Five years ago, Josh and I attended a conference in New York City. Hushed concern about the spread of COVID-19 was whispered throughout our weekend trip. When I surprised Josh with tickets to Hadestown on Broadway, we nervously sat next to an attendee coughing the entire performance. Little did we know the whole world would turn upside down in a matter of days, with the World Health Organization announcing the pandemic on March 11, 2020.
I’ve been reflecting on this five-year anniversary which seemed to come and go pretty quietly. Like some of you, our family lost a loved one to this deadly disease. Josh’s grandmother Bobbie died before the vaccine rollout. It is painful to reflect on 7 million deaths, and we pray God would comfort those who grieve. We also contemplate how everything about our lives and rhythms changed, as we navigated unknown challenges.
I remain extremely proud of how our congregation found its way through this difficult time. Certainly not perfect, our course was to turn toward each other and those most in need. When it was tempting to burrow in self-preservation, we considered what would protect the most vulnerable among us. When it was alluring to hoard resources, we supported Meals on Wheels to churn out tens of thousands of meals. Though it was frustrating to be isolated and apart, we poured funds into housing those who were without shelter. We faced chaos and unpredictability by turning to compassion and creativity.
Dr. Jenny King, Assistant Professor and the Co-Director of the Center on Trauma and Adversity at Case Western Reserve University, reflects that lessons learned in the pandemic are relevant now. “Stress in and of itself is not bad; it's the pattern of stress. …Chaos, unpredictability, prolonged exposure [to stress], and way too big of a dose of it for us to manage or to process all at once is exactly the type of stimulation that will bring our nervous system individually and collectively into survival mode. And in survival mode, we are not smart. We are not creative. We are very selfish, and we struggle to imagine, to plan for the future. …If we can each do what we can to metabolize the stress and engage in practices to turn toward one another, we will make it through.”
As we face threats and crises nationally and abroad - perhaps personally too - we might be tempted to hunker down and ride out the storm. I suggest God has other plans for us. One of the gifts of faith is “prophetic imagination,” as theologian Walter Brueggemann would call it. God blesses us with the ability both to see things as they are and to dream about what God intends. In the musical Hadestown, the chorus toasts “to the world we dream about, and the one we live in now.” Let us anticipate this world … and work toward it, together.
