A Pandemic Gospel

This is for those who (want to) believe that good things can come out of bad.

I understand that redemptive seeking does not come naturally to most of us, we are more prone to complain and pine for any pain to go away quickly. And the Pandemic has given us ample reason to do so!

Every one of us has felt dislodged from routines that gave us a sense of security or stability. We have experienced dislocation as space and place contribute to our sense of identity and wellness. The distancing we had to subject ourselves to seems an uncanny outward manifestation of the inner dissociation we all feel.

The Pandemic’s effects, immediate and long-term, will continue to reverberate and reveal themselves.

As someone who believes in God, specifically, a God who has staked Himself as the One we can all turn to, powerful, caring, and involved, who deigns to call let us call him Father, I turn to Him for answers.

Mind you, this is not how I relate to my earthly, biological father, who while a good man, just wasn’t someone I looked to for answers. Do I then sometimes get a tad skeptical about God as Father? Interestingly, not really. This goes to show that faith is a bit of a mystery, to say the least.

We should not be surprised really. Life is a bit of a mystery too. From our birth to all good things and accidents, rewards and regrets in between, our explanations will always come up short.

Still, in part because of my personality, in part, because we are a meaning-seeking species, and in part, because I can turn to God for answers, I am curious about the underbelly of this leviathan that has snaked its way around the world wreaking havoc, again. Today, I saw something more than what I had written about previously, here and here.

It’s the Gospel or the good news. It’s not going to be a recovered and booming economy, resumption, and betterment of life… because by now we should know that the world contracts and expands as surely as the sun rises and sets, and none of these things are permanent. In fact, we have economic cycles, institutional cycles. life cycles.

But the Bible posits that these cycles are nonetheless happening around a steady trajectory with a clear beginning and a clear end.