Post Covid Resources

AL 11th May, 2020

Shipwrecked! How social isolation can enrich our spiritual lives – like Robinson Crusoe by Defoe

Richard Gunderman

Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

https://theconversation.com/shipwrecked-how-social-isolation-can-enrich-our-spiritual-lives-like-robinson-crusoe-135133

When this is over 

"When this is over,
may we never again
take for granted
A handshake with a stranger
Full shelves at the store
Conversations with neighbours
A crowded cinema
Friday night out
The taste of communion
A routine check-up
The school rush each morning
Coffee with a friend
Each deep breath
A boring Tuesday
Life itself.
When this ends
may we find
that we have become
more like the people
we wanted to be
we were called to be
we hoped to be
and may we stay
that way — better
for each other”

Laura Kelly Fanucci

A litany of hope……

• I hope that when this all passes, we appreciate how technology has allowed us to remain connected to loved ones, but we realize that it is no replacement for personal connection. I hope to see more people at restaurants without phones in front of them.

• I hope we all have a greater appreciation for teachers and the time and effort and energy care and love that goes into helping not just one child, but a classroom full of them. I hope to see societies and parents be less critical and more supportive.

• I hope we don’t forget the risks doctors and nurses have taken, the sacrifices they have made, and the crazy demand placed on those professions. I hope more people stop to say thank you to those who keep us well.

• I hope after doing it alone, parents value the village they have in helping raise their children, be it a nanny or day care provider or grandparents or friends who help in big and small ways.

• I hope everyone will realize that maternity leave is not a vacation and that stay-at home mothers do in fact have full-time jobs. Maybe we can all just stop expecting of each other and ourselves that we parent as though we don’t work and work as though we aren’t parents.

• I hope those reluctant to vaccinate see the value in modern medicine and the horrors that can happen when we don’t have herd immunity to protect the most vulnerable among us.

• I hope we recognize the critical role nature plays in our well-being and stop destroying mother nature. I hope to see more kids choosing to play outside over playing video games, and more people making time for walks outdoors.

• I hope we appreciate travel, both near and far, for all of the ways it enriches our lives. I hope more people choose to spend money on experiences rather than things after feeling the void of being isolated with all of our belongings.

• I hope we begin to understand the importance of electing officials at all levels who we trust with life-and-death decisions, who listen to experts, and make difficult calls while taking full responsibility. Politics do matter, and they do impact all of our daily lives.

• I hope we all make more of an effort to understand numbers, statistics, and data and stop relying on TV anchors to interpret it for us. I hope we seek out valid and reliable sources of information for all things in the future.  Let us begin to listen to experts in science about tipping points with climate change and see that we can and must act, in whatever ways we can. 

• I hope we start to see workers in the food and supply and cleaning and maintenance industries as vital and worthy of a living wage. Perhaps in the future, more of us will advocate for policies that serve others rather than ourselves.

• I hope we understand that paid sick leave and a right to health care are actually in the best interest of all of us, and begin to demand those things from our governments.

• I hope we remember the fear we felt about not having our basic needs met, and the desire to flee (despite laws and risks telling us not to), and stop persecuting refugees for making choices we would undoubtedly make as well.

• I hope this pace of life allows us to slow down, find quiet, and find balance when we come out on the other side. May we all take from this time the importance of long conversations, meditation, time in the kitchen, the sound of birds outside, dancing to music, reading, writing, and making art.

• I hope we carry with us the acts of kindness we have heard of and witnessed during this time. May we remember the resilience of the human spirit and try to emulate those who have been a light in dark times.

• I hope we remember that our actions really do matter. When this is all said and done, let’s cherish the beauty of “normal.” 

COVID-19 ceased religious freedom but kindled faith

·  Human beings tend to turn to prayer in a time of crisis. Unfortunately, religious places including mosques, churches, daily and Sunday masses were suspended, and rituals curtailed. We could have felt hopeless: “Oh God, where do we go now?”.

·  Getting through these testing times has required a lot of ‘spiritual innovation’. Amid this situation, people were encouraged to stay back, pray from home, and use the liturgy and prayer resources provided via technology.

·  Because churches have been closed over the past few months we have been invited to think in a new way.   For a long time now the ordained minister has played a significant role in conducting Church services. However, a call to pray from home transfers greater responsibility to non-ordained members. Praying from home has brought a greater realisation that all can have access to God through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:18), and all have the priestly responsibility of interceding for other people to God (1 Peter 2:9). It has been a time for understanding that, similar to gatherings in physical Church buildings, family members praying together in their homes is also the real Church Body of Christ in a spiritual sense.

· The call to pray from home equally assures God’s presence in line with what Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew 18:20: ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’. Such a divine responsibility needs to be handled with faith. COVID-19 pushes us hard to rekindle our faith to see God’s intervention in overpowering the disastrous effect of coronavirus (Psalm 91).

· The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us we are—deep down—spiritual beings, whether we realize it or not, and makes us recognise that the problem of coronavirus is right here at the face of our global community; it’s a challenge that requires global cooperation and unity, a component of compassion to alleviate suffering, and a greater responsibility to exercise our faith to witness divine intervention.

· Though the COVID-19 crisis has brought the world to a halt and sadly, the health and economic impact has been disastrous, perhaps, from a spiritual angle, the pros have outweighed the cons making us a global community with spiritual connectivity.