NOTES, 29 MARCH 2020

It is Sunday, March 29, 2020. The plague spreads. The night falls. However, no matter how dark the night, the light of the church shines. The church goes on as always through good times and bad. We are in a bad time, and it is going to get worse, much worse, I fear. 

The disease continues to spread in America unabated. As of yesterday, the known cases in the U.S. totaled 123,781 and deaths at 2,229. One week ago, there were 25,000 cases. So, in one week, the disease multiplied nearly five times. These are the known cases. Some expert say the real number is probably ten times the reported number because of lack of testing. If this is true, there are now actually more than a million people in the U.S. with the coronavirus.

The latest local figures also show skyrocketing infections. SC now stands at 645 cases and 15 deaths. Charleston County has 108 cases. The "hottest" spot in SC percentage wise is Kershaw County. This is worrisome personally because my only grandchild is there where her other grandparents live.

Alabama has quadrupled cases in one week, now up to 720 cases and 5 deaths. Birmingham is hard hit.

There is a news report that Florida officials are now stopping traffic going into the state and screening entrants for the virus. It should be the other way around, AL and GA should be stopping people leaving Florida since it is the "hottest" spot of the whole southeast.

My good friend who lives in downtown Chicago says the city is practically shut down in a desperate effort not to become the new New York. Even the famous lake front park is closed. He goes out only to get groceries. The CTA, public transportation, is still running although few people are riding.

There are some glimmers of good news here and there. My sister-in-law was tested and found negative to everyone's great relief. Bp Steve Wood seems to be improving in the ICU.

Anyway, it is Sunday, time to lift our voices and rejoice in God's blessings. They are all around us. For me, this is literally when I am in my garden. (Incidentally, my phone will not send pictures at the moment, so no photos of the garden. I am blaming this on the overload of the Internet. News reports say it is near capacity and may be on edge of crash.) I am going to watch church services on my computer and join in anyway.

My local church is offering a sermon on the Internet by the rector, the Rev. Robert Fowler. Catch it if you can here . St Luke's, of Jacksonville AL, is an historic church designed by Richard Upjohn, the architect of Trinity Church, Wall Street, and built in 1856 of heart-of-pine. The altar stained glass windows were made by the same company that made the windows of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, in Charleston. This is only the second time in all its long life that St. Luke's has been closed on Sundays (the first was briefly after the Civil War).

I intend to watch Grace Church Cathedral of Charleston and the Washington National Cathedral later.

Let us remember, friends, that even in the increasingly frightening darkness all around us, we were made for the living of this hour. Peace.

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Video of the day. Thank God there are leaders arising to help guide us through this unprecedented crisis. As it is turning out, the moral spokesman of the hour is Governor Andrew Cuomo, of NY. His speech to the NY National Guard on 27 March will go down as a great one in this national emergency. Although he was addressing the Guard, he was really talking to all of us Americans. Evoking Churchill, he told us the truth, he told us how hard it would be, and told us we would prevail. These are words we desperately need to hear right now.

See a video of Cuomo's stirring speech here .