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October 8, 2020The year 2020 is likely to go down as one of the strangest in all our lifetimes. COVID-19 has taken center stage and threatens to be the highlight that everyone remembers as the year comes to an end. The year also including a presidential election only adds to the drama.
Still, with the election a month away as I write this, I wonder how we possible can take another month of this frenzied political environment. I largely stay away from all the political drama, though the other day I found a sign that I think I could post in my front yard. It said very simply, Jesus 2020. Now, there’s a candidate I can get behind!
The irony is that more than a year ago I was serving on a planning committee for a national conference. We were diligently praying about the theme for this year’s conference. What we came up with was Jesus 2020! At the time, before a global pandemic, and with no cognizant realization that it was a presidential election year, our focus was getting back to the basics.
One of the early explanations of the theme read like this: “Simple, yet powerful. Back to the basics of our faith, proclaiming the name that is above all names (Phil. 2:9). Jesus is the source of our life, he is the truth we so desperately seek, he is the way we are searching for (John 14:6)!
Yet, we recognize we can’t fully come to know and understand Jesus, and even say his name without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, for no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit” (I Cor. 12:3).
Now, in the midst of this global health crisis and in the fever-pitch of the final weeks before the election, Jesus 2020 takes on a whole different meaning. In our early planning for the conference, the planning team kept hearing the word from the Lord, “For such a time as this.”
Little did we know how prophetic those words would become. We eventually settled on the theme Jesus 2020 because, through prayer, the Lord also kept leading us to the simple yet powerful reality of the Gospel. Jesus is still Lord, no matter what is going on around us, no matter how dismal things may seem, Jesus is Lord and reigns supremely! He reigns over COVID-19, he reigns over this upcoming election and he reigns over our country.
We have partnered with Franciscan University of Steubenville for this event, which will be held Dec. 11-12. The conference will be a “hybrid” event – a gathered and virtual event at the same time. Our hope is that small groups, prayer groups, renewal centers, parish groups, etc., from across the country will gather in their local area and join us as we live-stream the conference from the campus at Franciscan University in Ohio.
The schedule will allow time for group prayer and discussion as will the live-stream of the general sessions from the speakers: Father Dave Pivonka, president of Franciscan University; Peter Herbeck, vice president of Renewal Ministries; Mary Bielski, national speaker; and myself. There even will be TED Talk-style breakout sessions throughout the day on Saturday. We hope for thousands of people to join us from all over the country!
Saturday evening, Dec. 12, which also is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, will feature a special separate event called “A Night of Hope.” Franciscan University hosted a similar event this past summer and more than 44,000 people attended. It will be a night of prayer, inspiration and hope in the midst of what many would describe as one of the most difficult years in recent history. As this historic year comes to an end, will you consider joining us for Jesus 2020?
On Dec. 11-12, let’s cap off this strange yet amazing year with a powerful call to our knees and falling on our faces before our God. Don’t let the coronavirus be your greatest memory of this past year, let Jesus be your lasting memory of 2020!
In the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, there will be four to five Jesus 2020 gatherings. Local host site locations will be available soon. For more information, go to archokc.org/Jesus2020.
“Therefore, God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).
