Covid Pandemic Theological Reflection

As I write this, our world, for over a year, has been in the midst of a global pandemic. There is hope in sight.  But, the pandemic and the aftermaths of the trauma it has created will be with us for some time.  In previously unimaginable ways, it has changed the way we live and worship. During the past year, in the United States, close to half a million people have died of Covid.  We are only beginning to understand the health (physical/mental), economic, and societal impacts of this terrible disease. The pandemic has dominated our lives.  Sometimes it has brought us closer together and sometimes bitterly divided us. 

I believe that individuals and faith communities would benefit by reflecting on what has happened and what God could be calling us to do in response.  There is a lot of energy going into what we will do “when it is all over and everything is back to normal,” but the reverberations of this global pandemic will be with us for a long time. Things will never quite be the same!  As we rush to return to how things were, I think we would be remiss not to begin to direct energy into thinking about what we have learned and how things might and should change. What are the ways God is calling us personally, and as a community, to be agents of healing?  

Here are some questions to get us started as we begin this journey through the lens of: Creation, Sin, Judgement, Repentance and Redemption, Culture, Tradition, Position, and Action

Covid Pandemic Theological Reflection*

CREATION

What has been created during this time? 

Where has goodness been revealed during this difficult time?

What creative responses have you seen or heard about?

How are people (communities, families, friends) being held together?

What is valued at this time?

What do you want to protect?

How does it feel to be living during this time?

What do you see around you?

What can you count on?

Where have you seen healing?

What new vision of truth has been revealed?

SIN

What has gone wrong during this time?

What has been hurtful?

What has been destructive?  In your life….. In the lives of others….

What has tempted you?  How have others been tempted?

What has separated us from God?

What separated us from each other?

What has compromised integrity during this time?

What has been broken?

What and where are the conflicts?

What have I missed because I wasn’t looking?

JUDGEMENT

What has touched you during this time?

What has surprised you?

What has shocked you?

What have we been called to change?

What confronts you?

What  have you learned about yourself?

What have you changed your mind about?

What assumptions have been challenged?

When and why have you passed judgement?

What questions about the world around you have newly surfaced?

Some speak of protecting “the vulnerable?” Who decides who are the vulnerable?

How have the lives of the young/middle age/elderly been viewed during this time?

REPENTANCE AND REDEMPTION

What brings you hope?

What will bring wholeness as we move forward?

Where is God?

What have you seen/experienced that has restored your confidence?

How are we called to bring new life and hope into this time?

What healing is needed to recover from this trauma? For ourselves….For others…

What can we do to support creative energy?

When, why, and how do we start moving on?

What is the source of the positive? The healing?

How could this world be mended and redeemed?

What would make a difference?

What might help restore confidence in our lives and the lives of our neighbors?

CULTURE

What are the philosophies that are driving our culture during this time? 

How has our culture changed during this time?

Are there any stories (books, movies) in our culture that help us understand this time?

What are we seeing in pop culture and how might we learn from it?

How are our political leaders interpreting this time?

What non-religious symbols have had special meaning during this time?

What are the artifacts from this time and how will they be remembered?

How will historians characterize this time?

How has the culture that surrounds us been supportive?  Worked against us?

TRADITION

What has been the role of prayer during this time?  How can it be a source of healing?

How has worship changed?  How have our ideas about worship changed?

Where have we found solace and/or wisdom in scripture?

How can the lives of saints and church leaders guide us particularly during this time?

Can we learn from the response of the church during similar times of world distress?

Are we being called to create new traditions or modify old ones?

How has this pandemic challenged our thoughts about death and illness?

POSITION

What convictions have people and faith communities had during this time?

What is the range of beliefs and opinions of those around you? Where do you fit in?

Has your response changed over time?  What have you learned?

What positions have held firm?  What positions have evolved?

Has your faith communities’ response changed over time? 

What has your community learned?

ACTION

What has been your life been like during this time?

How has your life been changed?

What specific actions have you taken in response? 

What specific actions has your faith community taken?

What are the post-pandemic needs of those you are called to serve?

How is God calling us to respond to the needs of the world as we move forward?

