Sunday, November 21, 2021
Sunday Reflection: Out of the desert?
It looked for a while like the pandemic was ending. But... no. Right now, the numbers here in Minnesota are about the same as they were this time a year ago, when we were pretty much locked down-- and that is nearly a year after vaccines were released. Sigh.
Can I be honest? I'm worn down by it-- by teaching in a mask or over Zoom, of limiting so much of what I do, of the loss of the presence of people. I am having trouble writing anything longer than 1,000 words, and the vibrancy that came from contact with people in my field is gone. There are things that are just stagnating-- clemency at the federal and state level-- and my usual tactic of going there to change things isn't available.
I do wonder if we are changing as a species because of the shifts created by the pandemic-- more isolated, more focused on the internet than one another, less social--in ways that will last.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I wrote this:
Churches are dealing with this challenge in a number of ways. Well, not a big number-- maybe two or three ways, actually. Most of them are having some kind of online service, where the minister will be in his office or her pulpit, alone. Congregants are encouraged to sing along at home. It's kind of depressing. We were asked, after all, to gather in his name.
But, right now, we can't. That is one of the costs of all this. In the end, I suspect that the social, spiritual, and economic costs of the pandemic will be all intermingled. Churches will close not just because they are no longer economically viable, but because they are no longer spiritually viable-- they will not be able to minister to those in need when that need is greatest. People will die alone, drift from faith, and despair.
But, right now, we can't. That is one of the costs of all this. In the end, I suspect that the social, spiritual, and economic costs of the pandemic will be all intermingled. Churches will close not just because they are no longer economically viable, but because they are no longer spiritually viable-- they will not be able to minister to those in need when that need is greatest. People will die alone, drift from faith, and despair.
And now that we are approaching year two of the pandemic, I fear that I was right.
BUT... I'm not a total pessimist. Today in the Waco paper, I have a piece about how the Great Resignation might just have some positive effects in the long run. You can read that here.
