The eCrozier

As I write this: the CDC has confirmed 32 U.S. deaths from COVID-19. To put that in context, last year in the U.S. 2,493 people died from falling down stairways, 569 died from falling off ladders, and 36 were killed from dog attacks. I’m not suggesting anyone take COVID-19 lightly, by no means. I’m merely putting its risk in some context. This virus is now a pandemic and we should listen to the infectious disease and public health experts. There surely will be more deaths this year from COVID-19, but the reaction from some in government (treating it more as a public relations crisis than a public health concern) and from the news media who make money by getting us worked up (so we’ll tune in), isn’t at all helpful.

According to the CDC, they don’t expect most people who contract the virus to develop a serious illness. Reports out of China looked at 70,000 COVID-19 patients. 80% of the patients had a mild illness and easily recovered. Of those 70,000 cases, only about 2% were in people younger than 19. This then seems to be a disease seriously affecting older adults and those with underlying health conditions. This is a real public health concern, but our collective anxiety will do nothing to help us. And it’s help we need.

So, why are we so anxious? My hunch is it has to do with our desire to control our lives. We want some agency over what happens to us, so we stockpile hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and bottled water thinking that’ll do the trick. This is just a “presenting symptom” of the larger issue we have with our mortality. We’re in denial about our finite bodies, so we diet (“I’m on Keto, keep those carbs away!”), try the latest exercise craze (“Cross Fit anyone?”), spend billions of dollars each year on cosmetic surgery (“I could use a Botox right now”) all to deny our embodiment, to stave off death’s inevitability, to fool ourselves into believing we have control over our finitude. News flash: We don’t.

Now, I’m all for eating well, exercising, and avoiding viruses, but not as a way to forestall the inevitable or to deny our finitude. Rather, it’s a way we can be good stewards of God’s blessing, which is our lives. That’s why what we all did a few weeks ago on Ash Wednesday was so necessary, but also so utterly bizarre given our current cultural context. It’s necessary because we live in a culture that denies the inevitability of death at every turn. So, the ashes imposed on our foreheads serve as a liturgical slap in the face, saying: “you’re going to die – you’re dust.” It’s also utterly bizarre because it’s the last thing our culture wants to be reminded of. Our anxiety narcotizes us into an amnesia about the reality of our lives, but especially about our deaths.

COVID-19 will eventually spread all across our country and the world. Like our deaths, it’s an inevitable reality. Smart and caring people will find a way first to relieve its worse symptoms and then, in a few years, develop a vaccine to protect us…this time. But there certainly will be other viruses, other dangers we face. Life has never been safe in any generation. Why do we never learn that? Yet, our faith addresses head on all of life’s dangers and our anxiety about death. By faith, we’re called to trust in the truth of both Good Friday and Easter, in our deaths and in God’s promise made possible in Jesus.

+Scott