Dear Friends,
The old song goes: ‘Here we are again, happy as can be...’ which is probably as far from the truth as possible. We are not ‘here’, again we are in a different place from previous lockdowns. The virus mutations are changing the nature of the pandemic. Our politicians, health care workers and key workers work under daily increasing pressures to cope with an out of control spread of infections.
The decision of our Church Council last week to stop gathered worship, was both sensible and needed under the circumstances. We continue our care for each other and our neighbours, and we may be on the receiving end of the care from others too. As everyone is being asked by the authorities to be very cautious about all our encounters, we have to review what we do, where we go, and consider what attitudes and actions we need to change.
There seems to be a battle, not only with the virus, but also between individual decision making and corporate belonging. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9) is a question asked at the beginning of the bible. The rest of the scriptures give a resounding “yes” in response.
So while criticism and arguments circulate around lack of social distancing by some, or who should receive the vaccine first, or the response of the authorities to the crisis, it is easy to join in with it. The harder response is to promote being neighbourly, giving to foodbanks, donating unused laptops to schools, campaigning to help the vaccine be available to the poorest countries.
Jesus seemed to relish the company of those on whom others turned their backs. He also challenged the status quo where the powerful preserved their positions at the expensive of others. Perhaps it takes a pandemic for us to see how we belong to each other, more than ever, and what our responses might be.
Peace Tim