“So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Matthew 10:26 (NIV)
These are scary times. We are battling an enemy that we cannot see, but that packs a deadly punch. Who knows how many people have actually contracted the Covid-19 virus, and how many have truly died from it. The real numbers are certainly much higher than the official count. We are seeing record numbers of people lose their jobs, and maybe worse, as the economy crumbles. Businesses are on the edge, people are angry and frightened, and there is not a clear path out of this dark period.
The current state of things in the world has exposed some big things that we thought were concealed. They never were really hidden, but we lived with the illusion that they were. And that may be one of the most unsettling things to come out of this time…the shattering of so many illusions and the spotlighting of some very real issues.
We have been living under the illusion that we were in control of much of our lives and much of our environments. We are not. We have been living under the illusion that our way of life was healthy and good for most, if not all, of us. It wasn’t, and it still won’t be if we try to just go back to it.
We have been living as if there would never be a price to pay for our arrogance and greed. There is one, and some of the bill is coming due. We have lived as if our individual rights were absolute, but if yours get in the way of mine then they take a backseat to mine. Obviously, that doesn’t work.
Racial and economic inequality have been with us forever, but right now are on full display and it is not a pretty picture. That is not a normal we need to return to. There seems to be no social contract binding us together right now, and thus it seems that it is every man, woman, child, and family for themselves. That might work if resources and opportunities were equal, but they are not.
But while it is not easy to have our flaws and our darkness brought out into the light, there can be hope. Our brokenness is an opportunity for, and an invitation to, resurrection. But it must be resurrection to something new, for a return to the old life, the one that seems to be gasping for air, is not an option, or at least not one we should want.
There is not a lot that we can control right now, and we cannot know when and how this health and economic crisis will be over. But what we can control is our minds and our hearts and our response. We can give in to fear (that one is easy…I chose that one for the first several weeks of this) or we can set ourselves to the hard work of looking deep inside and dealing with the darkness and the clutter we find. We can allow ourselves to be changed through this, and then we can set about to change the broken things (the systems and the culture) around us.
What if we could emerge from these times as a kinder, more connected, more just society? What if we could use this time to reevaluate everything that we thought was most important? What if we used this time fix some things that we have just accepted as normal, but that we can now see as being so unhealthy?
What has been concealed is being revealed, so let’s embrace it and do the hard work it requires and choose resurrection instead of fear.