While there is still uncertainty about how long this coronavirus will last, we all understand that COVID-19 is a deadly serious global pandemic. We know that all necessary precautions should be taken. With that being said, how are we to live right now in light of this pandemic? We might gain some wisdom from C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Over 70 years ago, he wrote the following words that are very applicable to today. If you simply replace “atomic bomb” with “COVID-19,” I think you will find his words challenging and relevant to us. In “Living in an Atomic Age,” Lewis wrote:
“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”
— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays.
I love that last sentence…about how it doesn’t need to dominate our minds. Church family, rather than letting thoughts of the virus dominate our minds, I pray that we fix our eyes on Jesus. Easter is right around the corner! My prayer for you is that every time thoughts of this virus creep up in your minds, you will remember that our Savior defeated death. He conquered the grave! We have a living Hope!
Church, we know that we aren’t promised tomorrow. However, our God is a good God who is with us! This pandemic did not take Him by surprise. He redeems all He allows. Could it be that He is using this virus to remind us of our mortality…and of our need for Him?
It is my prayer that we will stand firm on the Rock of Ages during this time. That we will find peace and hope in Him. And now, with Easter quickly approaching, let us take this opportunity to share God’s truth with others.
Invite your friends, relatives, and neighbors to watch our services online. Let them know you are praying for them. We have the amazing privilege of celebrating Christ’s love for us and how He defeated the grave! Even if we have to do it virtually, we will still worship Him in Spirit and in Truth!
In Him,
Pastor Zach