Scripture for Reflection – Ecclesiastes: verses 1 and 5
For everything, there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.… a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing

Reflection – Socially Close, Physically Distant

At the distribution of this devotion, I will have gone five full days without a handshake, hug, or a pat on the back from anyone except my wife. Social distancing is a new phrase in our common vernacular. I was beginning to reject the term, thinking we were really practicing physical distancing. But without a doubt, physical contact is an important part of our social existence.

There are three important reasons to remember ‘why’ we are doing this.

1.       To protect ourselves.

2.       To protect others

3.       To slow the spread of the disease so the health care system is not overwhelmed.

An overwhelmed health care system potentially creates scenarios where someone must decide who gets care and who doesn’t. I wouldn’t want to make that decision. I wouldn’t want to be denied care. I wouldn’t want to live with the guilt of getting chosen to get care over someone else, especially if I had gotten sick due to my own careless behavior. Nobody really wins in an overwhelmed care system.

The prophets often reminded the people of Israel that we are all in this together. The fate of Israel was just as much bound up in the treatment of the poor, the orphan and the widow, as it was in the decisions of kings and generals. Times like these provide stark proof of this truth.

As I have talked to many of you this week by phone, I have been encouraged to find that we are all doing our part. On top of that, we are hopeful that ‘this too shall pass’. Thank you for doing your best to protect yourself, to protect others, and for giving our health care professionals the communal support they need to keep us all safe and healthy.

Prayer

Dear God, thank you for the good judgment you have given us so far. If we have erred, please protect us and those we may have harmed. If we are sick, please heal us. God, we miss those we are not able to be in physical contact right now. We thank you for technology that allows us to connect and for those who make it work. We look forward to being in each other’s presence, praying for that to be sooner rather than later. We also want to pray again for our health care professionals and laborers. Keep them safe, and let them know we love and support them. Amen.

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Pastor Brian

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