Our Public Health Responsibility as Christians - The Banner

This is an opportunity for Christians to live out the 2nd commandment Jesus gave to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

Covid-19 has put public health into practical terms for us today.

Similar to when public health advocates for vaccines, the current message of practicing physical distancing is about asking people to do something that will help not only themselves but others as well. Especially those who are most vulnerable.

People everywhere are being asked to think of their communities above themselves and stay home and limit contact with others.

It’s uncomfortable and not always pleasant.

It means giving up what we want in service to others. And it is an opportunity for Christians to live out the 2nd commandment Jesus gave to love our neighbors as ourselves.

My hope is that after Covid-19 is over, we will not forget this opportunity we had to live out our collective responsibility to protect and look after others.

Hopefully we will carry on being advocates for equity, we will think of others' needs above our own, and we will continue caring for the most vulnerable among us.

The full article is available here

On Not Getting Used To Social Distancing - Pastor Melissa Florer-Bixler in Christian Century

My spiritual practices have long been communal ones. I love people and their presence.

Christianity produced an earthy and human set of texts by which we set our lives.

My spiritual practices have long been communal ones. I love people and their presence. I love people and their presence. For me, spirituality is to holding space for the celebration and sorrow of people’s lives.

I love the pitch of human laughter and the varying temperatures of palms pressed into mine. I love textures of humanity, the co-journeying of long relationships, and the tone of voices woven together in song.

This year my Lent may last longer. I anticipate that the absence of my communal spiritual practice will continue to widen a space that cannot be adequately filled with virtual access.

Giving attention to the curve and shape of that empty place, being drawn back to longing for the lives that will fulfill it — this will be what I do in this season of COVID-19.

The full article is available here