As I am writing this, we are all experiencing an unprecedented event: the COVID-19 outbreak. We've all seen parts of our lives evaporate in a flash of confusion and anxiety. Many of us are exhausted and uncertain of what’s next. In Ohio, we huddle around our screens each day at 2pm for “Wine with DeWine”, where our governor informs us of the most recent and tragic numbers, what we need to do to slow the spread, and how we can help in the everyday fight against this pandemic.
Amidst this terribly tragic event, we have seen stories of heroism by law enforcement, health workers, and “essentials” everywhere. We see our teachers rising to the challenge of educating our youth in new and innovative ways. We can also see the darker side of it all. Social media, as it does, has become a labyrinth of opinions parading themselves around as answers. Hogging more than their fair share of the internet are conspiracy theories, misinformation, and a cynical apathy.
Right now, we are all clamoring for answers. Inevitably, those who cling to faith also express their convictions. Most express well wishes and offer prayers for the affected while others give their theological answers to the crisis.
Many of those answers boil down to judgement, warnings, punishments, and apocalyptic imagery. In times of calamity, these fundamentalist ideas rise to the top in many Christian circles. In the midst of COVID-19, some of the more dramatic scenes of the Old Testament and Revelation can seem, on the surface, to correlate. This offers a convenient answer to all of our anxiety and confusion. I believe we can do better than these cliché answers.
In one of the more profound and unexpected responses to the outbreak, NT Wright, New Testament Scholar, Theologian, and Anglican Bishop, offered some thoughts in his March 29th article in Time Magazine. Many were surprised and shocked by his unwillingness to simply answer the question the way we may want from someone in his profession.
His article (linked at the bottom) is titled “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed to," which is remarkable in and of itself. In it, he explains that “[i]t is no part of the Christian vocation...to be able to explain what’s happening and why. In fact, it is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain”. Wright shifts us away from the impulse to try to explain why something is happening, to instead participating in the biblical tradition of lamentation. Lamentation, as Wright notes, "is what happens when people ask, ‘Why?’ and don’t get an answer."
Despite many people’s frustration and shock with what Wright postulates, I found myself greatly comforted and relieved. Truthfully, I find myself very uncomfortable with those “comfortable” answers offered by some believers.
I have received texts reminding me that “God is in control,” but looking at the rising death tolls around the world, I am forced to ask myself: what exactly is God in control of? In this situation, we are forced to look our theology in the eye and ask if it is sufficient for today’s challenges. How do we reconcile a good God who is in control with the reality of COVID-19? As people lose their loved one’s en masse around the world, hearing that “God is in control” is more distressing than anything else.
I find that NT Wright’s answer, or lack thereof, pulls it all into focus. He steers us back to a posture of lamenting, reminding us that “[t]he mystery of the biblical story is that God also laments. Some Christians like to think of God as above all that, knowing everything, in charge of everything, calm and unaffected by the troubles in his world. That’s not the picture we get in the Bible.” Wright lists off how we see each member of the Trinity experiencing grief. Whether it is over the unfaithfulness of Israel, Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus, or the Holy Spirit ‘groaning’ within us, God grieves too.
I am greatly relieved to hear of a God who laments with us. When we accept that we don't have all of the answers, and that neither our faith nor our Bible is built to have them, we can begin to weep for those who have lost loved one’s, provide for those who have lost resources, and encourage each other as we are isolated and practice social distancing.
During this time, we ought to focus on each other and support one another the best we can. We should resist the urge to offer speculative opinions and leave the reporting to those who are on the frontlines, fighting this thing. We cannot offer up “Christian Answers” to something that religion cannot solve. We cannot live in -or spread- denial in order to prioritize our convenient and privileged lifestyle. We must refuse to reduce this to triviality.
In the midst of this tragic story unfolding before us, we cannot afford to prop up our apathy and laziness in the name of God. Nor can we afford to misrepresent scripture to a world that is crying out for a lamenting God. We cannot allow the Church to simply become the boy who cried apocalypse. And we must refuse to succumb to fear -and its spreading.
Right now, we need to lean in to our inability to explain this. Let’s admit that we, like the rest of the world, are left speechless, heartbroken, and shaken. Honesty is a dose of healing for a world looking for an antidote, not just to COVID-19, but for the fractures dividing us.
The world doesn’t need answers. What would we even do with the answer to “why?" What the world does need is help. She desperately needs compassion and desperately needs encouragement. These are things that punishment and judgement will never provide. The world needs Jesus right now. Instead of asking what sin has been committed to bring this upon us, ask how God can be revealed within this. How can God’s love be shown here?
We can start by lamenting the tragedy, over which we, as Christians, have no special control. Wright’s comments, I think, offer a path to the healing we so desperately need: “As the Spirit laments within us, so we become, even in our self-isolation, small shrines where the presence and healing love of God can dwell. And out of that there can emerge new possibilities, new acts of kindness, new scientific understanding, new hope. New wisdom for our leaders? Now there’s a thought.”
You can read Wright's article here:https://time.com/5808495/coronavirus-christianity/?fbclid=IwAR2c94BX75f7GvZBSd__T-OGkZRtaaw0pNeAqFbaTW7SlRiOSy1o_Hr0Gq0
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