So What Does Our Faith Tell Us in Response to this Virus?
To truly answer that question, how
about considering what this virus means?
I have read that the reaction to this virus, the scare it is putting
into people, is akin to that of Orson Welles’ broadcast of “War of the Worlds”. I wish I could remember where I heard this so
I could thank them.
In 1938, Orson Welles put on a
radio drama which, at the beginning was declared to be fictional radio show, of
a Martian invasion of the earth. It
exploded on the airwaves as nothing ever had, or ever has. There was panic as people tuned in and heard
about the systematic extermination that was going on against any thing in the
way of these invaders. Why was the reaction
so powerful? I believe it tapped into a
huge unrealized expectation, of unresolved fear, that violence, even invasion,
was inevitable.
In 1938, the journey to the Second
World War was well underway. Japan had
already invaded China. Although Jesse Owens
had scored amazing victories over the Nazi ‘supermen’ at the 1936 Olympics, the
march of Hitler and a recovered Germany across Europe was unchecked. The world was rearming. Totalitarianism was on the rise. It was an ugly time. The expectation of war had a generation to
build up. The United States was not
alone in feeling this. When “War of the
Worlds” was broadcast, it tapped into that vein of unresolved fear and provoked
a reaction all out of proportion to what was happening-a radio show.
We have
seen that kind of expectation at other dark times in our history-truly dark
times. The reaction to the Columbine
shooting, of students ‘losing it’, and the reaction to the Newtown shooting, of
an ‘invading gunman’ both triggered massive responses. Unlike “War of the Worlds”, these events
truly occurred, but they are only two in a string of school shootings. Not all those shootings received the same
attention or provoked the same reaction.
It is as if those two, in particular, tapped into our fears and, in so
doing, drew out unprecedented responses.
How
does this connect then to our response to the Corona Virus? Yes, it has a specific designation, Covid-19,
but the name recognition is in sounding like a beer (poor beer company). I believe there has been an expectation for
some time about a killer virus (natural or, more fearful-manmade). There are video games that mark the spread of
a worldwide pandemic. Popular books,
like Stephen King’s “The Stand”, have prophesied this. Even television shows, like “The Walking Dead”
on AMC, is about a parasitic disease that reanimates the dead into zombies.
So when
I ask the question, “What does the Virus mean?”, I am asking about what we
perceive the virus to be. What is our
expectation of the virus? What underlying
unresolved fears has it tapped into?
Because if we believe it to be the new Black Death, going back to the
Middle Ages, then our faith response is going to be apocalyptic. That is “Book of Revelations” stuff. It links to the genre of media, in print and
in the visual arts, of the dystopian future.
But if
we take a step back, take a more pragmatic view of what is going on, our
reaction may be different. At the
beginning of the week, there was a country by country comparison of death rates
from known Corona cases. Italy was
around 10%, the US about 1.4%, the lowest being under 0.5%. That is of known cases. Factoring in the unknown cases and the death
rate may, according to some sources, drop to under 1%. There are plenty of other diseases and
conditions that kill far more people in any year that we do not give a second
thought to. Knowing the facts can mitigate
the fear.
Tapping
unresolved fears to cause a massive overreaction is not something limited to our
own time. This week’s Scripture lesson
is Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
It was the miracle of miracles that was going to draw huge crowds to
suddenly come and see who this prophet is.
Continue in the gospel of John and see the reaction to this miracle. The evidence that this is truly God’s power come
down to the people once again-tapping into a Messianic expectation-is NOT going
to sway the leadership. No, on the
strength of this miracle, the official decision is made that Jesus must die as
a response. Lazarus is also put on the
hit list to, pardon the pun, kill the miracle.
If the
consequences of the quarantine were different, reaction to the Corona Virus
could turn ugly. What if it wasn’t the
comical response of hoarding toilet paper that was not the lead story? What if there were real supply chain disruptions? I was just at the grocery store and there was
a run on oranges and bananas (but not kale or Brussel sprouts), but the store
clerk was unpacking more bananas. He was
putting more on display than he was handing directly to customers. This was not about having a shortage as
having a system that is catching up.
So what does our faith tell us in response to the
virus?
As with
all that Jesus does, the faith response to the virus depends on where we
are. Are we truly fearful that these are
the end of days? Well then, we are in
the hands of the Lord. Jesus is along
side of us no matter what. This is the double-barreled
promise I have shared so often at a funeral service. On the one hand, the dearly departed is in
God’s hands and preparing to meet us when it is our turn. On the other, Jesus is alongside of us,
feeling our pain, crying with us, our comfort in times of death.
Are we
looking at this Virus in terms of who it is hurting? The first consideration is of those who have
contracted the virus. But what about the
victims of a ‘stay at home’ economy? The
Virus canceled a significant school trip.
In the process of canceling, the person from the bus company told us
this is the last time we would be speaking to her. We were getting a full refund, but after
this, she was laid off for the duration.
In addition to healing and preaching, Jesus did things like feeding the
five thousand when there was a need to keep them from going hungry. Is the biggest problem we face now that of
figuring out how we respect the rules of staying in our homes while still helping
others?
Are we reacting
to this Virus and how it is limiting us?
We canceled church one Sunday, but we got up and running the next week
with a virtual worship service. And the connection was global. We had feedback from former members who moved
to Peru a decade ago. The 21st
century is about the virtual world, apparently.
This may be the time when our church moves into it. If we could get online giving up as fast as
the online preaching…
Jesus
moves with us, where we are. There is a
modern parable about how someone was convinced Jesus had left them alone all
through the strains of his difficult, modern life until one day, he looked over
his shoulder, metaphorically speaking, and he saw Jesus was right there behind
him the whole time…if he had only looked.
Our
faith tells us that Jesus is with us no matter what. Our faith tells us Jesus is in control, no
matter what. Our faith tells us that
Jesus loves us, no matter what. May God’s
blessings be upon us all.
Rev. Peter Hofstra
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