More recent posts (some lighter, some more serious) during the pandemic can be found by clicking the "Corona Chronicle" tab above.
A few shrill voices claim covid-19 is God’s punishment for this or that. We can’t be that simplistic. Others ask where God is in this; the answer is where he always is, beside us in our need. And some ask why he has allowed it; it’s because pestilence and death are endemic until Jesus returns. Those questions are ultimately futile. But we can ask in this rapidly evolving situation, “what might God want us to learn from it?” Here are some suggestions.
A few shrill voices claim covid-19 is God’s punishment for this or that. We can’t be that simplistic. Others ask where God is in this; the answer is where he always is, beside us in our need. And some ask why he has allowed it; it’s because pestilence and death are endemic until Jesus returns. Those questions are ultimately futile. But we can ask in this rapidly evolving situation, “what might God want us to learn from it?” Here are some suggestions.
It reminds us of
human and physical frailty. We usually assume we’re largely invincible. But
the flesh is weak and we fall ill. Physical things we depend on wear out or
break. Now, “normal” life is disrupted. So we get annoyed and are hugely
inconvenienced. St Paul had a healthy slant on this: “When I am weak, then I am
strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). His many troubles drove him back to the God on
whom he depended for everything, always. He took nothing for granted. He adapted
to changed circumstances (eg Acts 16:6-10). Maybe we need to ask if we expect
too much, do too much, and thus become less flexible to follow God’s lead when
contingencies occur. “He turns our weaknesses into his opportunities,” as song
writer Graham Kendrick wrote.
It reveals our obsession
with consumption. Western society is built on the concept of constant
economic growth and increasing personal consumption. So in a pandemic there’s a
breakdown in trade, the stock markets crash, the economy stalls, businesses
collapse, jobs are lost, and politicians despair. Remember the house built on
sand (Matthew 7:24-27). The biblical lifestyle model is not one of making more
to buy more; it is of “enough”, based on modesty and sharing (eg Philippians
4:10-19, and the Old Testament laws of social interaction). Maybe we need to
reconsider our priorities, personally and nationally.
It has provoked fear
and panic. As covid-19 has spread, so has fear. Fear of death, of illness,
of running out of goods, even fear of other people who might spread the
disease. It has led to panic buying without thought for vulnerable people who are
unable to stock up. Look at Psalm 56: “When I am afraid I put my trust in You …
In God I trust and (therefore) am not afraid”. Fear, it says, prompts faith and
trust. In turn, faith and trust reduce fear. Jesus promised his over-wrought
disciples “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you”, adding that his
peace was qualitatively different to what the world offers (John 14:27). Maybe
we need to recover spiritual and human trust and relax into God’s peace.
It illustrates global
inter-dependence. Even in “primitive” societies no-one was entirely
self-sufficient. Hermits rely on others to bring them food. Today we depend on global
supply chains for fuel, raw materials, and goods from coffee to computers. Just
as the virus spread through human contact, so did the Gospel in the early
church through displaced and inconvenienced Christians (Acts 8:1-3). Medical self-isolation
aside, we shouldn’t stop helping each other (see Romans 12:9-16). Hard as the
situation is, it provides an opportunity to experience and share the love, hope
and peace of God, released to the world through the sacrificial death,
resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
