The Ups and Downs of the Coronavirus Spring
“How are you doing?” That has become such a common greeting that often a serious response is not expected or provided.
“Hey, how are you doing?”
“Just fine, how about you?”
Yet in this most unusual time in history, the Covid-19 pandemic, it seems that the question has become much more serious and the answers are much more realistic. How am I doing? I’m glad you asked!
I am very much a mixed bag of extremes right now. I really hate being homebound so much, yet I have loved the opportunities to spend the season in Lent with additional Bible study, prayer, and reading of some of my favorite Christian authors. I am sad that I am not attending baseball games and hanging out with friends. Yet I love that our neighborhood is buzzing with people walking and playing outside, as we visit with one another from a safe social distance. I desperately miss corporate worship and the moving of the Holy Spirit when our church family gathers together in one room on Sunday mornings. I greatly miss the face-to-face nourishment of Gib’s preaching and am saddened that my wife and other Hope Park teachers can’t be with the kids they love so much. There is a great void caused by not being physically with my beloved church family. Yet I am extremely thankful for the blessings of technology: live-streaming worship services, Zoom meetings with Gospel community groups, and FaceTime chats with friends and family; it’s the next best thing to actually being there. I mourned that in our time of Communion on Sunday I was unable to walk with the Bride of Christ down the aisle to the representative of the Bridegroom to receive a personal blessing during Communion. Yet I was absolutely thrilled to take my form of the elements (feeding tube formula and juice) at the same time as the rest of my church family for the first time in 12 years! Oh, what a blessing! I am brokenhearted that church doors will be closed on Holy Week. Is there anything more moving than a Living Hope Tenebrae service or our glorious celebration on Easter Morning? These are the holiest of holy days as we commemorate the events that are the bedrock of our faith in Christ. Yet I am thankful that we have such exceptionally talented and passionate leaders at Living Hope that find creative and instructive ways to lead us in very special times of worship, even while physically isolated from one another.
I am thankful to celebrate one year of retirement this week and totally pumped that by God’s grace I’ve gained ten healthy pounds in the past twelve months. I feel stronger and healthier than I’ve been in many years and am oh so ready for at least a partial return to normalcy. Yet I am saddened with the reality that I must be exceptionally precautious because Covid-19 could be extremely dangerous, even lethal to me because of my ongoing high risk of aspirational pneumonia. I pray that during retirement that I’ve grown stronger spiritually even more so than physically, and that I use this very special Lent season to intentionally draw ever closer to my Savior and to enhance my prayer life. I spend vast amounts of time with no other person around me, yet praise be to God that I am never alone! May this be a season when millions of people across the world are drawn closer to Christ Jesus than they’ve ever been before, and may I be among that number!
- John Barton