Loving our neighbor in the face of a virus
The delta variant arrives in southeast Missouri
After a delightfully liberated summer where COVID seemed to be in retreat, things have changed yet again. The delta variant of the disease, which has been making its way around the world for a few months, has now arrived here in Missouri. Infection rates are going back up. Springfield was declared a hot spot. St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau reopened their COVID ward and put out a call for people to get vaccinated.
All of this has happened just as the academic year begins. School districts throughout Stoddard County have issued revamped guidance. Southeast Missouri State University has reinstituted masking indoors. Businesses, churches, and event organizers have all been forced to reevaluate their safety precautions once more. Companies and institutions are wrestling with whether to require vaccinations, and when exceptions might be made.
These conversations have always been complex. There is a difficult balance to be struck between keeping people safe and restricting the things that make life worth living. Isolation has terrible mental health side effects. Economic losses create real challenges keeping a roof over one’s head and food on the table.
Sick and tired of being sick and tired
There is also a compounding emotional toll the longer the pandemic goes on. What was bearable for a short while (“two weeks to flatten the curve”) gradually becomes crushing over time.
Because so much of our society exists in isolated information bubbles, an already challenging situation has been made worse. Too many people only accept news sources that reinforce their preconceived notions. The echo chamber effect amplifies extreme voices and makes it impossible to even hear other points of view. When decision makers do not have a shared set of agreed upon facts, true dialogue becomes impossible.
As a result of all of this, our response to the virus has become politicized. Wearing, or not wearing, a mask is often seen as a statement of loyalty to a particular tribe. For some people, one’s vaccination status is less about public health and more about a partisan purity test.
Fear of the “other”
So many people I have talked to over the past few weeks are simply tired. The stress of living through a pandemic is utterly draining. Everyday decisions about where to go to eat, where to shop, or how to go to school have all added up over the last eighteen months. The temptation to either retreat into a cave or simply ignore the virus altogether is very great.
On top of that generalized fatigue, many people I have talked to describe a much more existential exhaustion. In so many ways our society has become coarsened. Patience is drying up. We have forgotten how to listen to each other. Compassion is in short supply. Instead of a moment of solidarity, this has become a time of privatized grief and anxiety. People are scared to talk to their neighbors for fear of the venom they might encounter.
It does not have to be this way.
As a pastor, I find it especially heartbreaking when my fellow Christians are some of the worst offenders. We seek to follow a messiah who taught us to love our neighbor and to pray for our enemies. In the sermon on the mount Christ challenges his followers to be merciful and seek justice. We are called to be peacemakers.
Declaring Jesus as lord means that Caesar is not. Our loyalties are not to a particular party or ideology. We must struggle for justice and peace, but the methodology of that struggle is vital. Paul says our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with the powers and principalities of the world.
Putting faith into action
While this sounds abstract, it has real world implications. Our disagreements are real and important, but they must not lead to hate. Human beings somewhere else on the political spectrum are not enemies who need to be conquered. They are people made in the image of God who simply have a different understanding of how the world works.
Becoming a peacemaker is gut-wrenchingly difficult, but it is vital if we are to rebuild the fabric of our society. Only by taking the time to listen, truly listen, to someone else can we learn to work together.
We can begin by simply taking a step outside our ideological bubbles. Listen to a wide variety of media in order to better balance. political biases. Unfortunately, disinformation is real. Media literacy matters. The Bible says to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. Stories reported from a variety of news sources are more likely to be true than something reported by a single outlier. The more sensational the headline, the greater the likelihood you are being misled.
Read authors or listen to speakers who challenge your preconceived notions. You do not have to accept everything that is said, but they might have a kernel of truth that allows you to broaden your perspective. That said, experts in their fields usually know more than some vlogger you once saw on YouTube. Peer review exists for a reason.
Most importantly, whenever possible, engage directly with friends who see the world in a slightly different way. Have conversations full of open ended questions. Drink a second cup of coffee while you seek to understand, even when you disagree. Sometimes you might find you might find common ground you never knew existed.
Please note: I am not asking anyone to set themselves up for abuse. Some people are toxic and seek to intentionally cause harm. Internet trolls are a sad example of that phenomenon. No good can come from engaging with such individuals. Likewise, there are issues that are too close or traumatic for a healthy conversation to be possible. Protect yourself and leave those topics or people alone. Let someone else advocate on your behalf for the time being.
A prayer for solidarity
The rise of the delta variant has torn at our already frayed society. People are tired. They are worn out. Not just tired of wearing masks; not just tired of social distancing; not just tired of dreadful headlines; they are tired of fearing their neighbors.
It does not have to be this way. The resurgence of COVID should be a call to solidarity, not a time of further social disintegration.
While no amount of social reconciliation will cure a virus, it would totally change the way that battle is fought. Jesus asked us to be peacemakers. We are called to love mercy. We are called to seek justice. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.
May it be so and let it begin with me.
