The COVID-19 pandemic has changed things quite dramatically in our world in a short period of time.  A small virus, invisible to the naked eye, has shaken the world.  In North America life has been pretty good for quite some time.  Health care is good, real estate and stock markets generally go up and we live the Canadian dream.  With COVID-19 we have seen stock markets drop dramatically.  We feel a threat to our health and we see that our healthcare system has limits.  Is it possible that we have trusted too much in good health and good finances?  When these systems are threatened, we are challenged to see where our faith lies. 

In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus tells a parable about two builders.  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matt 7:24-27)

If we build our lives on good health or money or freedom, this is like the builder who built on sand.  A crisis can destroy the foundation and everything we have built.  A pandemic teaches us how little we can really control in our world.  However, a life built on Jesus is a life that is built on a firm foundation of rock.  No crisis can sweep away the life that is built on Jesus.

If health is threatened, if the economy is declining, if retirement savings are threatened, where do people turn?  The answer is found in placing our trust in Jesus.  The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12-13 “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”  Our peace is not determined by the external circumstances that we face.  Our peace is determined by trust in Jesus.

We also need to put our present struggles in context.  Things are probably not as bad as they seem.  C.S. Lewis wrote a piece in 1948 responding to a world that was struggling to come to terms with the atomic bomb.  The Gospel Coalition website suggests replacing the word atomic bomb with coronavirus as we respond to the current crisis.[1] 

“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
 
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
 
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”
— C.S. Lewis “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays
 
In the end, though the crisis of COVID-19 is real, and we need to be wise and cautious, we need not live in fear.  I love the Lord of the Rings – in it the hero, Frodo Baggins, begins lamenting the circumstances he finds himself in, a time of war, trouble and uncertainty where Frodo has been tasked with a burden he thinks he cannot carry. 
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

During this time, followers of Jesus and the church have an opportunity to rise up.  In conclusion I’d like to offer three takeaways. 

First, Followers of Jesus can point to the one who holds the future in his hands

Colossians 1:15-20 describes Jesus: “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by[f] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Col 1:15-20)
This is the Jesus we serve!  He is not changed or threatened by the circumstances of our world.  In him is peace.

Secondly, we can take a step back from the frantic pace of life.

Activities are cancelled, sports leagues are on hold and many of the things we fill our lives with are not happening.  Why not take time to slow down and relax and reflect?  Leave the TV off and get creative with other ways to spend time!  Why not get outside and go for a walk or spend time in an outdoor activity?  Feel the absence of activities we have come to rely on and see what your imagination can do.

Thirdly, people can act and be the hands and feet of Jesus

Reach out to your friends and neighbours and see what you can do to help.  Perhaps there is a senior you could bring groceries to.  Maybe you have some extra toilet paper you could share.  You can gather your family to pray and study the Bible.  Get creative in how you can help people during this time!

Let the church rise up and rise to the occasion!  Historically, Christians have been on the front lines of helping people in crises because we choose not to live in fear.  Be smart, be safe but point people towards Jesus, enjoy the break from normal activities and be the hands and feet of Jesus.  God bless!


[1] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/cs-lewis-coronavirus/