By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35
Let me begin by assuring you that my family and I are taking this pandemic seriously. I am zealously protecting my Mom who lives with me. My husband and college kids are working/schooling from home. We are not venturing out except for my (frequent!!) trips to CVS and the grocery stores. When we do go out, we observe social distancing rules, wear a mask, and wash hands 546839146 times a day.
Trust me. We are taking this seriously.
But a concern over a different virus is on my heart today. One that didn’t originate in China but rather in the Garden of Eden. Although the virus itself is not transmissible from human to human, it has infected every single human who has ever lived and who ever will live. It sprays its effects viciously but also deceitfully.
The virus?
SELF-FOCUS.
It’s the root of sin - a preoccupation with self. An absorption with what I want, what serves me best, and it creates an independence from God.
And this pandemic is the perfect breeding ground for it to flourish.
Maybe my heart is the only one who is experiencing this. Maybe only my prayers (when they do manage to happen) are more about my people than the rest of the world. Maybe I am the only one who can find comfort in this isolation and call it “contentment”.
Or maybe not. Maybe some of you can relate.
In our quest to protect ourselves and those we love most, it is possible to become so self-focused that we begin to lose the need for human connection. Seriously. The next time you head to the store for bread (or toilet paper!), take a moment and notice the people. Observe their demeanor. I think you’ll see they look beaten down. Fearful. Stoic. Instead of recognizing one another as fellow image-bearers of the Almighty God, we see potential infectors. Rather than buying only what we truly need for the coming week, we strip shelves and hoard supplies at home for our tribe. And long gone are cordial, courteous chats with the pizza delivery guy - no need because we now have “no contact” options for everything.
We “go to church” in our living rooms at whatever time is convenient for us. We fill our minds with the Netflix offerings and our stomachs with what else we can eat. We “serve” and “give” in ways that require much less of us than being in community requires. We must even grieve the losses of family and friends in solitude. We are in danger of “socially distancing” our hearts.
I know these precautions are necessary right now but the fear I have is that we will begin not only to see them as “‘normal” but even as good. We tell ourselves what all we cannot do for others because we are protecting them. We schedule our digital interactions with our “friends” in ways and times that are comfortable to ourselves, and even congratulate ourselves on how efficient we are. At some point, in our fatigue of electronic connection, we even stop those and boast that we are not tied to our devices any longer. Instead of being inconveniently, painfully, sacrificially involved in the lives of others, we zoom our small group (at a prescheduled, agreed upon time) and deceive ourselves that we still have “community”.
One thing that has intrigued me for weeks is the rapidity with which we have adjusted to this disrupted way of life. Initially, I assumed it was a reasonable and proper response to protecting our health. But as the days piled up, I began to wonder if it is that alone. We as a society are very aware of many adjustments/corrections that need to be made in order to protect our health and yet we do not do so by and large (sugar consumption, anyone?) So what has made us become largely and quickly compliant? (Don’t cite me the teenagers playing ball at the local courts or the grandparents visiting their offspring - I mean as whole, there has been large scale buy in). What has allowed us to become so socially distant? in such a relatively short period of time? Probably not one thing alone. We have become gradually accustomed to drive thru banking and restaurants. Then the norm became online ordering and mobile deposits. Gift cards have begun to edge out time consuming purchase decisions, and now, we can even electronically deliver them instead of inconveniencing ourselves to pick them up at the store. Work duties can be discharged at most any hour, instead of the cumbersome schedule dictated by paycheck distributors. And perhaps, the most fundamental and underlying reason we have adapted to these changes is because we enjoy the convenience and comfort of separating ourselves from people and situations that annoy us, require of us, or disadvantage our time, energy,or resources.
I don’t have an answer. But I am very concerned. Not only do I want to see this as abnormal, I want to resist the temptation to see it as good. Oh, I hear you. I know God has indeed purposed this for our good. I know we all needed to slow down and rest,etc. (The grocery store workers and delivery system personnel might have enlightening perspectives on this….) However, what the world sees as “good”, we must recognize the inherent danger therein. We need community not merely because we “depend on one another”. The greatest need for community is that it keeps us from being absorbed with ourselves.
Greater love has no one than this,that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13