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Reflection on COVID-19

First of all I want to thank everyone who checked on me and prayed for me while I had COVID-19 this past month. Your love and concern helped me to feel the love of God even while I was sick and generally feeling terrible. So, thank you.

The pandemic has left us all in a pickle. As Christians we are torn between our desire to gather together as we have always done and our desire to not spread this virus. We feel the call to love our neighbors, but we aren't entirely sure how to live that out. There is no easy option.

On the one hand, the virus is real and it is dangerous. I didn't even have it that severely, but what I experienced I sincerely wish no else endure. As people who love our neighbors, those who are called to see others as more valuable and better than ourselves, if there is something we can do to keep them safe we should leap at the call to do it. This is true even if that something involves inconveniencing ourselves and laying down our desires and comforts.

On the other hand, people genuinely do need community and human connection. This is the way God created us and it is an essential part of Christian life. It isn't some extracurricular activity but a core piece of who we are as people made in God's image. So we also all feel the desire to love our neighbors by being there for them and seeing them. We especially feel for some of the most vulnerable to the disease who often live alone and are now completely cut off from that God given interaction.

Churches across the country have had varied responses to this crisis. Some have shut down in person services completely and now meet solely online, if at all. Others meet in defiance as they have always done. Still many others meet in a hybrid setting, observing safety guidelines such as masks while also offering virtual options for those who cannot come. 

I do not know what the solution is. As I have always strived to do I am following my local elders' lead and example, following them as they follow Christ. Submission to authority has fallen out of fashion of late, but we must remember as Christians that we are commanded to submit. This is not a blind faith in our leaders but a reasoned trust in them. I believe that those God has called to the task of shepherding he has also equipped to do that task.

So what is our task, then? It is as it has always been, to love God and love our neighbor. This means living lives of prayer, study, fellowship, worship, mercy, holiness, love, grace, righteousness, and wisdom. What does this life look like in this COVID-19 world? I do not know, but I imagine that it is not that different than normal. Some will say that it means locking down and quarantining for as long as it takes. They may be right. Others will say that it means taking the risk of infection and spreading the disease to maintain the bonds of fellowship that illuminate our lives. They may be right. In fact, they may both be right.

This is a matter, I think, of the conscience. One must do what they firmly believe to be in the best interest of their neighbor. I cannot criticize those who have locked themselves away for months out of love for neighbor. I cannot criticize those who have met in fellowship out of love for neighbor. As Christians we must not be motivated by fear, politics, or self-interest but love.

Pray without ceasing. Be immersed in the scriptures. Remain as connected as you can with the Body of Christ. Always consider others as better than yourself. Heed the words of your shepherds, for they have been appointed by God for your good. Above all keep your eyes on Jesus, to whom we are joined by the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father.

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