The past 12 months has been one long season of our life that we will never forget. A year of isolation with most of us confined to home for the majority of our work, school, family, leaisure and social lives. It has been said that we all went through the same storm but in different boats with a wide range of differences in the choices we had, how it impacted us, and how we responded. At first it seemed that life was just on hold, but as the days turned to weeks and weeks to months, it became clear that this wasn’t just a pause – this was our new reality. If we didn’t learn to live in the moment and embrace whatever our circumstance, we essentially missed an entire year like waiting for the “commercial break” to get over. But if we are taking time to reflect on what God is showing us during this strange season, then in the midst of all the losses, it has also been a year rich with potential insights, new awareness, and paradigm shifts that can remain with us and strengthen us for the rest of our lives. Here are some perspectives to consider.
We Need to Grieve to Stand
The loss from this pandemic is staggering. In the United States over 530,000 people died with causes related to COVID-19. It is so many that it easily becomes just a statistic, until it is someone we knew personally who is no longer with us. For me it was a man who was a leader of the boys program in the church I grew up in. Even more common was how the pandemic impeded the grieving of families for everyone who died of any cause. Then there were the personal losses of all the events, celebrations, holidays, and routines that never happened or were greatly diminished. The high school senior and college freshman who will not get back the chance to live those moments again. Like a punch in the gut or a pounding wave, it is good and well to simply stand and absorb its force fully aware of its power. There is no denying or fleeing from it. Yet, under the weight and roar of the waves that sweep over us, we still hear the voice of Psalm 42 call out, “Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” So that after all is done, we may rejoice that we are still standing (Ephesians 5:13).
We are All Connected
We witnessed how a tiny virus in a few individuals in a land far away, soon touched the entire human family impacting the whole of your life and mine. We live in a global village, we breathe the same air, we share a common biology, and what happens to one of us changes the world for all of us. We need each other. We don’t do well in complete isolation. Being without our regular connections and relationships, it may seem as though part of us has died. Yet we also learn to compensate and to connect in new ways, to find new pathways for connectivity.
We also came to better understand that problems that are too big for any one person to solve require a higher level of cooperation and solidarity by many to even have a fighting chance. Division and disunity do not hurt one side or another, it hurts us all. As a nation proud of our individual rights and freedoms, we did not do well in this pandemic compared to countries where social conformity and putting the well being of the group above one’s own interests are valued. The good news of the gospel is that God is reconciling to himself all things through Christ. We see this in the life of the church. We are uniquely equipped to foster unity and solidarity when we submit to one another in love out of reverence for Christ. Being part of the body of Christ and staying connected to one another through difficult times only makes our bond grow stronger.
We are More than Our Activities and Routines
Before the pandemic, it seemed unimaginable that anything could ever disrupt our routines and activities as much it has this year. Even in sub-zero temperatures or snowstorms our church managed to stay open for 115 years but for the most rare occasion and then just for a day. Are we still the church when we are not going through our normal church routines? The year has taught us that the church is not a building, not a program, and not an event to attend. We are the church. Our identity is in who we are in Christ regardless of circumstances. We are as strong as the bonds of our relationship with God and with one another, not the number of activities or tasks we do. When one of the senses is missing the body compensates with other senses being more alert. We too have had to adjust using new ways to connect, being more intentional in staying in touch, and having to have our own roots go down deeper to draw upon the ever present comfort and grace of God.
God is Good and At Work in Us
In reflecting on life many have found that the most significant times for our spiritual growth came as a result of loss and hardship when routines and comforts were disrupted or our expectations smashed. During these times God is best able to prune us and to ween us away from many of the things that otherwise keep us distracted, busy, or satisfied with material success and comfort. This has been a year of major pruning, like hilltribe farmers who slash and burn an entire field to prepare for a new planting season. It is painful. But the question remains, what will you plant in the smoldering ashes? This year like no other has opened up new vistas and revealed insights into our condition under the surface. By God’s grace this too is a work of God opening for us new opportunities for growth. When we do fully open up as a church, let’s not go back to “normal.” Let’s use our deeper roots and new awareness to not just be busy again with activites, but to abide well, more aware of the presence of Christ in each moment, and rejoicing in fruit that comes only through abiding.
Like funerals, pandemics ironically can give clearer insight into the deeper meaning and significance of real life. Funerals don’t fit in with the mindset of our normal busy routine and the immediate timely demands we generally are fixed on. Yet it is only at the gravesite that we have a lens to see life as it really is – the passing delight of being alive to experience the amazing wonder and precious miracle of each day and moment. The value of the precious moments we have with loved ones. Life in a pandemic is not normal, but it is a wake-up call to realize that “normal life” as we once knew it should never be taken for granted or considered as mundane and ordinary. May we emerge out of this long dark year as those who have grown deeper roots into deeper realities and grown in ways that allow us to better embrace each moment and each day with gratitude, wonder, and an awareness of being one with God and a part of his amazing creation called life!
