Capt. Brett Crozier lost his command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt for asking his superiors to help save his crew from the epidemic and then leaking his request to the press. Col. Teddy Roosevelt of the Rough Riders, for whom the ship was named, did exactly the same thing!
As the days of coronavirus quarantine turn into weeks and the prospect of months, we are getting stir crazy. I have come across several references to Blaise Pascal's observation about the human inability to sit in a quiet room alone. Here is what he meant by that.
According to President Trump and his COVID-19 task force, over the next two weeks death rates will shoot up. In all, he said, between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans will die of the coronavirus. Such a grim and specific predictions--perhaps over 2000 per day by April 17--will show, one way or the other, how serious this epidemic is. We will know starting NEXT WEEK.
Here is an intense prayer "In Times of Pestilence" from the Lutheran Prayer Book of 1860.
The coronavirus epidemic throws the doctrine of vocation into high relief: not only our economic vocations, but also our vocations in the family, the church, and the state.
An article in the "Wall Street Journal" suggests that the COVID-19 epidemic could spark a revival of Christianity. It quotes a British historian who shows that catastrophes--such as World War II--often cause a resurgence of faith by unsettling human complacency and making people realize their need for God.
In times of quarantine, when church services are shut down, many Christians are turning to online worship. This is not the best way, but it is a form of "meeting together" and doesn't have to mean just passively watching a screen. Here are some tips for worshiping online.
In Edward Young's "Night Thoughts," an unusual poetic meditation on death, the poet turns around the convention gibe that Heaven will be boring. This world, he says, is the realm of boredom. Eternity is the realm of adventure, surprise, novelty, curiosity, and pleasure.
"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three" (1 Cor 13:13). We hear a lot about faith. We hear a lot about love. But we don't hear so much about hope. Luther explains "hope" in an illuminating way, showing its relationship to "faith."
An article by Lyman Stone, entitled "Christianity Has Been Handling Epidemics for 2000 Years," surveys how the church dealt with plagues throughout its history, drawing from that tradition to help us deal with today's COVID-19 pandemic.
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