On Sunday Dec. 31, 2017, I stood before the people of the Star Hill Church and delivered my final sermon as their pastor. For 23 years of Sundays and Wednesdays, we had assumed our respective positions in a mutual search for meaning, purpose and wisdom.

A dear friend recently sent a text message asking what I would say to those precious people today. Ive dwelled on her question ever since and many other questions, too.

What do I say in the midst of such disruption and uncertainty? What words can calm hearts, minds and spirits that have been bombarded with alarm after heightened alarm? What would I say to bring some sense of stability to this cauldron of disequilibrium? What are the spiritual truths that can be applied to the COVID-19 world? What can I suggest people do when I dont know what to do?

These thoughts rode a carousel in my mind. Around and around they went until, in a moment similar to moments in the many weeks of my 23 years, my thoughts landed on an ancient episode.

Jehoshaphat was the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah. He was zealous in his beliefs and has been generally well spoken of in the historical records. But there was an instance when the king found himself facing a challenge beyond any he had faced in his lifetime. He was under attack. Not only under attack, but facing a confederacy of surrounding nations, all aligned and ready to pounce at any moment. What do you do when you dont know what to do?

Yes, it is here in the book of 2 Chronicles that I would invite peoples to join me in mining for nuggets that can not only sustain us but steel our resolve in the face of this great challenge.

I would point out that Jehoshaphat was alarmed. So we begin with a license to acknowledge the sense of dread, fear and concern that seems to come and go within all of us. COVID-19 is a daunting adversary and we should feel alarm. Far from something being wrong with us, or the need to put forth some false bravado, we can name this thing inside of us without shame. And we can see that Jehoshaphats alarm was not paralyzing.

I would call peoples attention to Jehosaphats response to the military conflict. He chose to understand and react based on his spiritual beliefs. I would ask my anxious parishioners if they are informed by the whims of the national and local news, or by orthodoxy? Are they opening themselves to whatever bias or agenda is behind their chosen network? Or are they allowing their belief system to filter what is coming at them? Viewing our circumstances through the perspective of faith doesnt make them magically disappear or instantly get better. What it does is arm us with a framework with which to understand.

And one last thing. I would point out that Jehosaphat invited others in his community to join him in responding to his predicament. Adults, children and the older members of the community all came together in the face of adversity. They were, after all, in it together.

Just as we are all in this together. Now is not the time for heroic individualism. Withdrawal and isolation are actually part of the attack, not part of the answer. Our village, tribe, congregation, parish, neighborhood, family, friends and colleagues are all part of our arsenal in moments like these. We can create new ways of connecting, try video chats in addition to phone calls, and stand across the street as we engage neighbors. But above all else, we can be intentional in sustaining these relationships.

What should we do when we dont know what to do? Embrace these relationships. Make the most of them. Treasure them.

Raymond A. Jetson heads the Baton Rouge nonprofit MetroMorphosis.

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Guest column: In times of certainty, rely on all your communities - The Advocate