We have been here before: Not us, specifically. No one alive now has pastored, taught, gone to school, cared for their family, built houses, ran a restaurant, made decisions as an elected official or tried to save their business during a pandemic. This is the first one since the flu of 1918-19 and even the oldest people in the world (101 plus) were young children back then. Perhaps, some people have memories of their parents, grandparents or great grandparents talking about that flu which infected 500 million people and killed 50 million plus people. A lot of people forgot this could happen in our modern, scientific, technology filled world.
There are historical records of the black death, horrible records of what things were like, with a focus on graphic images and terror. There are, of course, the often unmentioned who cared for others, helped or stayed out of the way. The people who worked sanitation and healthcare, who cared for the sick, who prayed and prayed and helped. Even further back, there are plagues and disasters. In all the times I have read the story of Exodus, as God leads the people out of slavery in Egypt after a series of plagues like locusts, hail that turns to fire, water turning to blood and the death of the first born, It was always a report of events that showed the power of God and stubbornness of people. I never stopped to think what it was like to live in Egypt at the time, to wonder if you would ever have water again or see your home destroyed and wonder where to live, to watch your crops, the food of your city and livelihood of your family disappear in a moment, to face the wrath of God as the magicians and priests and doctors of this great, unstoppable empire, looked on powerlessly.
In 1527 there was an outbreak of the plague in
Wittenburg (the same illness that killed 2/3 of Europe about 2 centuries
before). This city was Luther’s home and this time was one of the most intense
of the Protestant Reformation he started.
As groups of churches and leaders began to spilt off from the Roman
Catholic church over disagreements about authority and other issues, things
were complicated to begin with. Many of the pastors and churches in Wittenburg
asked Luther’s advice, should they close their churches or meet anyway, flee or
stay behind and face horrible possibilities. Luther responds by saying if you
do close or leave, make sure someone else will be there to care for, announce
the Gospel to those who never heard it or never cared. provide the sacraments
and pray with those in need, ensure that the sick and the poor, ignored on a
good day, were supported. This was no
excuse to stop being Christian, this was no release from God’s commands. Most fitting for today is a few lines from
this 15 or so page document “Whether one May Flee From a Deadly Plague”
Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent
us poison and deadly offal. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us.
Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I
shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to
become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause
their death as a result of my negligence.
Luther essential says he will pray and then follow
the best known medical and scientific advice of the time, including doing
whatever he can to avoid being infected and therefore spreading the plague. Luther and his wife Katherine end up opening
their home as a site to care for those sick with plague, praying with the
dying, comforting the grieving, giving thanks with the recovered, sharing the
good news of God’s promises, separating the sick from the healthy, offering
whatever care was known at the time, doing this dangerous work when very few
others would.
Today, the best advice from health care experts seems to be stay inside, to keep social distance, to protect the most as risk people, to help neighborhoods, cities or even entire nations, to slow down the inevitable spread of this virus. We are essentially being asked to stay home (an impossibility for the homeless, a frightening prospect for workers not being paid or business owners on the verge of bankruptcy, a scary idea for people whose homes are not comfortable or safe, a too unnecessary sacrifice for those who own the brand “ I give no fucks” and do not think this virus will hurt them). For everyone else, this should be boring and uncomfortable but something we can do.
We are being asked to change our lives for the safety of others and we do not want to. We are being asked to admit that all our research, tools and discoveries, technology, wealth, resources and good vibes cannot make this go away. We have come up against something, we have been sold and told time and time again that does not exist, a part of ancient history from a less scientific world, something greater than us. We can track it, record it, tell exactly (sort of) what is happening, we can say when hospitals will be overrun but not do much to stop it. We boldly or reluctantly say God’s will be done. The one unique part of corona virus is that at no other time in history could people follow a pandemic, second by second, 24 / 7 with 1000s of news sources fighting for your attention and a great range of perspectives competing for space on your screen.
All the stuff we have taken for granted, the stability in our lives, is shaking, the rocks on which we built our lives are cracking a little. That’s why the church is built on Jesus, to paraphase the hymn Built on a rock, the church will stand, Even when steeples are falling (sung and shared so often with the steeples of Notre Dame falling in the fire last year). Built on a rock the church will stand, even with social distancing, Built on a rock the church will stand, even if we lose ministries, schools and 2020 holy days.
A lot of our actions and comments are making people more anxious, more scared. empty shelves are a frightening sight for many of us who are not used to that (it is a daily event in some places around the world). Temporary delays or outages are a cause for mass hysteria. Many of us do not see spots that will be refilled, we see the end of the world. We see whatever food I have at home is all I will get for me and my family. We have no idea how much is available in the warehouses, manufacturers and farmers. We do not know if our emergency stash of masks will put first responders and healthcare workers at risk, if the basement of hand sanitizer we are keeping to survive for the next 380 years will make this virus spread, we have no idea what difference our comments will make. We do know that God’s promises are still good and God is here with us.
We are now asking people to do things they do not know how to do all the time. Teachers do not know how to prepare 3 or more weeks worth of school work to be done at home on a computer for students and families who will pass most of their waking hours on a screen already. How do you actually work from home or engage in something meaningful with time off, how do you invest or trade when markets are in free fall, How do you counter the 24 7 anxiety, how do you prepare for worship with no people
There will be a different world when this is over, and its up to us what kind of world that will be. What we do will be remembered. There are young people partying on beaches, enjoying an extended spring break, There are other young people (and others) fighting to keep soup kitchens and food pantries open, rapidly trying to update churches so they can live stream, broadcast, share some good news, finding ways to support the most at risk in society.
My church clothes (the black shirt and pants with the little white collar tab) are stained with those red / orange bleach marks from that morning I bleached all the surfaces in the church in preparation for worship. My phone bears the scars of being dropped a lot as I worry about virus on it but keep calling people, especially those with limited or no access to the internet. My head is filled with anxieties about work at food ministries and opening our emergency food pantry tomorrow, about safety for the guests and volunteers. If I get this virus, I’ll know I caught it while living out my faith in a God who loves all people, who is with us here, in the valley of the shadow of death, which has lost its sting.
I wish it was all back to normal, I could just go about my daily life with no worries, do more, be more thankful, see more places, share the Gospel more, invite others into joy and peace and comfort and belonging and community. I had planned a 5 or 6 week series on invitation, to church, to community, to fellowship and now I’ve taken some short cuts, saying uncertain things like invite others into relationship with God, into community, without saying or showing you how exactly does one do that,
I am starting a series on how, exactly, we can do these things.
Stay tuned for more on:
How do we pray?
How do we call people?
How do we counter false teachings?
How do we read the Bible?
How do we live out our faith?
Remember
Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.
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