We're All in This Together
Today, with all of the buzz about COVID-19, I'm thinking about our baptismal covenant.
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
I will, with God's help. (emphasis mine)
I'm seeing a lot of reaction from churches. I'm seeing communion practices changed, the Peace being exchanged without touching, even cancelled masses. Last week was the first time I experienced this in person and it felt so odd, not being able to hug fellow parishioners or even shake hands. Not having that personal contact is very difficult for me. Many are opting to have virtual gatherings, both in church and in the secular world.
I've been an anxious person for years. Something like this has me working hard to fight the anxiety response. It helps to know that the majority of cases of this virus are mild, and that I personally would be at a low risk of infection, or of complications if I were infected. But it's not all about me.
That's the lesson that I think we are learning in the response to this outbreak. It's not all about me. Many of us will be inconvenienced, and this will cause us to realize how much harder others are being hit. Many of us will be afraid, if we aren't already, and we will understand the fear that humans throughout the ages have faced when events are beyond our control. We'll see that no matter how technologically advanced we are, we are still mortal and vulnerable. And yet because of the advances we've made, we can work to mitigate the devastation, if we listen to science and act unselfishly.
Maybe this event is helping us to come together and understand how interconnected we all are. To see how some parents of schoolchildren would rather send their child to school, thereby risking the spread of disease, because staying home would mean not having any lunch that day, is a wake-up call. To finally understand the fears of the physically vulnerable and immunologically compromised causes us to step outside of ourselves. We need to take care of each other. We need better safety nets.
If we who have been baptized really think about those promises, we should realize that they affect our lives every single day, in every situation. They affect the society that we could be building, if we truly live into them. I don't think we can build a utopia here on earth just by our actions, but that's why we say "I will with God's help." We can't do it alone, but we need to try. We need to be God's instruments. Maybe instead of asking where God is in a situation like a pandemic, we should be asking, "what am I doing?" What am I doing to help keep others healthy? Do I have to give something up, like traveling to a place or an event that I wanted to go to?
During Lent, we hear the word "repent" a lot. That word means to "turn around". We are learning this Lent to turn away from our selfishness and attachment to so many things. Many Lenten sacrifices are done on the principle that we will learn to live without something that we thought we needed. People fast from plastic, or sugar, or unnecessary spending, and the end goal is to realize that we don't need those things to live. My fast from sugar so far this Lent has helped me to realize the limits that people with diabetes have - something I never used to have to think about, because it doesn't affect me. Having to give up the physical contact that I love in church (along with the sacrament that I am used to receiving) is difficult, but if it is the way to help people more vulnerable than myself stay healthy, then it is the right thing to do.
Having said all that, I pray that we are able to deal with this situation effectively, and that soon we will be able to go back to "normal" as far as worship is concerned. I pray that the most vulnerable people in our society are kept safe, and that those of us who are stronger or more privileged will also be braver, and willing to do what is recommended to help the good of all.
If you are wondering where God is in all of this, remember that God is always with us in those moments of suffering and fear. I don't believe God sends these things, I believe that God is alongside us as we go through them.
Jesus came to show us how to be in a relationship with God and in relationship with each other, came to show us how to live not simply as collections of individual self-interest, but how to live as the human family of God. That's why he said love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as yourself. Because in that is hope for all of us to be the human family of God.
So look out for your neighbors, look out for each other. Look out for yourselves. Listen to those who have knowledge that can help to guide us medically and help to guide us socially. Do everything that we can to do this together, to respond to each other's needs and to respond to our own needs. ~ Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
I will, with God's help. (emphasis mine)
I'm seeing a lot of reaction from churches. I'm seeing communion practices changed, the Peace being exchanged without touching, even cancelled masses. Last week was the first time I experienced this in person and it felt so odd, not being able to hug fellow parishioners or even shake hands. Not having that personal contact is very difficult for me. Many are opting to have virtual gatherings, both in church and in the secular world.
I've been an anxious person for years. Something like this has me working hard to fight the anxiety response. It helps to know that the majority of cases of this virus are mild, and that I personally would be at a low risk of infection, or of complications if I were infected. But it's not all about me.
That's the lesson that I think we are learning in the response to this outbreak. It's not all about me. Many of us will be inconvenienced, and this will cause us to realize how much harder others are being hit. Many of us will be afraid, if we aren't already, and we will understand the fear that humans throughout the ages have faced when events are beyond our control. We'll see that no matter how technologically advanced we are, we are still mortal and vulnerable. And yet because of the advances we've made, we can work to mitigate the devastation, if we listen to science and act unselfishly.
Maybe this event is helping us to come together and understand how interconnected we all are. To see how some parents of schoolchildren would rather send their child to school, thereby risking the spread of disease, because staying home would mean not having any lunch that day, is a wake-up call. To finally understand the fears of the physically vulnerable and immunologically compromised causes us to step outside of ourselves. We need to take care of each other. We need better safety nets.
If we who have been baptized really think about those promises, we should realize that they affect our lives every single day, in every situation. They affect the society that we could be building, if we truly live into them. I don't think we can build a utopia here on earth just by our actions, but that's why we say "I will with God's help." We can't do it alone, but we need to try. We need to be God's instruments. Maybe instead of asking where God is in a situation like a pandemic, we should be asking, "what am I doing?" What am I doing to help keep others healthy? Do I have to give something up, like traveling to a place or an event that I wanted to go to?
During Lent, we hear the word "repent" a lot. That word means to "turn around". We are learning this Lent to turn away from our selfishness and attachment to so many things. Many Lenten sacrifices are done on the principle that we will learn to live without something that we thought we needed. People fast from plastic, or sugar, or unnecessary spending, and the end goal is to realize that we don't need those things to live. My fast from sugar so far this Lent has helped me to realize the limits that people with diabetes have - something I never used to have to think about, because it doesn't affect me. Having to give up the physical contact that I love in church (along with the sacrament that I am used to receiving) is difficult, but if it is the way to help people more vulnerable than myself stay healthy, then it is the right thing to do.
Having said all that, I pray that we are able to deal with this situation effectively, and that soon we will be able to go back to "normal" as far as worship is concerned. I pray that the most vulnerable people in our society are kept safe, and that those of us who are stronger or more privileged will also be braver, and willing to do what is recommended to help the good of all.
If you are wondering where God is in all of this, remember that God is always with us in those moments of suffering and fear. I don't believe God sends these things, I believe that God is alongside us as we go through them.
Jesus came to show us how to be in a relationship with God and in relationship with each other, came to show us how to live not simply as collections of individual self-interest, but how to live as the human family of God. That's why he said love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as yourself. Because in that is hope for all of us to be the human family of God.
So look out for your neighbors, look out for each other. Look out for yourselves. Listen to those who have knowledge that can help to guide us medically and help to guide us socially. Do everything that we can to do this together, to respond to each other's needs and to respond to our own needs. ~ Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
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