Day 38: “There is no way out but through.”

DAY 38

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK SIX: TUESDAY 21 APRIL 2020

“There is no way out but through.”

“There is no way out but through….The virus teaches something forgotten, what it is like to be swept away by the gale of history, what it is for every assumption to collapse, what is precious in each single contemplated breath….It’s the end of an era. The virus kills – to what degree is still unclear. It also screams, ‘You must change your life.’” - Roger Cohen, resident of New York City, in a newspaper article 4 April 2020

The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 is our individual and shared history, one which we cannot dodge, from which we cannot be excused, only one which we must go through together. We can no more avoid passing through it than we can avoid passing through 2020 – they come together. History – it comes to us from ancient Greek by way of Latin and Middle English and can mean, among other things, ‘narrative.’ While we don’t get to write our larger cultural and national narrative, we do get to decide how we will respond to it.

God’s ancient people knew what it was to collectively pass through peril without individual exemption, from the waters of the Red Sea in the Exodus narrative to the fire of a furnace through which three young men passed in Daniel’s historical narrative. To them He gave an intensely personalized word through the prophet Isaiah in chapter 40:1-2, a passage pregnant with hope during this coronavirus pandemic:

“But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you…

he who formed you…’Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned…’”

Reflective question: In what intentional ways can you plan your journey ‘through’ 2020?

Reflective scripture: Place the template of the Isaiah text over your life today: how does it fit?

Reflective hymn: “How Firm a Foundation” – author unknown (1787)

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;

for I will be near thee, thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”