COVID Times

by Rev Jill-Hailey Harries, Union of Welsh Independent Churches (UWI)

At the beginning of the year we watched the world being A affected and infected by the Coronavirus, later called

COVID-19. We watched the world, as if we were not part of that world, here in Wales. We thought we were untouchable.

But I am sitting writing this from my study during a second lockdown or ‘firebreak’ as the Welsh Government wishes to call it. Whatever its name, we are very restricted, something that none of us have experienced before this year. We have asked many times what would this new experience bring, what would we have to relinquish? That regular meeting up with friend for coffee would have to go, no more visits to the gym, no football or rugby training, no ballet or piano lessons. The school, the pubs and even the chapel closed. And for a moment it felt like a blessed relief, we were relieved of our duties, and we had time to think and to rethink our lives and what to do with our time. We started by cleaning the house, sorting out the cupboards, we decluttered our homes and spent time in the garden. We telephoned friends we hadn’t spoken to for years, we clapped on our doorsteps for the NHS (National Health Service), some even sang, well we are a nation of song! And on those nights when we clapped we got to know our neighbours, sometimes for the first time ever. The rhythm of our lives had changed, it was time to change the beat. The rhythm of our lives defines us in many ways, during our journey through life it will change many times over. If that is the case then we shouldn’t be worried about it changing again now. We need to ask, did our lives have a rhythm before the pandemic or was it just us rushing around. We have certainly been in too much of a rush to keep our homes tidy and in order, and if that is the case, what else have we been careless about? We have questioned whether we need as many worldly things and whether we need to be as involved in so many extracurricular activities, so much so, that we don’t really give our all to anything. At the beginning of lockdown we noticed the rhythm of nature for the first time in years. We heard bird song, we saw the beauty of the creation around us, and for just a moment we were in tune with it all, we were following the same beat. We liked what

we saw, and we saw that it was good. Then came Zoom ... and we were reminded that we couldn’t just sit in our gardens and homes, we had work to do. We missed the life we had, Zoom helped us to get some of our old lives back. Churches began holding their services on Zoom and on other social media, schools and colleges started teaching over the internet. And we started to cry out for what thought we had lost. So many have compared the situation to the Israelites wanting to return to Egypt, forgetting they had been captives there. They were heading towards something completely new, and they didn’t like it. No more than we like it when faced with something new. We are reminded how like the Israelites we are as lockdown is relaxed and we enter back into our community slowly, little by little, as the Israelites slowly returned from Babylon. For them rebuilding the temple seemed too difficult, too much like hard work. When eventually they did rebuild it, people said it wasn’t big enough and not at all splendid. Some have dipped their toes back into the community and been back to their church buildings, other churches have held services on Zoom, and we have tried to imitate the services we used to hold, an hour long hymn sandwich! Are we captives to the past? We needed this second lockdown, because we need to think again, this is a time for reform, life is complicated, spiritual life is complicated, and the Christian life is certainly complicated. There is a rhythm to be had, and God calls us through Jesus Christ to find that rhythm. It is not an easy

rhythm but it is simple enough:

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.(N) 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. Mark 3:13–14

That they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach,’ to be with him in prayer and devotion, and to go out into the world, it is the world we are part of, although we don’t always see ourselves as part of the world. We need to understand the rhythm of the world, so that we can empathise, sympathise, unite, forgive, apologise.

It must have been after the 1904 Revival in Wales that the Nonconformist church wanted to set high moral standards. In doing so, they alienated those in their communities facing real problems and struggles in life, they became an elite and society became ‘them and us’. We concentrated on who were the best people to have in our churches and how many members could we get on our books. We like to know how many people attend our churches, we count them in and count them out. When I next open the doors of my church building, a maximum of 35 people only will be allowed to attend and if more come then I shall have to turn them away. No one will be able to boast that they have hundreds in their buildings any longer. So now we are set free, yes, to use Zoom for our services and to post them on YouTube so that people everywhere can hear the good news. Perhaps our buildings will become houses of prayer quite literally, whilst others go out to share God’s love.

“We need to ask, did our lives have a rhythm before the pandemic or was it just us rushing around.”

share it in a new way. Everybody is hoping for a new normal. Can’t we just accept there will be a new dawning, and that it could be the greatest experience we have ever had. That it will bring communities together, and it shouldn’t be a virus that draws us closer to each other, rather it should be God’s love. We do not seek a new normal, just the new, and that God’s normal should return.

Jill-Hailey Harries was ordained as a minister in 1986 with the Union of Welsh Independent Churches. At present she is a minister in south west Wales, two of her chapels are UWI and the other two are PCW. Elected president of UWI in 2018 to serve for two years, however due to COVID19 she remains in post. On weekends, before this time of Coronavirus, she served as a street pastor in Swansea and also worked as a sports chaplain for the Scarlets women’s rugby team. Additionally, she is a trustee for a small charity working against domestic abuse. Jill is one of the newly elected members of the CWM board of trustees. In her free time she enjoys paper-crafting.