Forevermore: A Pandemic Lament

“COVID is at the center of it all.” Speaking on CBS Sunday Morning (a show I once enjoyed watching but no longer is what it once was), Speaker of the House (and second in line to the American presidency should something happen to the sitting President), Nancy Pelosi declared that virtually everything revolves around COVID now. The economy, the supply chain, legislation, healthcare, and all the other of facets of our lives are indelibly influenced and impacted by the coronavirus and resulting pandemic. For his part, Biden, the sitting U.S. President, remarked that he doesn’t believe COVID is here to stay. However, it appears we will need to find a way to live our lives within this new paradigm driven by the pandemic.

While the Omicron variant is more contagious it appears to be less severe than its predecessors like the Delta variant. Undoubtedly, a new variant will crop up in the coming weeks as has been the case since the Big Global Shutdown in March 2020.

Much like a civil war, the pandemic has divided people all over the world. It has pitted family members against family members, friends against friends, and neighbors against neighbors. There are those who believe COVID is real as well as those who still doubt its veracity. We inhabit a world populated by humans who are either pro-mask or anti-mask, pro-vaccine or anti-vax. In addition to killing people, upturning lives, and wrecking economies, the coronavirus has separated and isolated people from their loved ones, pitted people against their fellow citizens, and divided entire nations.

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LAMENT—to express sorrow, regret, or unhappiness about something, often demonstratively.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

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There are things the pandemic has unleashed and unveiled that will never go back in their boxes or hide behind the curtain. The scary thing is that we don’t know what those are yet. We’ve only gotten a glimpse or a hint here and there of how this virus has impacted our world and altered our lives forevermore.

Surely birthed in the fiery pits of hell, COVID-19 burst on the world stage out of nowhere, in the blink of eye. Depending on who you believe, it either came to life in some sinister soupy petri dish or on the backs of a random wombat. Suspected to originate from somewhere in China, the virus hit us like a ton of bricks. We scrambled to respond, not knowing the result. Sitting behind closed doors, individuals decided what must be done, taking it upon themselves to determine what costs were worth the risk. To them, freedom seemed a cheap price to pay as many readily gave their independence away.

In response, the world stopped. People innately created for community suddenly isolated. In a time of great need, churches shuttered their doors. Our screens were flooded with a plethora of new televangelists. Hospitals overflowed with patients. Nursing homes were forced to keep out the public, including relatives of those whose care they were charged to keep. Everyone who could worked from home. Except of course those essential workers for whom going to the office was deemed necessary to survival. Smiles disappeared behind masks. Handshakes became a relic relegated to the past.

Jerusalem, once so full of people, is now deserted. She who was once great among the nations now sits alone like a widow. Once the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave.

Lamentations 1:1 (New Living Translation)

Over 5.5 million people are reported dead with COVID listed as the primary cause. More than 317 million people around the world have contracted COVID since it crept out from whatever rock it fermented underneath. The statement “…because of COVID,” rang throughout communities worldwide.

FOREVERMORE: A PANDEMIC LAMENT

Lord, our God, hear our cries of fret and sorrow. Guide us out of this viral disaster and lead us not only to safety but on a path toward righteousness. We lift up those working on the front lines—-those healthcare workers who strive to save lives. Help us remember all the communities ravaged by this evil virus. We lift up, O Lord, those folks living alone in nursing homes or deserted places as we all try to navigate this pandemic. We pray for the poor and impoverished, the street hustlers and the hermits and monks living on our city streets in tents, under bridges, and in the nooks and crannies of our sprawling concrete jungle. Lord, we humbly ask that You would remember Your people. Have mercy on us, dear God. Give us grace, dear Jesus. Show us the path forward, Holy Spirit. Feel our collective sorrow, our Lord, our God, our Savior. Feel our sorrow. Hear our lament. Hear our lament. Hear our lament. Thank You, dear Lord. In Jesus’ name.

Blessings,

The Devotional Guy™

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