Suffering
During the coronavirus pandemic I wrote this devotional and published it on May 12, 2020. The message of God’ overseeing protection is still relevant for us this day.
I am 68-years-old with the underlining condition of leukemia. This makes me the most vulnerable to death by the coronavirus. I am also autistic, which means I live every day as an anxious day. This means the constant news coverage of the pandemic only increases my anxiety. I have Asperger’s, which is on the autism spectrum, which means I lack social skills but I am brilliant in one area. My area of “brilliance” happens to be theology. Though Asperger’s also means I live in isolation. I have no family or friends. I never leave my home except to go to the post office, because I get all my mail at a PO Box, as I don’t won’t anything in my yard as a means of self-protection. I do all of my shopping online, so only on rare occasions do I actually need to go to a store. As I live in isolation, this time of “social distancing” affects me the least of anybody in society. Yet, I am still scared. I am very scared!
I was a Virginia State Trooper. We described our job as hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. I could recount those moments of sheer terror to the reader, but I am sure you can imagine what they were. But in those moments of terror, I could see my enemy. I could deal with my enemy with the power of my badge. I was always in control.
From being a trooper, I became a United Methodist minister. For health reasons – autism – I had to leave that profession. While I was a minister, I served in the United States Army for a number of years as a chaplain. I was assigned to a Forward Field Hospital; the reader would better know this from the TV series M*A*S*H*. Unlike the Civil War, World War One and World War Two, where you knew those in front of you were the enemy and those behind you were your friend. Though in our present battlefronts a soldier only knows the safety of the spot where he presently stands. Fear? Yes!
But we are now at war with an unseen enemy. The virus is a war, as much as the World War Two and Vietnam, and as much as there was a war on poverty and a war on drugs. But again, in those wars we could always see our enemy. In those wars we were in control.
This is no longer the case as we fight an unseen enemy. I read that one of the best virus movies ever made was Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman. In that movie, I am paraphrasing, he said we are fighting an enemy that is one billionth of our size. An unseen enemy. And that is why we are afraid. That is why I am afraid. We are not in control!
Like I wrote earlier, I live an isolated life. Social distancing has made no difference in my life style since I live a life of social distancing. Yet, when the UPS man comes, I wonder. When the mailman comes with junk mail, I wonder. When I have to go to the post office, I wonder. When I have to go to the grocery store, I wonder. When I go for my daily walk with my dog Shadow, I wonder.
This is not an apocalyptic moment in our lives, as television evangelists want us to believe. As a student of history, this is just a part of the course of human history. We will survive this and recover from this. The unknown is how much destruction the unseen enemy will cause? How much devastation? How many lives and families will be destroyed? How many people will be economically ruined? The unknown – will I die?
So, where is our answer? Where is our hope? We begin – as Christians – knowing that the God of creation is still in control of the universe. We begin – as Christians – knowing our faith will sustain us. We begin – as Christians – knowing we will assist others whenever and wherever we can. We begin – as Christians – knowing that others who are the members of the body of Christ will support and care for one another. We begin – as Christians – signing the first century hymn as recorded in Philippians 2:6-11:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.