Tuesday, September 15, 2020

As I sit down to write this thanksgiving, I have just returned home from the village church and Sunday’s Communion Service, and I find myself amazed at how the scripture readings are so appropriate in light of Covid-19. We heard Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans (12:9-21) where he is giving the people encouragement, and really spelling out where they needed to be.

Paul says, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” Sitting in church I thought, “how fitting that message transfers to us today in the midst of our troubled times.”

As you may remember, I took off from Honolulu rather hastily on March 24th to return to my home in Cambridge, England. We were coming up to Holy Week, and I was looking forward to the up and coming services at St Mark’s. I say “took off” for it was just in time, because fortunately for me, the very next day President Trump, followed by our Prime Minister the following day, decided to introduce travel quarantine restrictions on both sides of the Atlantic. Since then we have either been locked down, or most recently let loose a little, just as you have been in Hawai’i, although you are sadly locked down once more.

Initially we did not fair as well as you, and we had figures of around 900 deaths each day. But since then, albeit very slowly, the mortality and infection rates have dropped, our death rates to Covid are now below 10 a day, and our beloved National Health Service has been able to cope. Each day at 5:00 pm we switched on the television and heard from Downing Street the latest Covid figures, as well as the instructions of where we were and what we were to do, learning by rote the government mantra, “Stay Home - Protect the NHS - Save Lives.” When things relaxed a bit it became “Stay Alert - Control the Virus - Save Lives.”

Unfortunately with the release of restrictions, some folk wanted to explode into one long party, and you may have seen pictures of our own beach resorts where you could hardly see the sand, with no-one bothering, or having the ability, to “socially distance.” It seemed to me that most of the UK was rushing to the airport to get to Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Portugal to satisfy the need for the “annual summer holiday,” and then on return to the UK were forced to isolate for 14 days, absent from work, and most importantly having no pay for two weeks. In contrast, some of us older folks do not venture very far. Here in the village things have been a little more self-controlled.

Similarly to Hawai’i, our church doors remained closed for a long time, but it seemed to me that this was a time when they needed to be wide open. Being physically present inside a church for me is essential, for I feel the need to be with others to pray collectively to nourish our souls and to pray for the needs of the world. However, we all leaned how to Zoom and took to the airwaves for our communal worship. Some good news is that many of our successful parish churches have gained lots by exploring new ways of communicating, bringing the church to the house, highlighting that church is not defined to the building, but by being together. It is interesting to note that here at St Mary’s more people attend Sunday evensong online now than do so in the church. Other good news is that our choirs can now sing in church (choirs only), and they are socially distanced of course.

Perhaps this is an opportunity to think again about the church’s path for the future. As an aside, we have 300 historical churches in this area of East Anglia alone, which brings up the question of survival after this pandemic has past. Many of our buildings have a titanic value for just being there. Church finances have been hit badly with increasing deficits due to the lockdown. Our glorious Royal Peculiar Westminster Abbey has had to let go 60 of their staff. Before the lockdown around 4,000 visitors passed through the Abbey doors each day, paying a £19 ($25) entry fee. With very few visitors now the question would be, how do they see their way forward?

We all have to find ways of keeping life going, while accepting these upsurges in the virus. If things are not how they were, and we have to give things up, we will have to accept that this is a dangerous time, and know that every good thing we have, like being alive itself, is a gift. As well, it is a gift having the things we value the most, such as contact with those who matter the most to us, and helping those in need. I thank God for my faith, hope, and trust, and I know that the future is in God alone.

In closing I would like to quote from Winston Churchill, our beloved hero (my words), and his refusal to give in, even when things were going badly. He wrote with regard to the Battle of Britain:

This is not the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.
But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

And so my cry is “let’s not go mad and spoil it!”

Love and prayers from across the seas - from the Land of Hope and Glory.

Trevor Ward