The Body During a Pandemic

Daniel Friess, Elder

“But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

Ephesians 4:15-16

But how is the Body held together when the hand can’t touch the face?
The last couple of weeks may have felt a bit like a hurricane, where a frenzied trip to the store and commotion at work suddenly turn into the eerie silence of social distancing and working from home. Some of us have been home alone or laid off from our jobs. Some of us are figuring out how to care for children and other relatives during this time. Some of us are battling anxiety and fear of the unknown. I don’t know every situation faced by the people of CAC, but my heart is truly with all of you and with everything that will be unfolding in our community, our country, our economy, and our world in the coming months.

My intent here is simply to offer some very practical actions that we can take as the Church. It’s normally easy for us to cruise along on autopilot and not really think about what we ought to be doing differently. The blessing of this terrible situation is that God can and will use this to shake up our lives and draw attention to things that we, perhaps, should have been doing anyway.

It’s easy to not intentionally reach out to each other when we are in the same place at the same time every week. Missing out on our regular Sunday gatherings makes us feel something that we should probably feel, anyway: a desire for deeper connection. This deeper connection can’t be achieved in a few minutes of Sunday morning conversation, anyway. Give someone from the church a call and tell them what you miss about them. Ask about what is happening and how you can pray for them. And do pray for them.

Feeding our spirits ought to be as natural as feeding our bodies. If we aren’t getting Scripture because we aren’t in church, then our spirits were probably already starving. Read the Bible with some of the downtime you have. God’s Word will accomplish what He desires (Isaiah 55:11). Give Him that opportunity.

Pray with, read the Bible with, and disciple your children. If your children aren’t getting anything from the Bible because they’re not in the kids’ ministry, then there’s something that was already missing in your home. God wants to take this time to help you establish your household on a firm foundation.

We are very used to a world in which we can go out and buy whatever we need (and maybe want) on our own. We can’t do that now. Other people may need something that you have, and you might need something that they have. Offer some tangible goods to people who could use them. The other end of this is very important, too. Accept help if people are offering you goods or service. Especially if you are part of the senior citizen or immunocompromised population which is most at-risk of COVID-19, please don’t go out if someone is offering to do it for you.

Embrace the work that God is doing in our hearts during this time as he aligns our desires with his. When we next come together for corporate worship we can celebrate all He has accomplished.