It has been almost a week since we started working from home and moved to self-isolation because of the threat of Covid-19. At this point in Richmond community spread has not kicked in to the degree seen in some other countries, but I imagine that is just a matter of time. So we are being asked to self-isolate. If you look at seclusion as a kind of spiritual discipline, them perhaps the charity of the act will help us find the resources to follow this advice.
It is difficult for social animals, such as us, to stay inside. It is particularly hard for extroverts, or so it seems to me, an introvert. I find strength in knowing that my sacrifice is helping to prevent the spread of a very nasty virus. I was thinking that this time of self-isolation can be seen in some ways like the monastic movement who went into the desert to battle invisible forces for the rest of society. Sometimes people think that the brothers and sisters who went into isolation in the wilderness were doing it to escape society that they believed was completely corrupt. If this were true they would be more like the doomsday folks who hide in their bunkers. This, however, misses the point of the ministry of prayer and intersession is all about. Christ had taught to go into seclusion to pray. Don't make a big show of your religious devotion (Matthew 6:5). Do this for sake of others. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down their life for someone else (John 15). So the monastic movement when into seclusion for the sake of gospel, for the sake of the world.
Also, those who chose to go into isolation for prayer, where going to where Christ had gone, to the place one went to fight the enemy, into the wilderness or the desert, into seclusion. They were doing battle, not against society, but for society. They did this by following Christ into the wilderness to do battle with an invisible enemy. I think that you get the analogy I am trying to draw here. We are being asked to intercede for our society by restricting out freedoms by choice.
This is difficulty to do in the city. Yesterday when I drove to my locked down building to retrieve a few items I needed to work at home, I saw many people continuing to gather at beaches in Vancouver. No doubt each person had a good reason why they needed to take the chance that community spread would not be happening in their midst. I would imagine each was trying to massage the emotional pain of staying home alone or being confined to their apartment or home, in the city. I am not trying to judge why people continue to defy social distancing suggestions merely trying to point out possible reasons and ways to find emotional energy to self-isolate. We are entering into a time of seclusion for the sake of society. To intercede for those who must continue to go to work and provide needed essential services. To try and help out relatives and elders stay safe. We are all inextricably linked together in our world. Our actions impact everyone else around us. This is an awesome responsibility. Perhaps, this might give us strength to embrace what we are called to do for the sake of one another.
Now it seems fitting to conclude with two observations. One by Robert Frost's poem, "A tuft of flowers" "'[People] work together,' I told him from the heart, 'whether they work together or apart.'" The second is the concluding statement from many in the First Nations community, something that is evident from all that is happening, "all my relatives."
