Don’t Forget

Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 102; John 8:21-30

            Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you (Psalm 102:2).

This verse gives voice to what many people are experiencing these days: 

• People suffering from COVID-19 in hospitals and at home.
• The dedicated and sometimes overwhelmed healthcare workers helping them.
• Public officials whose sleep is interrupted with models, projections and curves.
• Police, firefighters and EMT’s who wonder what coming with the next call.
• People out of work and wondering how they’re going to pay their bills.
• Students out of school and wondering when they will be able to return.
• Priests and other ministers walking through their cold and silent places of worship.

We’re experiencing a sense of individual and collective vulnerability that many haven’t felt this acutely since the Great Recession or 9-11. But that vulnerability has never really been far from us. We just haven’t been paying attention. 

Now we’re being forced to pay attention: to our vulnerability, to others…to God. This isn’t a time for grumbling. Like the people of Israel suffering from another deadly affliction, let’s behold the image of our own suffering and vulnerability. And when this pandemic is over—and it will end, let’s not forget to keep paying attention. –jc