Lock-down

Yesterday, as a community we decided to isolate our four dwelling places with immediate effect. There were of course many practical issues to sort out as hitherto we were used to sharing resources.

This morning I woke to a strange feeling. The world has become an emptier, quieter place. And my daughter and son and their families, though living just down the road, have become isolated from each other and from us. No more grandpa stories of Sally-Anne and Smokey the dragon.

Even stranger, cognisant of the very sensible advice to wash hands often and thoroughly, I happened this morning to read from Mark chapter 7. Was this just coincidental?

...the Pharisees... saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" ...

And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 

As I gaze out of the window: a lovely day, blue sky and warm enough in the sun, it seems like three disparate realms are meeting in my head. The wonder of nature, the elusive spiritual world of faith and hoped for miracles, and what the news is throwing at us. And somewhere in all three realms the COVID-19 virus is lurking.

It's not that I am afraid. But I'd like a better understanding. For example we had a time of prayer after our evening meal and one person asked God to help the researchers find a vaccine quickly. And, critical as ever, I thought - why not ask Him to simply end this plague?