Living At A Distance -Reflections on Covid-19

Life has been upended by an invisible virus. The byword has become distance—social distance.

Mothers’ day meant distance from our kids. At least we sat on our porch six feet away from our daughter and her husband. We parted with virtual hugs. No touch. No visit from our son in Mississauga. Fortunately, he and our son in Atlanta called Mary Helen.

Since our daughter lives in a nearby village, she has taken it upon herself to get a lot of our groceries. But no hugs. No touch. As a rather stolid man, I didn’t realize how much I missed the hugs of our kids and grandkids.

Then there’s distance from our doctors. Appointments and blood tests cancelled. Yeah! Celebration…but wait, should we be concerned about all the regular medical decisions postponed? At least Mary Helen has been able to schedule a clinic visit and phone consultations using photos sent to her skin specialist.

Coffee with friends also meant distance. Two friends came over with lawn chairs they put up below our porch for a chinwag. All went well until a cold wind sprang up. We found them blankets so they could join us on the porch at a distance.

In April a dear friend died from Coviod-19. He died isolated in the hospital. Isolated from family and friends. Dave was one of those quiet, dependable saints who demonstrate the reality of our faith. Always there to welcome new and old to the service. Tall and thin but with a grip like iron. Always available if one needed help. Always offering a cheerful countenance and an encouraging word. Not a a preacher nor a teacher but a wise deacon. One of the first ones to volunteer to join a repair crew sent down south to help in the cleanup from one of their hurricanes. The first one to join the team tasked with helping to build a new church or put on a new roof for someone in straightened circumstances.

True, he was of a good age. True, he is now rejoicing, pain-free in the presence of his Saviour. But there was no gathering of relatives and friends to rejoice in his send off and grieve his loss. Instead there was a very abbreviated grave-side burial with no more than ten attending and lasting no more than 15 minutes. Some of us looked on via zoom. How sad to view this brief acknowledgement of a wonderful man. Distant.

All the rituals attending the death of a friend or relative that have been honed over millennia to bring some closure and celebration to the passing of a life well-lived—all those have been upended. And just this week the father of a friend has died in a distant US state while she is stuck here on this side of the border. Distant.

In spite of all that is hurtful about this pandemic, some good has come of it. The technology that provides social networking has been a boom. We can zoom with our families or social groups! We can attend church remotely with a cup of coffee nearby. Well that’s not so great. But here in our condo community I’ve noticed a happy increase in friendliness and socializing—at a distance of six feet. And of course, for the people of faith, it is a great time to rest on all those promises of Scripture. But God speed the return of touch and hugs!

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)

Covid-19 in a Broken World –Suffering #3

The universe displays breath-taking beauty. Sunsets and starry skies. Soaring mountains and spiral galaxies. Lilies and roses and frangipani. But! Every leaf that falls in the autumn proclaims an unpalatable reality; everything has been marred by some malevolent influence. Each leaf bears evidence of the depredations of either insects or disease.

Not only in the leaves, but everywhere we look we discover evidence of defects. Weeds continue to fight for control of our flower gardens. Mosquitoes and black flies pester us in summer. Mice and ants may invade our homes. Birch trees die from the top down. Cankers attack beech trees. Our world often seems like a dangerous place. Floods and drought, typhoons and earthquakes, volcanoes and storms threaten populations. Human beings provoke wars, distribute poison in the form of drugs, abuse children, oppress the poor, and enslave the powerless. And too often mass shootings by deranged gunmen take centre-fold in our newspapers.

During this time of Covid-19 and the crisis it has evoked, we don’t need to be reminded about microbes and bacteria. We’re not only threatened by a new virus, but we come down with colds and flu, hepatitis and clogged arteries, diminished memories and arthritic knees. Despite the claims of the beauty industry, an aging clock relentlessly ticks away within all of us. Whenever we honestly look in the mirror, we see its effect. Let’s face it, we will all die. One hundred per cent of us.

Why is it like this? For the origin of all imperfection and suffering, we must go back to origins; back to the historic, space-time fall of Adam and Eve in the garden. (Read Genesis 3) As the progenitors of all people, they chose to disobey God and as a result fell from original goodness into sin. Their fall not only set in motion their own deterioration and death but fractured the harmony of the cosmos. And all their progeny have inherited a sinful nature with a twisted bent to selfishness and evil. Women inherited great pain in childbirth. Painful toil in tilling the ground became man’s lot. Thorns and thistles arose along with a myriad other malevolent influences. As someone has said, “All nature is red in tooth and claw”.

Since that historic fall, “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”(Rom. 8: 22). This is why the incarnation is so central to history. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into our world to begin the restoration process. He calls all men and women to allow him to inject the antidote into our hearts, the antidote that will conquer our bent to selfishness and sin. He earned the right to call us to faith and repentance by dying for our sins upon the cross. Everyone who heeds His gospel call finds himself beginning to be changed from the inside out. (The new birth.) Ultimately, Christ will return to right all wrongs and to restore  the earth to a state of goodness and grace.

So, why do apparently good people, even God’s children suffer? Why is there covid-19 and Ebola and dengue fever? It’s inevitable. We live in an imperfect, fallen world where bad things happen indiscriminately. Fortunately, in the lives of His children God is able to squeeze good from evil. So in spite of evil, let’s celebrate Jesus coming and look forward with hope to His return. Jesus is the promise of the ultimate extinguishment of evil and suffering. And through the living presence of Christ, we can overcome the discouragement, the despair, the fear brought on by the current pandemic. May this be an unparalleled time of prayer for a revival of faith in Jesus Christ, the great overcomer.

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)