Richmond, BC

(Re: COVID grief, Sept. p. 10)

I don’t mean to diminish the real losses that COVID has wrought on individuals and communities, including economic uncertainty and challenges to mental health, especially experienced by the young, those living alone and those living in institutions.

However, to speak of exile as we witness a real exodus of women from Afghanistan, hear of the ongoing drownings of refugees in the Mediterranean, as many of our congregations are involved in refugee sponsorships and some of our congregations have former refugees in their midst, is using the wrong metaphor.

For us to speak of a return from exile in the context of COVID (while the majority of the world’s population has not had access to a single shot) simply shows how very privileged we are. That “going to the grocery store was a terrifying feat” ignores the many in the world who suffer from malnutrition as well as those in our own communities who are receiving their groceries from the food bank and depend on community meals.
—Rev. Christoph Reiners, Richmond, BC