This season of Lent is a time of self-examination and repentance. It is not 40 days for feeling guilty, as if we can’t be forgiven until Easter.

Christians follow Jesus, and his Gospel transcends and critiques all cultures and all political ideologies.

At the U.S. Capitol on January 7, Bishop John Guernsey (Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic) and Bishop Julian Dobbs (Diocese of the Living Word) prayed The Great Litany.

I beseech you to pray fervently for our nation. Pray for God’s just resolution of our election crisis. Pray for peace and for healing for our people.

God may ask us to pour out what we have so that he may meet the needs of others and our own needs, as well.

And then Scripture tells us that Asa’s pride brought about his own death. In his final years, his feet became severely diseased. He turned to physicians (which the Bible doesn’t condemn—after all, Luke the Evangelist was a physician). But Asa would not pray, he would not seek help from God.

Psalm 102 was appointed this week in the Daily Lectionary and praying it brought home to me the truth that, in the midst of social upheaval and hardship, how we respond will profoundly affect not only us but future generations.

“The Trinity is not about theological hairsplitting and academic irrelevancies. The Trinity is the reality of God. It is the holiness and goodness and beauty of the God who made us and who knows us and loves us. “

Like many experiences of great stress in our lives, this coronavirus season will make us better Christians or worse ones, but it won’t leave us unaffected. We will either trust the Lord more or we will give fear a greater hold on our hearts. We will either press in to Jesus or we will drift further away. We will come to realize how much we need in-person Christian community or we will conclude we do just fine by tuning in occasionally online.  

Like many experiences of great stress in our lives, this coronavirus season will make us better Christians or worse ones, but it won’t leave us unaffected. We will either trust the Lord more or we will give fear a greater hold on our hearts. We will either press in to Jesus or we will drift further away. We will come to realize how much we need in-person Christian community or we will conclude we do just fine by tuning in occasionally online.  

So much has changed in the two weeks since I first wrote to the Diocese about the COVID-19 virus. Most of us are staying home and we watch the news in amazement at the dramatic changes unfolding around us. 

The global spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus, has become a focus of attention and concern for many of us. I have been reading extensively about it. I have consulted with diocesan leaders, including doctors and scientists with advanced degrees and expertise in virology, immunology and infectious diseases. Drawing on their wisdom, I offer these points: