I’m writing this on day 3 of 10 of my family isolating as best we can from each other at home. I’ve tested negative for COVID-19, but it’s otherwise hard to explain some symptoms I developed over the last week--especially partially losing my sense of taste and smell on Sunday night. And the tests apparently have a 1 in 5 false negative rate in the best of circumstances. Joy’s council agrees that we need to not meet in person again until at least after Labor Day. I’ll try to get back into the sanctuary to broadcast Zoom & Facebook Live from there in a few weeks.
I don’t think I picked it up at Joy? If I did, it was most certainly during in-person communion. But if I didn’t, it’s worse--I could’ve picked it up literally anywhere I’ve been, which isn’t too many places. I’m wearing a face covering when I’m in close contact with others and trying to stick to places where others are doing the same. That’s getting easier as norms shift, but it hasn’t always been possible. I now understand how people spread this “asymptomatically”--I’m feeling pretty fine and better every day.
In the meantime I’ve been asked, quite reasonably, why our prayers in worship have not addressed this pandemic more directly, more often. I’ve certainly been praying on my own for an end, and adding related prayers to Joy’s prayer list whenever it comes up.
And yet like many of you I’ve been caught up in the mechanics of trying to protect myself, my family and this congregation, sometimes trying to protect us from our very deep human urge for social and physical contact. Several friends have shared a great sentiment: “When this is all over I’m gonna hug everyone. Get ready for long, awkward hugs. I’m gonna make it weird!”
Okay, maybe not too weird. I do have some standards to uphold as a minister of the Gospel! And another of those standards is to encourage us all to deeper and more intentional prayer. I’ve been somewhat reluctant to encourage reliance on prayer, because it’s an adjunct, not a substitute for public health measures and the ordinary miracles of modern medicine. I’ve just seen too many people blithely declare, “Jesus will protect me!”--right before getting very sick.
But of course prayer isn’t magic. Prayer calls us to open ourselves to God’s intentions for our lives. Prayer calls for us to ask for the fulfilment of our needs and the needs of our neighbors. Prayer reminds us to be merciful, and prayer reminds us that the most important God-given freedoms are not “freedom to” or even “freedom from” but “freedom for”--for the sake of others.
So let us pray. For an end to this pandemic. For an end to the divisions and inequalities it has magnified. For those on the front lines. For those who are grieving, and for those who soon will be. For those facing difficult decisions about employment, the state of their small business, or what to do with their kids this fall. For those whose actions and inactions have brought us to this point. We surely all need these prayers, and we surely need to pray.
Pastor Jon
