Day 264: Learning in Plaque Time

DAY 264

                              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-eight    Thursday 3 December 2020

Learning in Plague Time

Excerpts from a sermon by C.S. Lewis,

Oxford University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 1939

“I think it is important to try to see the present calamity in a true perspective. The war creates absolutely no permanent human situation; it simply exaggerates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to live under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would have never begun.” - From a lengthy article drawing on Lewis’ sermon in a current Christian magazine.

What is the point Lewis seeks to make? It is this: that there are no such times as could be viewed as perfect for the pursuit of knowledge and beauty, and that such pursuits, therefore, should not be postponed because of any particularly difficult time in which we find ourselves. We live in such a time, and students of all ages are struggling to integrate the pursuit of knowledge into the larger encircling upheavals of economic, political, climate and pandemic forced realities.

  

And beauty? Thanks to technology the world of the aesthetic can be accessed on the internet, museums toured, art shows visited, concerts enjoyed, all in the comfort of home. As for ‘natural beauty,’ legion are the number of online opportunities to view the sometimes jaw-dropping beauty of God’s incredible creation, a single word – nature - encompassing the vastness and diversity of the planet we call home. Indeed, all of nature shouts a silent witness to God: “For God’s invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” Romans 1:20.

The author of the above referenced article observes, “If a thing is worth doing outside of Covid- time, it is still worth doing in Covid-time.” And so with C.S. Lewis, in war or in plague, we maintain a steady course in the pursuit of knowledge and beauty in our relationship with God.

Reflective question: Seeking knowledge and beauty are ways to seek God. In what ways has the pandemic robbed you of these pursuits? What do you need to do to establish both in your life?

Reflective Scripture: Matthew 22:37 – “’Love the Lord your God…with all your mind.’”

Reflective hymn:

“God be in My Head” – The Sarum Primer of 1558

God be in my head and in my understanding;

God be in my eyes, and in my looking;

God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;

God be in my heart and in my thinking;

God be at my end, and at my departing.