Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XX
“He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness.” (Isaiah 53.3)
Grief = loss.
- Televised news reports daily new cases and loss of life from Covid-19. It is staggering.
- When tested positive, a person is quarantined for 14 days; isolation produces loss.
When quarantined at the hospital, the patient’s loss to any outside-world contact is devastating. One may never see their loved ones again.
- A 30 year-old attended a coronavirus party thinking she was invincible and Covid-19 was a hoax. Her last words were, “I think I made a mistake.”
- When they put a tube down your throat and hook you up to a ventilator you are at a loss for words.
- With unemployment the highest in American history, there is a great loss of jobs.
- Many who were furloughed may have loss their jobs.
- High School seniors loss their senior year traditions: No prom and no traditional Graduation Ceremony. Graduation parties were frowned upon. Guess they will have to wait until their 5th year alumni reunion to do this!
- High School and College spring sports, the NBA, NHL, and MLB loss all or part of their regular season as well as losing their chance to perform before fans in the stands.
- Institutions and large group events were shut down to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The biggest loss came in reflecting on what was “normal” and realizing a “new normal” was about to begin, not knowing what that may look like.
The church has been in the business of grief counseling for years; now is the time for it to respond. The Church has experienced loss throughout its history through persecution and even martyrdom. Jesus knows about pain, suffering, and loss. His losses was severe when hanging on the Cross, but His gains were victorious and eternal. Jesus knows all about recovery of loss, grace, mercy, and giving second chances.
How is the Church to respond to the loss of a loved one who died from coronavirus?
With compassion!
How is the Church to respond to the lonely, the isolated?
As an intimate friend who is willing to lay down their lives for them, who will be there when needed!
How is tåhe Church to respond to the unemployed, those evicted from their housing, the homeless?
Matthew 25 says to feed them, give them a drink, treat them as a peer, as equals, visit them, meet their need. ”To the extend that you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”
Even with social distancing guidelines, don’t treat one another as strangers, but as peers, as family.
The Church isn’t the undertaker; it’s the resurrector! It offers rebirth, second chances, gives grace, picks people up, and gives them hope. When everything seems to be collapsing, the church needs to reassure, help people change directions, be positive, and help others move forward. Jesus said, “Let the dead bury the dead; come and follow me.” It is a time to make our losses, pluses.
The church needs to help people identify their loss, face that loss, then help them to move forward in what is needed to gain and fill the void caused by the loss. God knows how to consume the old and transform it into the new. Regeneration is a spiritual principle. Jesus took loss and death when on the cross and turned them into eternal gains through resurrection. Our faith in Jesus and our willingness to listen to the voice of His Holy Spirit can lead us through difficult times and give us hope, and that hope can become reality. That should be the promise the Church is extending during these Covid-19 pandemic times.