What Would You Give Up?
I have been watching the news about the coronavirus just as you have. Probably too much. This working from home allows me to turn the television on whenever I wish and there are always multiple channels giving the news. The story out of Italy has been painful to watch. Why it came about may be debatable but it seems that the Italian authorities allowed people to carry on their usual business, in part, to keep the economy going – Northern Italy relies on tourism. While it seems that their number of new infections each day is going down, they are still struggling with a hospital system that cannot meet the demand. Doctors are having to choose which patients get the needed treatment and which ones do not. A tragic role for those who have taken an oath to preserve life. While I fervently pray that we do not reach that state of affairs here, I wonder what you would give up in the midst of this pandemic? Would you give up your job, economic security, or hospital bed and ventilator for someone else? As a Christian, that might be the call. Hopefully none of us will have to make life changing decisions, but we do have decisions to make. As I have talked to some of you, it seems that you are making the right decisions. Our response can and will make a difference to our neighbors. We are not the first human society to suffer through a pandemic. There have been many throughout history. Luther himself experienced one, the plague named “Black Death.” In response he wrote:
“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”1
We are called to act in this time. But we act as Christians. We act in love – not demanding we be taken care of first, not demanding resources that others need more (such as safety equipment for medical staff). We act knowing we are in God’s hands. We act in love for others. Listen to Luther and do your part.
1Letter to Rev. Dr. John Hess, “Whether one may flee from a Deadly Plague,” Luther’s Works, Volume 43 p. 132. I thank my Friend Mark Shields for this quote.