Preaching and the Cornavirus/COVID-19
COVID-19 may not have infected every person, but it has infected all of us as a people.
The disruption to our lives has happened faster than anyone could have imagined.
While it took about six months for the virus to spread around the world, everything changed profoundly last weekend in only forty-eight hours.
I’m feeling overwhelmed, shocked, sad, worried, and disappointed that events I greatly looked forward to are cancelled.
You?
None of us has lived through anything similar to this before. Certainly none of us has preached into circumstances like these.
We may have not lived through this before, but Jesus did.
I don’t mean Jesus lived through a pandemic. I mean, Jesus lived with the same kind of daily uncertainty that we’re living in.
In Jesus’s day, crushing poverty, brutal Roman oppression, taxation, illnesses for which there was no cure, and perpetual hunger were the norm. They knew nothing else.
Suffering was ever-present, expected, and perpetual.
But the suffering we’re experiencing—and expecting—is new to us.
At least it’s new at this scale, as a whole people without exception.
Everyone is impacted.
So as preachers in this new reality, we can follow the model of Jesus, who’s gone before us in crisis.
What does that look like?
Be Present
Jesus paid attention to each person, each need, each heartbreak, each moment of pain.
Be present to your listeners’ heartbreaks without comparison.
Most of us won’t have a loved one die from this virus, but the things we do lose are grievous just the same.
There’s a beautiful scene in the Mister Rogers movie, Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, when Fred Rogers phones Lloyd Vogel to arrange a requested interview.
Fred Rogers: On our program, I try to look through the camera into the eyes of a single child, and speak to him, or her, trying to be fully present to their feelings, and their needs.
Lloyd Vogel: Right.
Fred Rogers: Do you know what the most important thing in the world is to me right now?
Lloyd Vogel: Uh, no.
Fred Rogers: Talking on the telephone to Lloyd Vogel.
Note this exchange happens remotely. By phone.
Call people and listen, whether by phone or video chat. It matters.
Tell the Truth
Preach to and name your listeners’ grief: we will all lose out on things, people, events—and “normal”—for the foreseeable future.
Tempers will flare.
People will become discouraged.
Hope will wane.
Into that human condition, Jesus taught, saying:
Do not to be afraid.
I am with you always, to the ends of the earth.
Love your neighbor like yourself.
That said, I think it’s fair that we can have our “moments” since it seems Jesus did too.
“Jesus answered them, ‘You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?’” (Mark 9:19).
Sometimes Jesus’s frustration boiled over at people’s slow pace to pick up on who and what he was.
Though we may be forgiven for having our moments of discouragement too, we cannot let the culture rewrite the Christian narrative. Because Jesus showed us that death is never the end of the story, no matter what kind of death it is.
Resurrection always follows.
That is why in the midst of death, we can honestly and authentically make our song, “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”
Withdraw
At the end of each day, Jesus didn’t meet everyone’s needs.
Most were still hungry. Many were still ill. Others were still isolated from their loved ones. The Romans were still crucifying and taxing the Jews.
Jesus not only never offered excuses or apologized for this sorry state of human affairs, he just plain took off. He “ran away.”
That is, Jesus withdrew.
Jesus withdrew to spend time alone with the source of his life, strength, and calling.
We preachers do not have more strength, stamina, or compassion than Jesus did. Let’s not try to be more than he was.
Accept your limitations without apologizing, offering excuses, or feeling ashamed.
Those we serve need us for the long haul.
Withdraw to be with Jesus daily, who is the source of your life, strength, and calling. Take a long, lip-smacking, gulping, gasping-for-air draught of his living water.
We’re going to need it.
Practice Your Practices—without Ceasing
The moment we think there are more pressing matters than maintaining our daily rhythms is the very moment to recognize how much we need those practices.
Your practices will carry you.
We need to be almost rigid to keep personal routines and rhythms because just about every other daily routine and rhythm—like work, school, paychecks, going out to dinner, movie, or theater, attending birthday parties, weddings, and funerals—is going to be out of whack for a long time to come.
Weeks, if not months.
Prayer, exercise, healthy eating, laughing, talking with loved ones, journaling, art, or playing music has never been more important.
Preach Out Loud
One of the most important things we can do when we preach is give voice to how people are feeling:
scared
anxious
angry
flailing
disappointed
sad
frustrated
bewildered
The more we can normalize what’s happening inside people, the less anxiety they’ll feel about the emotions they experience.
Preach empathetically, recognizing what people are losing that they’ll never get back.
the grandparent who won’t be present when their first grandchild is born
the music at church
the milestone success on a work project
the birthday parties, sports seasons, favorite electives, and dances that highlight the school year
the senior year traditions and rituals that bring a high school or college career to a meaningful close
the years they should have had with someone who dies from this virus
Preaching to love our neighbors as ourselves will be paramount as we figure out how to assist people whose lives and livelihoods are upended by this crisis.
How do we address the toll on hourly wage earners?
How do we provide the medical care and food they’ll need?
How do we ensure resources are spread around, refusing to hoard and trusting in the God of abundance who fed 5000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread
How do we point people toward sources of life rather than numbing mechanisms
How will we encourage folks to use this new abundance of time with their families?
There’s going to be plenty of opportunity to rally our communities to become the best of themselves rather than the worst.
Please let me know your concerns, what worries you most, and what preaching assistance you need. My ministry continues to be here to support you in yours.
Be Good News to Preach Good News,
Lisa+