Conviviality and Covid

 Conviviality in a time of Covid

 

My initial experience of Covid was in the main academic and based largely on rumours of what was happening in Wuhan, China which I heard on the local news and read in my daily newspaper.

 

Initially in the UK the TV News was debating ‘Herd Immunity’ a means of controlling the disease by allowing it to spread throughout the population thereby allowing individuals affected to build immunity by developing anti-bodies. 

 

However the spread of the Virus was dramatic mainly as a result of it being so infectious. The message from the Government was based on three statements:

 

Hands – Face – Space

 

A slogan which encouraged everyone to wash their hands thoroughly and frequently and to use sanitizer. To be aware of the need to keep their breathing away from others to prevent infection and to wear a mask and to maintain a ‘social distancing’. It was this phrase that I personally found most challenging especially when viewed through the lens of conviviality, suddenly social relationships were curtailed, hugging, embracing, the visit to the pub, dancing with friends or strangers, live music were all strictly limited and before long Churches were closed and congregations scattered.

 

Covid 19 is a highly contagious respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, Hubei province, China.

Since December 2019, cases have been identified in a growing number of countries. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

 

My conflict in respect of Covid is the disastrous management of the disease by the Government which has resulted in more than a 150,000, avoidable deaths. Delays at the start of the pandemic, failure to equip hospital staff and care workers with PPE, patients transferred from hospital to care homes without proper testing.

 

The impact on health and wellbeing is extraordinarily high and there is little or no doubt that when friends and families are separated, elders left to die alone and children not hugged there is little or no evidence of conviviality or Shalom.

 

The fruit of human salvation is Shalom.

 

Often in English we think of Shalom as ‘peace’ but the meaning of the word is more profound and much deeper than simply ‘peace’.

 

Gerhard Von Rad defines shalom as ‘a state where things are balanced out, where the claims of a society are satisfied, a state …… which can only be made effective when protected by a society governed by justice’.

 

In this definition shalom can be seen as describing relationships between people, between communities and between humanity and God. In the Old Testament Shalom is communal rather than personal and the community is the proper setting for it.

 

Both Isaiah (48.22 & 57.21) and Jeremiah (6 14 & 8 11) remind us that Shalom cannot be taken for granted and does not come to us automatically and neither can the affluent buy a disproportionately larger share of Shalom.

 

Shalom is always a gift from God and does not come from our own efforts however it is always the case that human disobedience to the Divine will can create conditions in which shalom cannot take root and prosper.

 

In Psalm 85 10 we read that ‘Righteousness and Shalom will kiss each other’ the two aspects of righteousness and peace are inseparable companions, elsewhere in Psalm 72.7 where Shalom is described as the fruit of just Government.

 

It is hardly surprising that throughout the bible, throughout history and in our contemporary times the rich pray for the continuation of  their existing peace while the poor pray for the establishment of and long for justice.

 

As the social activist observed when, during the depression he saw a course advertised on how to make fish head soup, ‘Who got the rest of the fish’?

 

In the conflicts that I am placing at the centre of my learning with interdiac I observe that in the context of the UK the Covid pandemic has created conditions in which Shalom has neither rooted or prospered.

 

If Shalom means, for the individual a totally integrated life with health of body, heart and mind, attuned to nature, open to others in joy with God, allowing individuals to share mutuality and love, then again Covid has challenged that understanding of Shalom.

 

Indeed the many theories that have been developed suggest that our natural relationship or shalom with nature has been neglected to the extent that cross species transfer lies at the heart of the introduction of Covid. We have it seems abandoned our God given responsibility as caring trustees of creation.

 

Church aid groups have accused the European Union of neglecting social justice and child poverty in its far-reaching coronavirus recovery package, agreed last week by the EU Council, and urged MEPs to demand changes.

“Today, one in four children in the EU grow up at risk of poverty and social exclusion — Covid-19 and its socio-economic consequences are worryingly expected to escalate this figure exponentially”, the EU Alliance for Investing in Children said its members include Caritas-Europa and the mostly Protestant Eurodiaconia, as well as UNICEF and Save the Children.

“This is a historic moment to champion the rights of children within the EU and ensure the next generation grows up in inclusive, healthy, equitable and prosperous societies.”

The challenge of conviviality and Shalom: A prophetic church is a Godly Church.