Our Bishop

Things I’m starting to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic:

For the first several weeks as the pandemic reared its head in Canada and our lives, including church life, were turned upside down, I, along with many others, kept thinking, “When are we going to get back to normal?”

I’m not thinking that anymore. I’m not sure life will ever go back to the way we knew it pre-pandemic and I’m not sure that it should.

Here are some of the things I’ve been learning during these past few months of physical distancing and recommendations to stay-at-home:

1. Relationships really matter. Although I am appreciative of all the ways we are able to stay connected (telephone, zoom, facetime, etc…), I am really missing the opportunity to be with people; my family, my friends, my colleagues, my church community. It has underlined to me the importance of community. Jesus calls us into community, so I shouldn’t be surprised.

2. We can survive and even thrive at a slower pace. There are lots of things I’m missing in my life right now, but I am finding that I can live in a slower and simpler life. That’s good to know as I head towards retirement, but slowerand simpler means I have more time for relationships. Slower and simpler has meant I have more disposable income to give to the church, to food banks and so on. I don’t know that I want to go back to the old pace of life. It reminds me of what Jesus said to the rich young man, to sell all he had and then come and follow him.

3. Maybe this should be first on my list, but there is a lot more time for an awareness of God in this slower life. I spend more time in prayer, in devotions, in reading scripture. I am more aware of God’s presence with me in all of the daily routines in life, and especially as I go out for my daily walk and see the beauty and wonder of creation. Sounds a lot like love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. (Matthew 22:37)

4. We are learning that we are able to do evangelism. The way we have been pushed to do worship in various forms online has led to unexpected fruit. Attendance is outstripping the regular in-person attendance. Inactive members are finding their way back to our communities. Seekers are checking in to see what message God might have for us at this time. It proves to me we can be creative, we can do outreach. I don’t want to go back to the old ways. We can take the great commission seriously.

5. This pandemic has underlined the inequities that exist in our country and our world. Poverty, homelessness, racism, reservations with boil water advisories and inadequate housing, the crisis of refugees and migrants, the undervaluing of many of our frontline workers. All of these conditions made worse by the pandemic. We cannot go back to our “me first” ways of living. We need to work harder to seek the common good. Sounds a lot like love your neighbours as yourself. (Mark 12:31)

6. Slower and simpler has been good for creation. Pollution has decreased. Rivers have started to heal themselves. Animals are venturing back into humanterritory. It is a lesson of what we can do to address climate change if we are willing to put in the effort. I don’t want to go back to ignoring the whole of God’s creation. After all, the creation is also our neighbour!

These are unprecedented times. My hope is that we will come out of this changed. But changed for the better. Maybe God is using this time to call us back to basics; to take up our crosses and follow God.

 National Bishop Susan Johnson
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada