The year's end cries out for at least some brief thoughts about 2020 in part V of the Corona Chronicles. Here it goes.
I have loved the group texts that my most immediate family has been having the past 10 months as the pandemic began and progressed. In my opinion, these group conversations about the virus, the general election, holidays, COVID tests, and work conversations have drawn me closer to my kids, grandkids, and extended family, now more than ever. So, I am thankful for the closeness that the virus has generated. It's a silver lining of a grey cloud.
I miss attending church in person but the live and taped services from my church have been quite a blessing. It has helped me and the larger church remember that the people are the living Church, and conversely, the building is not the living Church. I have been able to watch the services live, taped, 5 days later, etc. It has pushed the gospel more outward and less inward. This has been a silver lining during the grey cloud of the pandemic.
My faith got tested during this pandemic. The test is not over but my faith is stronger than ever. The pandemic took the air out of most of us at some point. Yet, God's Spirit walks and inspires and encourages me. I go into 2021 stronger even as the pandemic continues the test it has for me. A stronger faith is a silver lining of the grey cloud of the pandemic.
From John Milton's "Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634:"
I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistening guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honor unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.
And, finally, from the Gospel of John 1:5: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Amen.
