Day 67: "We’re all in this together for once."

DAY 67

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 TEN: WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2020

“We’re all in this together for once.”

“Other generations have dealt with far worse with wars and such. It also helps just knowing we’re all in this together for once.” Dustin Sullivan, who lost his job March 19^th.

Two tragic levelers of society are relentlessly sweeping across the world and our nation, the coronavirus and unemployment. Neither are respecters of any of the traditional societal divides around religion, political preferences, financial status or education, although there is a divide when it comes to race, people of color in this country being hit disproportionately harder in both categories of the virus and job loss.

Over the last few years a deepening wound has been inflicted on our national soul by petty incivility and vindictive behavior, by name-calling and the demonizing of any and all who ‘aren’t like us’ pitting Americans against each other, a wound  being called out by these two levelers, bringing us together in a shared trauma and a shared response that is in itself a measure of healing out of reach until now. Indeed, “We’re all in this together for once.” This is non-partisan.

The God-implanted need and desire to work goes back to before the Fall when God directed Adam and Eve to tend both plants and animals as sources of food, a mandate still in place. So when listening to the emotional upheaval going on in the lives of the unemployed it really isn’t ‘just’ about earning an income: it’s also about something much deeper implanted by God, something that finds a sense of fulfillment in labor, and “we’re all in this together for once.”     

A Prayer for the Unemployed

“Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” - Prayers for National Life: For the Unemployed, The Book of Common Prayer

Reflective questions:

If you know someone who has lost their job - will you reach out to them?

If you have lost your job, to whom are you reaching out for moral and spiritual support?

Reflective Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:26 – “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”   

Reflective hymn: “If I Can Help Somebody” – Alma Irene Thompson (1912-2001)

(Listen to Mahalia Jackson sing it on YouTube)

My living shall not be in vain, then my living shall not be in vain.

If I can help somebody as I pass along, then my living will not be in vain.”