Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Day 4: Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic



Day 4: Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic
A series of daily reflections for people of faith
WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH 2020
"Prepare to Hunker Down"

“Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases on NBC Meet the Press, Sunday 15 March 2020

Being the inveterate etymologist that I am – I love to study word origins, I wondered, really, what Dr. Fauci was saying to us, “to hunker down.” He linked it to the concept and dynamic of ‘shutdown’ and all that that is continuing to imply for us as a country: “Stringent mitigation and containment” measures.

So while its primary meaning is to hunker or crouch close to the ground, it also means to focus, as in hunkering down to complete a task, or what happens when all around us is being shutdown and we have to hunker down, stay in place.

It is in such a place and in such a time that God issues His own directive to ‘hunker down’ with words more poetic and at the same time more personal: “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10. God’s ‘hunkering directive’ to Moses reads this way in Exodus 14:13: “’Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.’” 

Many of us are experiencing this standing still, this slowing down or even cessation of busyness imposed by authorities in their attempt to slow down this unseen threat. So people heed the warning of Dr. Fauci and prepare to hunker down, to remain in place, to be still, by frantically filling grocery carts to overflowing with huge amounts of everything they might need for a long siege at home. But is this what God is calling us to as people of faith?

Reflective Question: Where are you most in need of ‘hunkering down,’ of standing still, of being still, so you can be overwhelmed with the peace-giving awareness that God is God?   

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God.”

Reflective hymn: “Be Still my Soul”
Be still, my soul! 
Thy God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul! 
The waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Reflective Prayer: Write your own

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