesus was resurrected with a community of believers. "CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!" echoes throughout the sanctuary. There are loud songs of praise and a victory-filled sermon. But Easter did not feel that way at first. Then I realized something. It's not about the songs, it's not about the sermon, it's not about the Easter ham you may eat after service. What it is about is this: "CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!" You see, we are in an interesting time where we are constantly adjusting to different changes. Those changes are hard because we have become so used to what we considered normal. Every Sunday, we all gather in different sanctuaries at different times. The difference now is we no longer gather in the physical sense but in a digital sense. Even though we are in a temporary digital world, Matthew 18:20 still rings true: "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." Jesus is with us in this digital age of communication. Jesus said to gather but he did not give restrictions on how to gather. Jesus is still with us. This is all temporary. Soon we will all be back in our physical sanctuaries worshipping together. Let's all take that same energy and use it toward our temporary digital sanctuaries. As Chaplain Bob Whittet has been saying in Chapel videos, “This too shall pass.” We’re all in this together. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Looking for some encouragement during these uncertain times? The Gordon worship teams have curated Spotify playlists full of hopeful and uplifting worship songs for the Gordon community.