At
the midweek service of our church, I began the night by asking our members
about how the coronavirus was affecting them.
I was excited to see how buoyant their spirits were. No one expressed worry over their 401k
accounts or their health. No one really
got engaged until we began to talk about the call of Christians to protect the
vulnerable. As I listed some of the ones
in our community who might be at risk, I
began to get volunteers. Members wanted to run errands for these shut-ins, to
help wherever we could. We were displaying the heart of Christ. This pandemic might well make us stronger as believers.
There
are those who will lament the loss of control. They will be anxious about the unknown and
about man’s inability to answer the illness immediately. It turns out that most of our lives are out
of our control, but we know the one who cares for us and brings peace in the
midst of a storm.
There
are also those who will be anxious about the economic fallout and the
loss of future economic security. But,
we know that it is God who gives us the power to get wealth, and that David
observes that he has never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging
bread.
This
will also be a good corrective for those who have a desperate dependence on government. Their first thought is to blame one
political party or another for lack of leadership, lack of funding, lack of
compassion. When the other party is in
power, everything will be ok. The problem,
of course, is not the political party in power.
The problem is that government itself is not omnipotent. They cannot provide instant security,
protection, and answers to all issues.
Only God can anchor our souls like that.
Some
will put too much confidence in government.
Others will put too much confidence in science. Science has given us amazing advances in
healthcare but, like government, they are not omnipotent. Where we put our trust in the midst of a storm
displays our God.
Fear
has a way of making us desperate. It can
feed our hypochondria, our paranoia.
What if this is not a time for binge-watching the news and wringing our
hands or retreating into our shells until the danger has passed. What if this is a time to lean in, to meet
others at their point of need? What if
our fear can be replaced by a God-centered confidence.
Every
community has those who are vulnerable to illnesses like COVID 19: The elderly, the cancer patient, the patient
recovering from surgery or one with a persistent infection, the newborn and the
mother. Immune responses are low and that
vulnerable member of our community can be filled with fear. Christians, by their presence, can help to
allay that fear. We are called to risk
in order to display the compassion of Christ.
May God awaken his army to move against the fear with the love of
Christ.
