Mar 8 2020 – Suffrages

Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.


I’m at a conference of fellow archdeacons and deacon leaders. It’s a wonderful group of people, and we’re sharing ways to do this work from peers from Maine, Florida, Iowa, Montana, Arizona, Washington, and everywhere in between. It’s interesting how much is the same across the country, and how much diversity there is. For example, we struggle sometimes in Oregon to overcome distances for events. It’s great to learn from Montana, who has even greater distances.

Tne of the interesting things about this week is that we gather for worship, and we’re all trying to figure out how to address the reality and fears of the corona virus. As a community that traditionally shares a common cup at Eucharist, the struggle is real. There is conflicting reports about best practices, and there are differing degrees of anxiety about it.

We’ve come up with some norms or protocols that reduce the risk of infection and the associated anxiety.

This morning, I’m thinking about how to approach this outbreak as a person of faith. I definitely don’t want to do anything that increase the risk of exposure, especially when we don’t know the severity. I don’t want to minimize anyone else’s anxiety. And at the same time, I don’t want to behave or talk in a way that increases the anxiety.

The sentence I’m reflecting on today, is from a call and response portion of Morning Prayer, repeated every morning. The person leading the prayers says, Give peace, O Lord, in all the world. We respond, For only in you can we live in safety. This is how I think I’m seeing this outbreak. If I were to live with the fear and anxiety of some, I would not be living in safety. My head would be swimming with dire thoughts. To be clear, I’m not suggesting God will protect me from catching or spreading this virus. But I want to live in safety. Worrying about this isn’t going to do anything other than make me feel less safe. It will not change my exposure or risk. Worrying about other people’s behavior or hand washing isn’t going to do anything other than make me feel less safe.

I’m not suggesting this isn’t a real threat. But I absolutely believe that if I keep my eyes focused on God’s peace, I will be more peaceful. I will feel safer. Give peace, o Lord, in all the world.

It’s a fine line between keeping my eyes focused on God, and being in denial about this outbreak. God will not protect me from illness. My faith will not immunize me or my loved ones. But I fully believe that God’s peace can calm the anxiety, which will increase all of our safety. Today, I want to share God’s peace in any way I can. For only in You can we live in safety.