COVID 19: An Eco Centric Perspective

A Post COVID-19 Landscape of Faith:

(We are all in this together)

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants

for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1)

Mankind has been suffering from the devastating COVID-19 pandemic since January 2020, with over 25 million infected people across the world and more than a million deaths as of the end of August 2020. National governments across the world used lockdown, quarantine, social distancing, hand washing, personal protective equipment (PPE), hospitalisation, ventilators and many other measures to save the lives of people. This virus is still with us and the scientific prediction is that we may have to live with it for a considerable length of time; the world is desperately waiting for vaccines and other preventive measures to come online.

Humanity suddenly woke up and realised that ‘we are all in this together’; there is no safe place on the planet to hide from this virus. It does not discriminate; it is infecting everyone in its path and it is more devastating to older section of the population, ‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities (BAME)’ and socially deprived people living in poor housing conditions and homeless people sleeping on the streets. We may possibly continue with blame games in one way or other. Apart from its immediate effect on man’s respiratory system, it affects various other organs of the body including unforeseen neurological impairments and has psychological long-term effects; it also has generated much socio-economic, welfare, psychological and spiritual issues affecting the wellbeing of humanity. Therefore, it seems to be a good time to assess the challenges and our responses to them. Has it strengthened or weakened our faith? How do we adjust to this novel experience? Will live streamed, virtual, worship become a ‘new normal’ which has been one of the legacies of the pandemic and will become a way of bringing more people into a faith-based life in a post-pandemic landscape, particularly those who never attended church-based corporate worship? It is against this backdrop, we have selected the theme: ‘A post COVID-19 landscape of faith’ for the October issue of the FOCUS.

‘We are all in this together’ realisation is a good place to begin sketching more fully the sort of re-conception and reconstruction needed in our understanding of the Christian faith and corporate worship after many months of live stream worship, prayers and the inability in the physical participation for the Holy Communion, intimate person to person interaction and meaningful fellowship. What does this pandemic period contribute for humanity’s self- understanding and spiritual journey? We have taken for granted so many things in our spiritual journey and have become familiar to sacraments and faith practices without feeling its holiness or the presence of God in our worship services. Does the present situation invite and demand theologians and leaders of churches to undertake a critical analysis of the traditional concepts of worship and other practices? Mankind has managed to avert a nuclear war after the hostilities of the Second World War; non-proliferation treaties, Gorbachev’s glasnosts, international peace initiatives, the end of the cold war and all such factors have lulled most activists into complacency. But the 9/11 destruction of the trade centre in New York, Al-Qaida, Iraqi war, social media-generated upraising in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Hong Kong has again created enormous challenges and instability. However, some of these were based on region-specific issues, but the threat from the COVID-19 pandemic is of a different scale and has wiped out many human aspirations. The ability of mankind to destroy itself was previously considered to be entirely due to man-made weapons of mass destruction, clash of civilisations, religious wars, the destruction of the environment and ecological damage; it has now shifted to the destructive powers of viruses and similar biological enemies and the threat may continue in different shapes and intensities for years to come.

In the middle of this pandemic we have heard loudly and clearly from Mr. George Floyd of the United States, “I cannot breathe”; he died because the knee of a law enforcement officer blocked his windpipe; the knee of racial hatred was on his neck chocking and preventing him from breathing. He was locked out of justice, compassion and love and he died with a message to the whole world about not having the most fundamental of freedoms, the freedom to breathe. Therefore, we need to believe and reaffirm our faith ‘in Christ’, which should help us to have the God-given strength and ever living hope to withstand these threats to care for each other and re-establish the notion that ‘we are all in this together’ to fight the pandemic, the racial discrimination, other violations of human rights and ecological issues for the good of everyone.

TheBeveridge Reportof 1942 during the Second World War identified five important priorities known as the 'five giants’ for post-war reconstruction of the UK. These were Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. Tackling these social maladieswas the primary focus of the 1945 government of Atlee’s social welfare programme in the UK and remained important throughout the second half of the 20 th century. It is easy to see the influence of Christian understanding in the development of the welfare philosophy and the creation of a welfare state in the UK. It was indeed influenced by the ethical values of the kingdom of God, a longing for Justice, truth and a concern for neighbours and communities. All that is good in the western society stems from Christianity and now that influence is slowly fading away.

We need a new world-view and a worldwide programme for the socio-economic recovery from this pandemic. The faith community has a major role in developing this recovery programme. Apart from health-related issues, problems of poverty, issues of social injustice, racial and many other forms of dehumanisation surfaced during this pandemic, which raise serious challenges for the Church. It is indeed a challenge for the Christian communities to address these everyday issues. A new sympathetic understanding under the guidance of the Holy Spirit is urgently needed across the whole spectrum of human experiences and problems arising from this pandemic. Only when that comprehensive work begins we really understand what God has in store for us to reach a ‘new normal’ in the post-COVID-19 pandemic landscape.