Facebook is a wonder because its keeping me in touch with friends and family when I am not allowed social contact that is not through the air or wires or special magic that means the voice comes out of my fireplace (that's Harry Potter, not real life - must remember).
Facebook (and other social media joy) is also a frustration. It's full at the moment with games that say 'the rules are' (are these strict rules for copying and pasting a way of taking back a little bit of the control that didn't come back with Brexit and is definitely not anywhere near right now?). But it's also full of the thing that took me to blogspot to write this post.....
That's those posts that like to tell us that Coronavirus is a good thing - just look at all the good its doing they say....
We're creating new ways of being church they say - how wonderful - 5643 people watched my sermon last week (yes but it's rubbish being online - we're just making the best of a bad situation - and those 5643 people is probably one person refreshing 5462 times)
Look at how the community is coming together they say (yes but you'll find that people come together in a crisis and it is perhaps because we're in an enforced break from real life that people are being nicer, but will it continue when life returns to normal? I'm not sure - I hope it does!)
Look at how the environment is better they say - all the pollution is gone (yes but do we really believe that when we're allowed out again people aren't going to turn the pollution button back on - how are we going to stop that happening?)
Look at how families are spending time together they say - (yes that's great for those families that live together - but what about the separated parents where the children can't see one parent for health reasons or what about the single person households who won't experience family life like that again for sometimes, what about the wife who can't visit her husband in the care home because it's on lock down? What about the woman in fear of her life because she can’t escape the violence.....Do we really think that's a good thing?).
Look at how people are realising that money isn't everything they say (but what about the people who are in fear of losing their homes when this is over, or their jobs when the government rescue passage leaves them sidelined or the business they work for goes under - I'm sorry (well I'm not) but that's a rich person's benefit and nobody elses).
I've read a few times the phrase 'nature is setting the reset button'.
What is Coronavirus then? A punishment for all that we have done? Nature saying ‘I’ve had enough of you?’
By saying that this is some sort of reset button, you are putting the blame for all the suffering, all the pain, all the chaos, all the death, all the uncertainty and fear on those who are suffering - we've been walking against nature and now nature has put this in our path it can sort itself out.
That's a poor perspective, particularly from those people who claim to not believe in anything outside of their comprehension. What is nature? How does it have control?
I believe in a God who is creator - he created a perfect world, and because of the actions of human beings the world broke. It fell. Creation groans.
And right now creation is groaning.
But that doesn't mean I think this is a punishment from God. He’s not pressed some kind of reset button.
This is a result of a broken world. Where is God in all of this? He is sitting in the hospitals holding the hands of the dying. He is an extra guest at the funerals nobody can attend comforting the families. He is sitting in the homes of the lonely, providing comfort. He is promising a day when this will be no more.
But he is not setting the reset button. How can we justify 1000s, 10000s possibly millions of deaths because families are able to sit round the dinner table? How can we justify so much loss because I can see the city of London so clearly from round the corner because of the lack of pollution? How can we justify the pain and the suffering because we can now stream our services online and it will change the church forever?
We can't.
God, our God, is a God of restoration. He is God who moved into the neighbourhood in flesh and blood and walked with people in their most painful moments. He is God the Father who sent His Son to live on earth to die on the cross to take our wrongness, our shame and sin and provide a way out of the brokenness. God doesn't need to send a virus, set the reset button, cause this kind of chaos, because the reset button has already been pressed and that is in Jesus.
By all means, look for hope in the suffering, that’s important, but also acknowledge the suffering. In Holy Week we walk through the suffering before we find the hope of resurrection. There will be a day when all is restored, but right now, it's more than a bit rubbish, and we've got to acknowledge that and stop telling people to 'chin up' in new facebook ways.
I read a prayer last night written by someone who suffers from a chronic illness that means she basically can't move because it hurts. It spoke more deeply into this situation than anything else I've read, so here it is - go read it - click here - she speaks into the reality of the situation - speaks of hope but acknowledges despair - as we live through the hard stuff, hope is there, but we’ve got to acknowledge that there is pain in the suffering - and that God is still here sitting with us amongst it.
"Blessed be your name
when the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name" Matt Redman