What new actions might we take as the during the recovery?

Where and how can we make a difference?

Where should I focus my energy going forward?

Where are we being held back by the past?

What practices need to be redesigned?

*Education for Ministry is a four year educational program sponsored by the Episcopal Church.  During my years of study as an EfM student we practiced a method of systematically looking at a situation or problem through various lens.  The technique was called “theological reflection.”  

I've been working on a separate blog about the letters my parents sent to each other during WWII.  They start out as friendly teenage letters between high school acquaintances, but romance grows through the letters over the time my Dad spent in the South Pacific.

I include transcripts of the letters and provide quite a bit of annotation.  I've numbered them sequentially and it is best to read them in order.

Here is the link:

http://wartimeloveletters.blogspot.com

Eulogy For My Brother Tom

I have many stories I could tell you about my big brother Tom. 

Like the one in which he informed my mother--who was pregnant with me--that if she gave birth to a girl, he was going to go live in the barn. 

Maybe, at age 9, he just wasn't ready for another sibling in the household.      Or, perhaps he thought it would be better having another little brother (besides the 2 he already had) than to add any female power to his older sister.  Well, I suppose, that once I was brought home he must have fallen in love with me, because he didn't end up spending even one night in the barn.

I could tell you about when I started first grade, and fueled by either his own concern, my anxiety, or perhaps my mother's instruction, Tom came into my classroom, just before the official dismissal, to collect me and get me onto the correct school bus ahead of the bedlam of running children and numerous busses to choose from in a dusty gravel lot.  I'm pretty sure he did this for at least my first couple of weeks of school.

Or, there was the time that I dropped my lunch money quarters in the tall grass just as the school bus arrived one morning.  Perhaps I began to cry, and so he just handed me his own lunch money without reprimand or comment.

Well---I could go on and on with such stories about Tom from my childhood and adulthood.   But, the theme to all of these stories would center on his loving care for me. 

He was the quintessential older brother. 

Because of our age difference we were not close in the way that siblings who grow up playing and growing together are close.  Our closeness was built on the foundation of his acceptance of the role of caretaker for me-- and mine as trusting of him. 

I cannot recall a single time that he was ever unkind to me.  He must have disagreed with me or been irritated with me at times, but he never let me know that.  He seemed to just love me however I came to him.  He never teased, lectured or scolded, but just used his humor and problem solving skills to help me when help was needed.

There are not many people we can name who give us unconditional love -----and maybe there are equally not many for whom WE give unconditional love.     For the giver, this type of love takes restraint---requires respect---and demands trust.  For the recipient, this type of love gives hope---builds confidence---and can be a foundation of strength in difficult times.  In my belief, it is this type of love that God has for ALL of us. 

Tom gave me unconditional love throughout his entire life, and I can't even begin to express how important this has been for me.   When I was 22 years old and Tom was 32, our parents died within months of each other.  As I navigated through adulthood, Tom's love helped filled in for that tangible and visible parental love that was missing in my life.

           

In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 6, Jesus tells us “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth --nor rust consumes-- and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."   

This passage reflects one of Tom's core beliefs.  It is a concept that he talked about a number of times with me and I know it was an ideology he strived to emulate. 

I feel certain, that right now, Tom is surrounded by heavenly treasures, built out of his love and caring for myself, Vera, their children, the 13 grandchildren who called him Grumps, and so many others. 

Tom's most prized treasures on earth were us

And the beauty of that-- is that he got to take us with him in a sense, as he moved on to a new existence.  

And the beauty for us, is that he will continue to exist forever, where he inserted himself in our hearts.

Life is short, and we do not have too much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel with us, so be quick to love and make haste to be kind. --Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Eulogy delivered at Tom's Funeral - St. James Episcopal Church, Pewee Valley, KY on 8/30/2014

Eulogy For My Sister Liz

My sister Liz was a teacher, and I was her first official student.  Yes-- my first day of 1st grade at

Crestwood Elementary School, Liz, a recent high school graduate, who was preparing to head off

to college at Eastern KY University, was the last minute substitute for Mrs. Coyle, my first grade 

teacher.  You can imagine how special I felt to have my big sister teaching us that day!  But, at that

time Liz didn't plan on becoming a teacher and so followed the course of a history major in college.  

