What's Going On?

Even with the sombre announcement last night, there is still a lot of humour around. Next weekend, the clocks go forward at the start of British Summer Time. Someone has suggested they go forward six months. Yep - that should do it!

Yesterday, for me, was largely taken up with the preparation and conduct of two funerals. Both were for elderly ladies, neither of whom had died through Cv. Attendance at both was very small. Naturally, the friends of the deceased, being largely elderly themselves, stayed away. Others would have had to travel long distances, so they also stayed away. The small numbers added to the sadness of the occasion, and I felt for the family members present. It was particularly sad as there was something distinguished about both ladies, and I'm sure there would have been quite a crowd in normal circumstances.

The second funeral was held in one of our town churches, but the burial was out in the country, in a family grave. (Camerton, for those who know it.) I have been there before, on a walk but not for a burial. It is a breathtakingly beautiful place. You arrive on high ground, and look down on the cemetery, which is by the river: it floods in stormy weather. There are wonderful views all around. It was a fine day, and all day there was a sense of unreality: the scenery being in stark contrast to what we know is going on.

So what is going on? The Unintended Sabbath has begun. Yesterday, I opened up a discussion about warfare as a metaphor to frame our present catastrophe. We are 'at war' against Cv, against germs and microbes. According to this view, it follows that when this is 'defeated' -  through a combination of social distancing, rigorous hygiene, medical care and scientific advance - no more cases are diagnosed, then we can go 'back to normal.' But of course, that is not true. At best, there will be a new normal.

The Christian understanding of the world goes something like this. God created a beautiful world for all to enjoy; with human beings, made in God's image, sharing God's responsibility for treasuring, tending and enjoying what God had made. But humans - we - have used creation as a playground, or a source of limitless pleasure for ourselves and in consequence have spoiled the world and fallen short of what God intended us to be. We have forgotten Sabbath - the practice of rest and appreciation.

And why? It's what the Bible calls 'sin' - what Martin Luther described as 'turned in on ourselves' - basically falling out with God, doing our own thing rather than God's.

Fortunately, God hasn't given up on us. Jesus Christ, God's Son, entered our world (or rather, God's world) in order to reclaim it, to show us the way back to God. By his death on the cross, he took upon himself all the 'bad stuff' in life, and killed it. By his rising to life, he proved the war is won. But the war is not over! Indeed, when we turn round, face God-wards, by faith choose the Jesus Way, we join the battle against all that is anti-God - including viruses, famine, earthquakes, floods, greed, violence, abuse, cruelty, and war itself. And death is, according to the Bible,  'the last enemy to be destroyed'.

But here's the thing. We can't fight these things ourselves. We fight with spiritual weapons such as prayer and worship, love and compassion, purity of lives. And God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us.

I like the way C.S Lewis describes this in 'Mere Christianity':

Enemy-occupied territory - that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, landed you might say in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.

So when we engage with others in fighting this present battle, we are 'sabotaging' just one of many acts of aggression by 'the Enemy', in the Name of Jesus. But the war is won: in the Bible, Isaiah 65 and Revelation 21 both speak of the 'new heaven and new earth', when all wrongs will be righted and the world's settings will be re-set, according to the Maker's instructions.

That's a rather rough, unpolished view of things from a Christian perspective. I find it helpful to put our present struggle into a wider frame of reference.

To end on a lighter note. We're told that christenings, among other things, are cancelled. With this 'stay at home' strategy, I suspect we might be doing rather more of them around the turn of the year!!