The Care and Keeping of Neighbors in a Pandemic

Unlike Cain, I think we actually are our brother’s keepers. As the church, we’ve been told to look out for each other, look out after the orphans and widows. To build each other up. To love, which not only covers a multitude of sins, but is what motivates God in everything he does for us. We are commanded to preach the good news.

Good news.

Savor those words. Think about what they mean. Good news.

Do you have any of that today? Did you find some in the 30 minutes of news you’ve limited yourself to? Did you find it on a Facebook feed? A stocked grocery store? A cat curled on your lap? In the Word of God?

Our good news, our gospel, does not change. It doesn’t bow before a plague, a fire that engulfs a continent, an eerily uncertain economic future, life turned upside down, shaken up and then shut into houses.

So, how can we share that Good News? The Truth we hold?

Make the connections. It’s all about relationship. Pick 4 or 5 friends you know were on the edge before the world shut down. Because tragedy didn’t stop. Hunger didn’t end. Overwhelming anxiety and crippling depression hasn’t eased. Our love won’t either.

1. Connect: Call, text, video call, talk on the front porch. Ask them how they’re doing, specifically. Find out what they’re specific fears are, who they are thinking of, what keeps them up at night. Address those fears with Truth. Don’t trivialize. Put their distant family on your prayer list. And continue to ask specifically.

2. Soothe: Find ways to ease their loneliness or fear. Send memes, funny animal videos, photos of normalcy. Read a book together (separately!). Make a worship music playlist. Remind them not to watch too much news, or to take a walk outside every day, or take a long bath, or watch something funny at the end of the day. Share something that brings you joy each day.

3. Pray. This is where battles are won and victories secured. Find your prayer closet and shut yourself in and take it all to Jesus. Your fears, the fears of others, your concerns, all the what ifs. It is not your burden to carry, only to carry it to Jesus. Exchange it for his peace, his confidence, his unwavering hope. Share what he whispers to you with others.

Sometimes I wake up at 4 in the morning and wonder if this is really happening. I want to know how long it will last, how badly it will affect me and the ones I love, what life will look like next spring, or in 5 years, or when my daughters have children of their own. But the truth that matters is that God is still in this. He hasn’t changed, he hasn’t moved, he is no less faithful and good and powerful as he was before and will forever be.

We need to carry that light high. We need to shout that truth from the roofs. We need to whisper that to the darkness, to each other, through the tears.

We have the Good News.