APPROACHING MIDNIGHT
The night is ever darkening. The pitiless plague is running rampant felling defenseless people by the thousands all around the world. We are moving ever more into the frightening blackness of the night. The scientists guiding us in this unparalleled crisis are telling us the next two to three weeks will be the worst, at least for America. After that, there is a glimmer of hope that the trends of the pandemic will start to slow in this country as a whole. Thus, if their best projections are right, the crux of COVID-19 will come in the month of April. This, however, is a "best case" scenario and that, unfortunately, is not something on which we can rely entirely. This is likely to be the worst April of any of our lifetimes. In fact, Dr. Birx advised a couple of days ago that no one should go to the grocery store or the pharmacy during the next two weeks.
In another way, we are also approaching midnight. This is Holy Week and Friday is midnight, the day of remembrance of our Lord's gruesome execution. At that time, the people all around him thought that the worst had happened, that all was lost. It was their darkest hour too.
The difference in these two avenues to midnight is that we know the other side of Good Friday in our faith while we do not, cannot, know the other side of this pandemic. We do not know how bad it will get or how long it will last. As the month goes along, we too may despair in this terrible hour.
Looking at the data, it is hard not to despair. According to Worldometer, in the last two days, over 150,000 people in the world have fallen ill with COVID-19, and nearly 10,000 people have died of it. In America, the upward trend of the disease is the steepest in the world. Here, nearly 60,000 people have fallen sick in the last two days and 2,214 have died raising the total dead in the U.S. to 9,620. In South Carolina, the last 48 hours saw 348 new cases and 10 more deaths. In Alabama, 326 new cases and 7 more deaths. The only good news in all of this is that the rate of acceleration of the number of new cases across has slowed slightly. The bad news is that these figures are probably very much under-reported.
I thank God every day for the public leadership that we do have. I pray for Drs. Fauci and Birx every day. They are our real leaders in this moment of national crisis. They are our momentary national treasures. I hang on every word they say because they are the experts. True leaders do two things: they tell the truth and they show empathy. Fauci and Birx do this brilliantly. If only our incompetent political leadership would get out of the way and let them alone.
Speaking of real leadership, did you catch the Queen's address yesterday? If not, find it here . She is the epitome of good leadership in difficult times. She should know. She is part of the Greatest Generation, those people who lived through the extremely difficult era of the Great Depression and the Second World War. She has embodied quiet strength, call to selfless duty, and resolve all along. In the War, Churchill tried to get the royal family, or at least the heir to the throne, to leave London in the blitz. The queen (Queen Elizabeth's mother) told him, the children will not go without me, I won't go without the king, and the king won't go. That was that.
Finally, I want to thank the clergy of the various local churches that provided electronic services yesterday for Palm Sunday. It is important to remind ourselves that the faith goes on, the church goes on, even in the darkest hour. There are some things that plagues cannot fell. Truth and goodness are two of them.
I have heard many good sermons of late, but still the greatest of the lot is the one from Bishop Mariann Budde at the Washington National Cathedral, on 22 March. It was the perfect homily for the moment we are in. I have viewed it several times and every time, I hear something new, thoughtful and comforting. So, if you have not watched this video of Budde's sermon, I recommend it to you. It is fifteen minutes long. Find it here .
As Budde says, we wish this pandemic had not come to us but that was not our decision to make. Our decision is how we react to it. There are forces for good and we must be part of that. We are here for the living of this hour.
So, we are approaching midnight in two ways, the pandemic and Holy Week. Let us take Holy Week as our model. The worst comes on Friday. But, this is not the end of the story. Three days later comes the victory of life over death, resurrection. A glorious Easter follows the gloom of Good Friday. What we thought was the worst, what we thought was the end, was not in fact the end. Good did prevail over evil. And so I think we should take that thought over to the present plague. It will come to an end one day. Life will triumph over death. Good will win out over evil.
The night is always darkest before the dawn. We are approaching the darkest of night. Keep in mind, dawn will come, a new light, a new day. Peace.
Looking at the data, it is hard not to despair. According to Worldometer, in the last two days, over 150,000 people in the world have fallen ill with COVID-19, and nearly 10,000 people have died of it. In America, the upward trend of the disease is the steepest in the world. Here, nearly 60,000 people have fallen sick in the last two days and 2,214 have died raising the total dead in the U.S. to 9,620. In South Carolina, the last 48 hours saw 348 new cases and 10 more deaths. In Alabama, 326 new cases and 7 more deaths. The only good news in all of this is that the rate of acceleration of the number of new cases across has slowed slightly. The bad news is that these figures are probably very much under-reported.
I thank God every day for the public leadership that we do have. I pray for Drs. Fauci and Birx every day. They are our real leaders in this moment of national crisis. They are our momentary national treasures. I hang on every word they say because they are the experts. True leaders do two things: they tell the truth and they show empathy. Fauci and Birx do this brilliantly. If only our incompetent political leadership would get out of the way and let them alone.
Speaking of real leadership, did you catch the Queen's address yesterday? If not, find it here . She is the epitome of good leadership in difficult times. She should know. She is part of the Greatest Generation, those people who lived through the extremely difficult era of the Great Depression and the Second World War. She has embodied quiet strength, call to selfless duty, and resolve all along. In the War, Churchill tried to get the royal family, or at least the heir to the throne, to leave London in the blitz. The queen (Queen Elizabeth's mother) told him, the children will not go without me, I won't go without the king, and the king won't go. That was that.
Finally, I want to thank the clergy of the various local churches that provided electronic services yesterday for Palm Sunday. It is important to remind ourselves that the faith goes on, the church goes on, even in the darkest hour. There are some things that plagues cannot fell. Truth and goodness are two of them.
I have heard many good sermons of late, but still the greatest of the lot is the one from Bishop Mariann Budde at the Washington National Cathedral, on 22 March. It was the perfect homily for the moment we are in. I have viewed it several times and every time, I hear something new, thoughtful and comforting. So, if you have not watched this video of Budde's sermon, I recommend it to you. It is fifteen minutes long. Find it here .
As Budde says, we wish this pandemic had not come to us but that was not our decision to make. Our decision is how we react to it. There are forces for good and we must be part of that. We are here for the living of this hour.
So, we are approaching midnight in two ways, the pandemic and Holy Week. Let us take Holy Week as our model. The worst comes on Friday. But, this is not the end of the story. Three days later comes the victory of life over death, resurrection. A glorious Easter follows the gloom of Good Friday. What we thought was the worst, what we thought was the end, was not in fact the end. Good did prevail over evil. And so I think we should take that thought over to the present plague. It will come to an end one day. Life will triumph over death. Good will win out over evil.
The night is always darkest before the dawn. We are approaching the darkest of night. Keep in mind, dawn will come, a new light, a new day. Peace.
