Day 222: Covid Will Not Win - CRUZ

Day 222

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
pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-two    Thursday 22 October 2020

Covid Will Not Win:

Meet the People Powering a Hospital in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Hospital Center, Brooklyn New York

Elvin Cruz, Security Officer

“We lost a lot of our coworkers here, very close people. That really hurt us. We’re still grieving. The job is more or less policing the hospital. With the virus, it changed drastically. A lot of our coworkers were out, so a lot of us had to step up to different roles. I was helping the guys in transportation. We were bringing the bodies out in stretchers. The mind plays with you. Working in the hospital, you don’t know whether you are exposed or not. You know what I think is one of the biggest things that you learn from this? You discover that you have a heart. Through this ordeal, you’ve seen people change. They learned that they have something that they could give, that they could make a difference. During this time people got to see how good you feel about yourself when you let the good come out of you.” *From a three-page article by the same name in a national newspaper.

What can we learn from Elvin Cruz? First, the grieving of fellow workers who have died of the virus says they were more than just co-workers, but “very close people.” That says Elvin and others were intentional about how they related to each other before COVID-19 hit, and it served them well once the virus hit. This is a model the church can learn from Elvin and his coworkers.

Second, “one of the biggest things you learn from this” is that “You discover you have a heart.”

This is something that cannot be reduced to words - you can only know it when it happens to you and recognize it in others when it happens to them, an unseen gift from God for Elvin and his co-workers.    

Third, “They learned that they have something that they could give, … make a difference … let the good come out of you.” Crises are crossroads where we find ourselves faced with making choices. Elvin and his co-workers could have chosen anger, fear, depression, but instead they made choices that resulted in their making a difference, a lesson for us all.

Reflective questions: Elvin, a variation of a French name brought to England in the Norman conquest, meaning ‘noble’ or ‘friend’ – it appears that he is both. Will you pray that God will protect his ‘heart’? Which of the three lessons Elvin has for us speaks most to you? Why?

Reflective Scripture: Proverbs 17:22 – “A joyful heart is good medicine, …”