It’s a question I’ve seen asked frequently on social media. Sometimes it’s asked as “Where is God?” Other times, the question is “If God is good, why did God allow this to happen?” Of course, a variety of people are ready with answers that reflect their own agenda. Manipulative preachers attempt to boost their ratings with statements that have shock value. “The pandemic is a result of sin,” they claim. They pick their favorite sin and incite judgment and bigotry. Others claim that the pandemic is proof that there is no god. But these folks are usually looking for ways to prove that there is no deity in any form. Unfortunately, many religious leaders and spiritual teachers have no answer at all and seem dumbfounded by the questions.
As a person who takes seriously the teachings of Jesus, my starting point for our current pandemic is the same as when I lived through the AIDS pandemic, Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the major flood that nearly destroyed my hometown, Johnstown, PA, in 1997, and the fire that took most of my apartment building in 1979. When asked why someone was born blind in the ninth chapter of the Gospel attributed to John, Jesus responded: It wasn’t his sin or that of his parents but so that the glory of God may be shown. In other words, bad things don’t happen in life because of anyone’s sin. Instead, even in the midst of difficult life experiences, there is an opportunity to find goodness, grace, and hope.
In the Sermon on the Mount conveyed to us in the Gospel attributed to Matthew, Jesus explains that the sun shines on both good and evil, and the rain falls on both the just people and unjust people. The world is the way the world is: there is sunshine and rain in everyone’s life. It’s simply the nature of life on planet Earth. The God of Jesus of Nazareth isn’t one who manipulates events to suit our needs and wishes. That’s a mythology built on some kind of magical thinking. Instead, throughout the sacred writings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is present in good times and in bad. God doesn’t change the circumstances. Instead, God is with us to comfort and inspire in the midst of life’s changing realities.
The pivotal event in the sacred story of the Jewish people is the exodus from Egypt to the promised land. It was this event that formed the identity of the Jewish people. The sacred story conveys that the people wandered in the desert for forty years. One of the overarching images of the story is that throughout this time, God was present with them: as a cloud that led them by day and a pillar of fire by night. God remained present with them, not abandoning them. Whether they were wise or foolish, kind or unkind, faithful or faithless, God’s presence hovered over them.
What did that presence of God do for the ancient people who wandered in the desert? Surely, it was a comfort in their rugged experience of the desert. It was a source of hope for the future leading them onward when they wanted to give up. It inspired them to consider things greater than themselves. The presence of God didn’t change their circumstances. Instead, it changed them. It opened them to greater possibilities, to creativity, to a vision for the future.
Each year, Christians prepare for Christmas. One very traditional song we sing originated a millennium ago: O Come, O Come Emmanuel. I suspect most people who sing the song don’t understand this “Emmanuel.” It is something like a title for God found in the Hebrew scripture. It means, “God is with us.” The phrase, “God is with us” does not mean “with us but not you!” Instead, it is meant to convey God’s abiding presence with humanity. God isn’t up in the sky, aloof in some place we call heaven. God isn’t separated from us, abiding in some “afterlife.” God is not remote. Instead, God is with us.
In this pandemic, God is with us. That doesn’t change the pandemic. The world is filled with many viruses. Some of them impact humanity. For decades, climate scientists have told us that with climate change, new diseases will emerge that we don’t know how to treat. We didn’t listen. So, here we are. Even in the place we are today, God is with us.
We see signs of God being with us as people in cities applaud healthcare workers in the evening. Yes, God is with us as other people sew masks to give some bit of protection for others. God is with us when we see others wearing masks that will help to protect us as we walk past them. God is with us when we only buy the toilet paper we actually need rather than all of what’s on the shelf. God is with us when we donate to food banks or find other ways to support those who lost jobs. God is with us in every way we respond to others in acts of care and compassion, treat others with kindness and respect, and recognize that in this pandemic we all are suffering to some degree.
Where is God in the COVID 19 pandemic? God is with us: around and between us, in our acts of kindness and care, in the ways we help strangers, and in the ways we show patience to our families and loved-ones. Yes, God is with us … but that doesn’t mean there’s the kind of magic that makes us immune from infection or that miraculously heals us. Instead, it is precisely because of the God who is with us and in us that we can have hope, hope that enable us to begin anew each day as we shelter at home or live in quarantine. Yes, Emmanuel: God is with us, today and every day and forever more. Amen.
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