COVID-19: Over-Stimulation, Upheaval and Invitation
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 emergency, collective anxiety is spreading across our communities. Life as we know it is being disrupted. The new habits we foster in this pause hold a promise of more.
Credits:
Media Outlet - Elle Russia (2016)
Photography By Nick Hudson
Styling By Renata Kharkova
Hair By Sabrina Szinay
Makeup By Chris Colbeck
Set design By Jim Gratson
A chair for the balcony, one mindfulness colouring book, a supply of hot cross buns to take me to Easter, knitting needles for my soon-to-be new hobby and two books for mental stimulation - one fiction and one non-fiction. These were top of my shopping list when rumours of a lockdown in response to the spread of COVID-19 started circulating. I’d already picked up an ergonomic chair from work and one of my housemates had received a discount code for the last streaming service we didn’t have between us. We were set for social distancing.
With my list in mind, I left our South London flat and as I made my way through the shops, I was confronted with mixed emotions. First I was ashamed that my main concern was amassing comfort and entertainment when the three homeless men I walk past every evening have no means to prepare for this global pandemic. Next, I was anxious because we are in a global pandemic that leaves so many questions unanswered and my preparation strategy was colouring books and hot cross buns. And then I was angry that we were at the stage where people close to me could die.
COVID-19 has affected so many countries in a way that hasn’t been seen since World War II. We have several months of uncertainty and loss ahead of us but there are two things we can do.
We can pray as Jesus did
One of my favourite lines of prayer, when I was a child, was ‘blessed are thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus’. My 8 year old mind found the word womb hilarious and I felt really smug that I’d managed to learn such complicated phrases and words for my First Communion. In reality, however, I hadn’t really grasped what we were saying and why. In Luke 11, Jesus is praying and his disciples encounter him in the middle of it. When he stops, they ask him to teach them to pray. There must have been something so powerful and captivating about that prayer that made them desire to connect with God the way that Jesus did at that moment. They didn’t ask for a technique or set words, but simply to be taught to pray.
Jesus’ response was short and simple. They were to pray to their Father in heaven for him to reveal himself to them and to set the world right. They were also to pray for daily bread and for their sins to be forgiven. If we were to apply this to our own lives, we would approach God as we would someone as close as a loving parent. Jesus was telling us that we are allowed to ask, ‘God where are you in this pandemic?’ In Jesus’ instruction to His disciples is the promise that this question will be answered.
While we anticipate God to reveal himself to us, he provides mental and spiritual sustenance. It is so easy to work ourselves into a state of worry but that won’t change how the spread of COVID-19 pans out tomorrow or over the coming weeks. All it does is rob us of our peace today. As we would start each morning with some bread or the breakfast of your choice, we can start each morning with a simple request for a daily dose of peace, hope and strength. Our minds only need to be reset until we make the same request tomorrow.
“We need to become uncomfortable”
We can lean into the upheaval and the invitation it brings
The world is slowing down. Buses and trains are running less frequently. Shops are closing. Some of us are working from home, others are now no longer working and having to navigate the pressures that that brings. The time we normally spend getting ready, commuting or doing life-admin is so easy to replace with eating, Netflix, endless Instagram stories and all the other vices that the internet has to offer. My immediate search for entertainment and comfort when faced with a crisis betrayed a certain level of complacency. I was okay with the world as it was, from the need for and constant provision of stimulation to the multitude of homeless people in my neighbourhood to the social factors that will result in many loved ones dying before their time.
We need to become uncomfortable. This is the time to reconnect to loved ones, donate to food banks and to set up WhatsApp groups on our streets and in our buildings. But this is now also the time to question social injustice by taking an interest in the current trends in culture and society. We need to understand and wake up to the structures that uphold injustice, like those that keep people trapped in cycles of poverty and lead to an unfair distribution of resources.
Our sources of comfort and stimulation are being taken away. I can no longer hide behind the veneer of busyness, nor avoid the invitation to spend more time in the presence of my Heavenly Father. As Jesus indicates in Luke 11, our shortcomings are forgiven. God reveals his patience and eagerness to meet us in our questioning, discomfort and uncertainty.
“Prayer done collectively is an appeal to God to set the world right”
I am discovering my personal potential to make a difference in my neighbourhood, city, and beyond stirred in this season. A lot of public discourse over the last few years has been centred around building walls and putting up barriers. COVID-19 has shaken our global economy, politics, welfare and life as we were used to it. Increasing individualism has forced us to navigate life’s challenges alone but we’re now all suffering and consequently finding solutions together. Prayer done collectively is an appeal to God to set the world right. Individually, it opens each one of us up for regular resetting and rest. God is to be found in this invitation to live differently.
WORDS BY
Chiedza Mhondoro
