What Is Our Duty, In Faith?

I see the news tidbits about the True Believers, the  non-believers in science, who wind up in a hospital bed, or a  drawer in a morgue,  after they have caught Trump's Virus.

And I want to say "caveat emptor," and every time I have to step back and remind myself that it's not just them. Yeah, "they got what they paid for" but it's not just them.

It's their kids, it's the Lyft driver, it's the grocery store clerk, or someone's grandparents they passed on the street.

And another casualty is a further chipping away at my resolve as a Christian.  At my resolve to forgive them. Not for what they have done, but forgive them for the damage to themselves, spiritually.

If I call myself a Christian I have to forgive them.

It's part of the job description of being a Christian.

That doesn't mean those who commit evil escape consequences in the physical world, but the retribution is for justice, not vengeance.  But I still am compelled to pray that they accept the Grace offered by the diety.

Several years ago I read of a Muslim woman who volunteered to perform the ritual cleansing, before his burial, for a Muslim man who had died. He had not been a man who followed the tenets of his faith. Among his faults was that he was greedy, and spurned the poor, was a drunkard and a drug user.

There was no family to wash his body, and to wrap his body in the ritual shrouds. None in the community wanted to do this, as they considered that he was no longer a Muslim, and by his own actions he had abandoned his faith.  But this one woman volunteered.

She was told he was not worth her time, that he would never be worthy of entrance to Paradise. That prayers for him would be wasted.

Her answer was that you do not know.  He may have, in his last moment of life, repented, returned to his faith, and asked for, and be granted,  forgiveness by G/d.

Why should his salvation not be allowed for?

Why should not prayers be uttered for his behalf? As prayers are uttered on behalf of all who have gone from this Earth before us?

I would like to feel that that woman and I have something in common

What Is This New World We Are Forging?

As many of you know, I am a Christian, and these days worship as an Episcopalian.

Most all our churches for this denomination in the US are currently closed to in- person worship. We would like the in-person fellowship. It is important to us.

As is the reception of the Eucharist

 But it is not essential.

It is not required, in today's opportunities for "remote presence" to actually be in each other's immediate physical presence.

When we gather together through Zoom, or a Facebook Live session, or Periscope, or any other "virtual meeting" technology, we are still "gathered together."

My own parish is having virtual services through July, and likely into August. The current plan for our  annual Diocesan meeting, the "high point" of the diocesan annual calendar, will be "virtual," rather than physical.

This is both a trying, and an affirming time for those of us who consider ourselves "people of faith."

Trying, because of our losing our experience of in-person collective worship, and reconciling, somehow, how our G/d is allowing this pandemic to strike across the globe.  Also trying in the absolute terms of the anguish, however many removes, that we see in those who have been stricken, and their families.   Also trying, for me, at least, is to forgive those who, in their ignorance, or for advantage, are willfully enabling the spread of this disease, by promoting ignorance and false witness about the disease and its effects.

It's affirming, because we see those, EMT, doctors, nurses, patient aides, janitors with mops and disinfecting wipes,  who are sacrificing their chances at health by staying on their jobs. They may not be those who worship as I do, or even worship at all, but all are following Christ's strictures to care for the poor, and the ill, and yes, including those who attempt comfort for the dying and their families.

We see the care for our fellow congregants, in caution, not fear, when we use these virtual gatherings to acknowledge our faith.

We will have problems.

When physical worship resumes, how do we accommodate those who may be otherwise excluded, such as those who do not have the tools for telepresence, or who would have to risk their health on public transit, or risks to those who are frail and fragile of health?

How will this period of enforced distancing affect us?  Think of how it could affect those who are seeking new homes to worship through?  How will it affect the outreach, and services, for the marginalized populations?

Will our congregations dwindle past viability?  Or will we somehow develop new modes of worship and service that will sustain us?

I honestly do not know.

I can only hope, and pray, that I will be able to witness what happens.