Salt and Light in Covid times
Epistle reading
Romans 8: 35, 37-39
Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?
37 No, in all these things we have complete victory through Christ who loved us! 38 For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, 39 neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 5: 13-16
13 Jesus said,“You are like salt for the whole human race. But if salt loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it.
14 “You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house.
16 In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
My husband Chris is self employed and one of his jobs is fixing security equipment at Costco. He was called in last Thursday evening and he said it was absolutely crazy there. It was as busy or busier than it gets at Christmas and people were particularly anxious about getting – you guessed it – toilet paper. They had been lining up for hours, waiting for the next truck. The next load had actually arrived, but the staff were scared to bring it in to the store. They were worried people would rush the pallets. So Chris went out and told the fifty people in line that the toilet paper wouldn't be available until the morning. There was some anger, but people dispersed.
So what's that all about? Frenzied buying of toilet paper? There have been several articles written about it, and it seems that it's about fear, about taking control of what you can, covering your basic needs.
There is a lot of crazy stuff happening out there right now. People stocking up on canned goods, wearing masks and gloves when they aren't sick, calling in sick even if they aren't ill, people scared to go to work.
Facebook is going crazy with memes making fun of people who are perceived as overreacting, even as other posts spread false information on how to avoid virus or unproven rumours about its spread.
It's an easy time to judge others: “they're overreacting,” “they're not taking it seriously enough,” and so on. But that doesn't help. Each person's experience and reaction to the crisis is different. Rather than judging, our role as people of faith is to help people to listen to one another with respect and compassion so that no one feels ignored or neglected or disrespected.
It's important to keep things in perspective. Clearly this is a serious situation. It has been 100 years since the Spanish flu, the last disease to spread so easily and so quickly in the western world. And in those 100 years, our population has skyrocketed and so has the rate of international travel, so Covid 19 is spreading wider and faster than anything before it.
On other hand, Covid 19 is not as severe as the Spanish flu or most other pandemic diseases. For many people it's no worse than a flu or even a cold. Yet it can cause death, especially among people who are more vulnerable – and their lives are just as valuable as everyone else's.
I don't want to get into the details of the Corona virus any more than that. You can get all the details you want online, in news, wherever. I just want to acknowledge the complexities and multiple layers of this situation. I believe that for us, the real question is how we as people of faith respond to this situation which is so beyond anything most of us have ever known.
For many people this is very scary. There are so many unknowns. When I preached on uncertainty as an act of faith back in January, I had no idea this kind of uncertainty was around the corner! But that still holds true, facing uncertainty is an act of faith. It requires us to say, ok God, I haven't got a clue what to do, or any idea of what comes next, and all I can do is trust you to guide me moment by moment. Just that very act of prayer, of connection with God can be enough to calm us down so we can see things more clearly.
With all the hype going on around us, it's essential that we take that moment of prayer, of centering, over and over again. Each time we see an article with information on more people who are ill, or on governments telling people to come back to Canada asap, or any other news that causes fear and anxiety, we have to pray again, to ask for calm.
The Apostle Paul who wrote that beautiful passage from Romans which Bev read, knew all about uncertainty. Paul had death threats, he'd been arrested, beaten and left for dead, he dealt with physical issues – his famous thorn in his side, he experienced poverty, the list goes on.
I think his words have great meaning today in the midst of our time of crisis and uncertainty. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
We could easily add disease/Covid 19 to that list, it certainly fits into hardship, distress and peril.
All of these things are scary and unnerving, but do they have the power to separate us from the source of all Love? From the one who is the ground of our being? Not according to Paul:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
It's powerful stuff. Nothing can separate us from the love and presence of God in our lives and in our world. The only thing that can separate us from God is our own fear. In fact, if we look throughout the Bible, we find that if anything, God is more present to people in times of crisis, or at least that's when people turn to God, realize God is there, accept God's presence and draw on that love and strength.
I'm sure you can all think of examples of that in your own lives or in the lives of people you know and respect. We know that in our heads, but in times of crisis, especially one like this where the entire world is affected and upset, it can be very hard to remember that God is with us. It's much easier to panic and buy toilet paper.
And that's one of main reasons to have worship service today. It gives us all a chance to slow down, to stop our panicked thoughts and draw closer to God and to one another. Because we experience God in and through one another in very powerful ways. It's a chance to remind ourselves that God is very present in this crisis and that we as people of faith are called to be God's presence in the world at this very time.
Which brings us to the salt and light mentioned in the gospel reading. What does it mean to be salt and light in a time of crisis? Well, being salt is not necessarily about comfort. No one is absolutely sure of what Jesus meant in that passage, but some scholars believe that when Jesus told people to be salt, he meant that they needed to be prepared to say and do difficult things.
I experienced that on Friday. I have to confess, at that point I was still in some denial of just how wide the impact of Covid 19 was on Canada. I went for a walk with a friend, we ended up talking about Covid 19 and its effects on people's lives.
My friend mentioned that her step dad works for the NHL. Now that the games are cancelled, she's worried about him and all the people who work at the arenas where games held. I said, well, they should be fine in Canada at least, the federal government said people can claim EI if they can't work because of Covid 19.
My friend pointed out that doesn't apply if they are casual workers at the arena. I'm embarrassed to admit that my response was, oh, but those jobs are usually extra employment for people, aren't they? It's not like it's their main job?
Sure, she said, but many of them are just working several casual positions. If one is gone, there's a big hole in their budget. Can they pay bills? What happens if they can't pay rent?
All of a sudden I saw the bigger picture of the virus, I saw more clearly how you don't have to be sick or traveling to have your life completely thrown off track.
You can be a healthy person selling popcorn at an arena and suddenly you're in crisis because the NHL cancels their games because of the virus.
My friend opened my eyes, helped me to see beyond my little view in comfortable Comox. She was salt to me. Because being salt is about gently or not so gently nudging people to see beyond own point of view.
We may be called to do that during this Covid crisis. When people are being judgmental of others, or when they don't see big picture, you, me, we may be called to be like my friend, to be salt, to gently or not so gently point out that everyone's experience is going to be different and it's not our place to judge.
That applies to comments on people who think they are sick, or who do or don't go to work, do or don't travel or visit or any number of things, even whether or not to have a worship service at church. It's not our place to judge what other people choose to do.
What about being light? What does world need right now? Calm, probably more than anything. Compassion, listening to those who are unnerved and scared, encouraging people to help each other where they can. Supporting those trying to help, supporting those feeling the stress. Keeping connected as best we can, even when we can't gather. Making sure no one feels alone.
First we're called to be salt, to help people to see beyond their own point of view, then we're called to be light, to bring compassion to the situation at hand, in whatever way we can.
These are troubled, scary times, but the stories of our faith and our own experience tells us that God is most present to us in those kinds of times.