The Greatest Generation

Holy tuesday • April 7, 2020

By Dan Chun, Senior Pastor

Psalm 119:90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.

Psalm 145:13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

Former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw wrote a book called The Greatest Generation. He was referring to those who lived during World War II, a generation that lived through a very difficult time. Today, most of us have lived a rather easy life in which we have not gone through a world war. Weʻve never faced a worldwide disaster like the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1940 my mom and dad bought the Honolulu house in which I was raised. They had their first baby in September 1941. Three months later the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor! On our very island we were vulnerable to enemies who could reach us and bomb us. 

All island residents were told to put up newspapers on their windows so house lights could not be seen at night in case enemy bombers were looking for the island. My parents put up sandbags at the entrance of our stone garage, which still stands today, so it could be their bomb shelter if we were attacked. Food was rationed. And as you know Asians (even though my Dad worked faithfully for the U.S. Dept of Treasury), especially Japanese Americans, were viewed as suspect due to how they looked and not by their character. World War II lasted five years! The people of that time were under this kind of oppression lifestyle-shrinkage for five years.

We are facing COVID-19 today. It may go on for many months, not years. Will this be a generation that will rise up to the challenge? Or will it whine and wimp out? This can be a strong generation because Godʻs faithfulness endures for all generations including this one. 

We can show strong acts of compassion in helping the weaker ones, the sick, the older, the helpless. Or we can complain and fret about ourselves. For many of us, this might be our first national threat. But we can be the greatest generation if we act with a strong faith in God and do whatever God asks us to do. 

If God is for us, who or what can be against us?

Prayer: Lord, be with us. May we have a strong faith. May we all rise to the occasion. May we be a generation of courage, boldness, compassion and a faithfulness that resides in Your faithfulness to us. In Christʻs name, Amen. 

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