Today I was just amazed by the blue sky, vividly green leaves and grass, and the bright sun. It was cool enough to sit outside reading. In fact, it was cool enough to take a break from reading to take a short walk in the sun. The warmth felt good.
I’ve spent most of the last 6 days in isolation while I endure my first official infection of Covid-19 in one of its latest iterations. I am fully vaccinated and double boosted. I tested positive after feeling some allergy level symptoms and first testing negative. I tested a second time after a few days when a friend I had spent some time with called to let me know he was positive and not feeling well. It is likely I picked it up somewhere and shared it with him. My symptoms were mild and irritating. I’m lucky. Two old friends passed away from Covid-19 and a sister became extremely ill. Clearly a generation defining event.
My parents grew up during the Great Depression. I grew up listening to their stories. People come through hard times. People survive without much. I learned about deadly childhood diseases when I was in elementary school and had all my shots. Everyone did. It wasn’t only reasonable to trust the science but also our civic duty to combat these diseases. Things have changed. A prayer for social order from the Book of Common Prayer comes to mind. It’s a prayer for times of conflict. “O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
I am amazed, along with all reasonable people, how long this terrible virus has taken hold of us all. Over 1 million dead due to the virus in our country over the last three years. And still, we hear too many detractors, dozens of lies, and uncounted hair-brained theories. A significant percentage of the population is willingly believing what is obviously and sometimes ridiculously wrong.
I’m aware of the conservative/liberal divide in this country. A person would have to be isolated and completely unplugged from any kind of media to not be aware. It’s been part of the American experience since at least the Great Depression. I lived among the fundamentalist/evangelical world for better than a decade in the 1980s and 90s. Ronald Reagan, the father of the political soundbite and misdirection, was president and the country saw the rise of the so-called “moral majority”. I watched the particular church groups I was with, move from relatively innocuous Charismatics meeting in homes, enjoying fellowship, reading scripture, singing worship songs, and sharing food toward hierarchical organizations leaning heavily on literalistic readings of scripture and right-side politics. I was at the same time moving towards the God of radical love and left-side world views. I had to deconstruct the things I thought I’d come to believe. It was and still continues to be a process in my life.
I am tired of the cynical trope of some, if not many, supporters of the Conspiracy Peddlers who call me and others “sheeple” for essentially not buying into their lies. I wish they would wake up to the irony of the use of the term. I just read today the passage in chapter 10 of John’s Gospel where Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” OK. I’m a sheeple. Following Jesus, believing in God, listening to the Holy Spirit is not about letting go of your reason. A discerning mind and heart is a foundation for faith.
I was preparing a homily for Sunday. I wasn’t able to preach as I felt it was too soon after my isolation to be around so many people. The epistle for the day was from St. Paul’s letter to Philemon. The passage was about Onesimus, the runaway slave who somehow stumbled into St. Paul and was converted. St. Paul writes to Philemon, a believer, that he was sending Onesimus back not as a slave, but it was hoped, as a brother in Christ. It’s a bold move on the part of St. Paul. Slavery was commonplace in the first century Mediterranean world. Nobody today would openly affirm slavery and yet it still exists. I am going to be reading up on this subject in the next few weeks. We are not certain, but it is most likely that the Onesimus St. Paul speaks about was released from slavery and continued to work with St. Paul and others for the ancient church. I wonder if he preached against slavery in the church. I wonder if he preached against slavery in the world.
Father John P Sullivan 