Each day is more surreal than the one before; this reordering of norms due to COVID-19’s continuing spread. Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the day on which we traditionally wave palm branches and sing “Hosanna in the highest,” but many of us did not get to do that. As is becoming the norm for many congregations, worship services were virtual experiences; as will probably be the case with the other rituals of this week. Maundy Thursday and the foot washing, Good Friday and applying of the ashes and the silence and fasting of Holy Saturday- all done virtually if at all.
I will say one thing though. We humans created by God in His image, are if nothing else a resilient species. Faced with the unimaginable- an enemy we can not see-, we continue to evolve and find strategies for survival that reflect the spirit of our heavenly Father. Paul’s encouragement to Timothy resonates for us in this season, “For God did not give us a spirit of fear (timidity), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7) Voices ring out reminding us a spirit of fear is not the best game plan for fighting this virus. Fear cripples and distorts; it brings out the worse rather than the best of our humanity. A fearful people are not what God created us to be.
God’s spirit prevails during this war we did not expect. It is His spirit of love that inspires the efforts of so many to volunteer; to keep serving on the front lines of the battle in our hospitals and nursing homes and care facilities despite the threat to their own well-being; to feed the homeless and the school children whose only meals are those provided by the school lunch programs; to sew and give away masks. His spirit of power rather than powerlessness prompts the urgent efforts to find the cure and the vaccine to combat this pandemic.
And finally, I think He desires for us to be self disciplined in all of our efforts. He is not a God of chaos or confusion. He imparted a spirit of self discipline in the make up of our character. It is there for us to claim if we will. He did not make us robots or droids. We have free will to claim what He has given. The weapons to defeat this invisible enemy are already ours. May we individually and collectively embrace them, and in so doing bring COVID-19 to its knees.