If I spend all day talking and praying Jesus, but do not wear a mask, I come off sounding like a dentist’s drill or nails down a chalkboard. And if I can tell you the sins and blessings of the world, dare sickness by being in unmasked, crowded rallies, but if I do not keep social distance, I am a tumbleweed in the wilderness. If I give till it hurts to my church and my community, but do not take the pandemic seriously, I don’t change a thing.
Meanwhile, love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not act like you are better than anyone else in your community. Love does not say, “My way or the highway!” Love does not rejoice when others are harmed by your irresponsibility, when death tolls rise, or violence increases but rejoices when justice is done and wisdom is followed.
Yes, pandemics will come to an end. But love for your neighbor is everlasting. End of the world predictions, they will come to an end. There is a limit on the powers of those who claim to have God’s ear, those who have built glorious cathedrals, and even those pastors with powerful TV ministries.
When I was a child, I said irresponsible things. And as an adolescent, cared only for myself. But when I became an adult, I recognized I had to own my stuff and act in a way that remembered others. For now, we, as individuals, can really only know so much about the way God is working in the world. But later, God’s fullness in love will be revealed as a beautiful tapestry.
And now, loyalty to God’s aporetic path, hope in God’s unknown way, and love for God and one another, whatever the circumstance in pandemic, abide, these three. And the greatest of these, even in the midst of pandemic, is our love for God and one another.