Social Distancing
As humans we are adaptable. Keeping apart from others is becoming a way of life. I feel concerned about the adverse effects of that on people’s mental health. Most of us have adapted, but staying apart from those we would normally be physically close to isn’t natural. Humans are created as social beings. We need each other. I support the rules, for my own and others' protection, but long for them to end.
While we continue to find ways to live with a pandemic, I draw comfort from the knowledge that God doesn’t distance himself from us. One of my favourite sentences in the Bible is from James 4: 8
“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”
That sounds as if we have to take the initiative in bridging the distance between ourselves and God. Thankfully, we don’t. If we want to to "draw near to God", it is because God has first drawn near to us, in the person of Jesus and through the presence of the Holy Spirit among us. God has bridged the gap we create by our sinfulness. God sent Jesus to die for our sins.
God is a present help in trouble and is unconstrained by the social distancing that currently constrains us. The poet Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote:
“Speak to him, for he hearethWhen the 16th century priest Martin Luther was leading the Reformation in Germany, he experienced much poor health, of various sorts. He was charged with heresy and could have been tortured and executed. At the same time, the plague known as the Black Death caused dreadful suffering and deaths among people he knew. His own infant son became ill and at that time he found comfort in Psalm 46, which begins:
and spirit with spirit can meet.
Closer is he than breathing,
and near than hands and feet.”
“God is our refuge and strength,God is a present help, not “socially distanced”, not 2 metres apart, but right alongside.
a very present help in trouble.”
“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”
I miss the intimacy of being close to friends and family. Our grand children, now all young adults live across the road, but we can't visit each other as our daughter in law is shielding due to long term kidney problems, a blood clotting disease, which has caused the kidney problems and now diabetes. We can of course talk socially distanced on the street or via social media, but it is isolating. My wife is recovering from a stroke in July, and although her recovery is good, she is really missing those interactions with friends and family that we are unable to see or to visit. I am able to go into Church with the Vicar, because I work on our streamed services, including preaching, but it seems odd to be talking to a camera, rather than a congregation. I now have to do safe guarding leadership training in early december via zoom, which I have problems with due to my eye sight issues. And just working the system can be a pain. Disembodied voices if the screen isn't working is a particular issue for me. I know that God is close, but if he popped up on screen I would probably die of shock. But of course if we know that he abides with and in us, than perhaps I should be seeing him in every person that I see online or on screen during those zoom sessions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response. Sorry to be slow to reply. You and your family seem to have had a really challenging time recently. I agree - it is very odd talking to a camera when doing streamed services and not a congregation you can see. Your last sentence about seeing God in every person you see online or in a Zoom session, is one I find helpful. Thankyou.
Delete