It was only later, when like many college grads, she was trying to find work, that our dear family 

friend Betsy Green suggested she come to Florida, a place where there was a great demand for 

teachers, and where college grads were allowed to begin teaching jobs as long as they also started 

coursework to get their credential.  But, regardless of whether or not this became her career by 

choice or necessity, I believe that all who encountered Liz as a teacher would agree it was 

something she was well suited for and a career for which she excelled.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts God gives is the gift of helping others recognize and use their 

gifts.  Of the many moving tributes I have read in reference to my sister's many years as a mentor 

to young people, I think one former student sums up the sentiment of many, with the statement, 

"Thank you for showing me that I was worth something." 

In my faith, I believe that God feels we are all worth something.  But, most of us have times 

when we feel we are less than something good.  At those times we need someone to lift us, 

believe in us and inspire us to embrace our worth.  Liz was that person for many.

The effects of this kind of God's work Liz did in her lifetime as an educator are exponential.  

I am certain that each student, friend, colleague and even stranger that she encouraged and 

inspired was moved to do the same for others they encountered along their life path and so on 

and so on and so on --- so that we begin to lose count of all the good that has spread from 

my dear sister.

I also believe that this good continues on like a ripple in a pond that has no boundaries or 

shore to contain its wake.  This image of the continuity of Liz's goodness brings great comfort 

to me in my time of grief.  It also inspires me to reflect on my own sphere influence and

encourages me to focus on building up others whenever I can.  It is not as hard as we might 

think.  My sister was not perfect and we don't need to be perfect in order to do what we can 

with whatever tools and gifts we have been given.  We just need to start today.  We don't need 

to help or inspire everyone.  I imagine that there will be times we fail at this task because our 

own self-interest blinds us to those who need our kind words and encouragement.  We just need 

to lift up one person at a time and hopefully like my dear sister, over the course of a life, we will 

have made some positive difference in this world that, like her, we will eventually leave.

Life is short, and we do not have too much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel 

with us, so be quick to love and make haste to be kind.  --Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Delivered at Liz's Funeral - St. James Episcopal Church, Pewee Valley, KY on 2/22/14

Liz (with me) - dressed for her High School Prom 1965

1960s Christmas Specials

I realize that my personal theology was largely formed by Christmas TV specials that were repeated year after year-- a seasonal ritual. I was born in 1959.  

Here is what I learned and absorbed:

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) -- Laugh if you must but this is how I came to know the classic Dickens tale. 

-How you live your life has an impact on others.

-Often you are blind to this impact.

-If you are consistently unkind or unfeeling, the world and human spirit prevails despite you. The life that is most diminished is your own.

-There is a chance for redemption if you are willing to take it.

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)--

-Those who are different ("misfits") are too often offered limited opportunities

-Perhaps we are all misfits in some way or another

-There is an important role for everyone-- even the monsters

-Allowing everyone to contribute can light our way as we go forth

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)--

-Sometimes what we think is most important is actually least important

-The small voice (Linus) might be the one that helps us refocus our attention

-To treasure and love something transforms it from ordinary to extraordinary-- like the tree Charlie Brown picked out. But, sometimes it requires the whole village to participate in this transformation.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)--

-Christmas is not about the "things"

-It is pretty hard to steal a community's (or person's) spirit

-Redemption is possible-- even for the Grinch who is at the peak of evil -on Mt. Crumpit.

-Forgiveness is possible-- even for the Grinch who is allowed to carve the Roast Beast.

It's A Wonderful Life (1946-but probably showing on TV in the 60's or 70's)

-Every day we have an effect on other people's lives, which we are mostly unaware of

-We need to let others know how important they are to us and how they have contributing to our life in some way (large or small).

-Sometimes self sacrifice and doing good feels like slogging through deep snow and we might want to just give up because it is so hard and our efforts seem to go unrecognized.  Don't give up because others need you and there is still so much more for you to do!!

-Mary