I’m a little stumped as I try to write this. It’s mid March and news about the Coronavirus pandemic is changing on a daily basis. I tried to get some travel insurance yesterday and nobody could advise me if it would still be valid in a couple of weeks time! Yet despite the
uncertainty about tomorrow, there are some things I’m certain about.
In uncertain and turbulent times, we often get confused about what the real problem is. We assume it’s the latest political, economic or health crisis to hit the news cycle. But these are often just the symptoms of a deeper problem.
In 2008 the sub-prime crisis that plunged the world into economic turmoil was caused by human greed. The political crisis called ‘Brexit’ bogged down and divided us because of our prejudices and judgmentalism. The latest problem (COVID 19) is being compounded by our fear. The heart of the problem is always a problem with the human heart.
What would the world look like tomorrow if we were able to respond to each other and the problems we face, not with our old broken nature, but with the new nature God offers us?
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…… those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Gal. 5:22-25
What would the world look like tomorrow if we all surrendered to the type of love a Good Samaritan had for his neighbour? Wouldn’t that be better than simply submitting to the fear and self-interest that made the others ‘pass-by’, or in modern terms, ‘panic-buy’?
We really can turn a drama into a crisis when give in to our worst nature rather than falling in step with the spirit. So don’t be your own (and everyone else’s) worst enemy.
The word for ‘crisis’ in Chinese is made up of two characters signifying ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’. This particular crisis could be an opportunity for us to rediscover that facing difficult times in God’s way is better and to acknowledge that we need his supernatural help to overcome our worst tendencies. Probably the best prayer we could pray right now is a very old and familiar one.
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.”
Saint Francis of Assisi
– Phil.
