Things are different
16/11/22 02:52
I have a little cold. My symptoms are not severe. I have tested negative for Covid. I am not miserable. I just have a little cold. It is an event that has happened to me over and over in this life. I have a few home remedies that I use. I add an extra pillow to the bed for sleeping. I take extra vitamin C. In a few days my symptoms will be gone.
Having a cold is different in these days of the Covid pandemic. I’ve learned to don a mask to help prevent spread to others. I worked at home yesterday instead of going into the office. Unlike the pre-covid days, we are all set up with Zoom meetings that make telecommuting possible.
Having a cold is pretty much a foregone conclusion for someone who has three school-aged grandchildren. We have the good fortune of living very near to our son and his family. His children bring home all kinds of viruses and infections from school. Our immune systems probably get a boost from an occasional exposure to a virus. In the early days of the pandemic, we were pretty much isolated. I wore a mask every time I went outside. We had a couple of years when we didn’t suffer any colds at all. That part of the pandemic was nice. However, as we have begun to emerge from the strictest of covid protocols we have discovered that we are more susceptible to infection than was the case prior to the pandemic. It is possible that our immune systems simply aren’t as robust as they had been when we were nearly constantly exposed to a variety of colds and other illnesses.
Over the years, I was fortunate not to miss much work due to illness. I admit that there were a few occasions when I pushed myself and went to work when I was feeling less than completely healthy. It is what the people who were around me did when I was growing up. I had a friend who was a teacher who once bragged that he never missed a day of work due to illness. The way he achieved that record was to go to work when he was sick, of course. I don’t know how many students he exposed to various small illnesses over the years, but I’m certain he wasn’t the only vector of infection.
The rules, however, have changed. Since the pandemic, it is a pretty clear rule to not go to work when one is feeling ill. I know I would raise more eyebrows by going to work with a slight cough than I do by staying home.
It is just one of the things that have been changed by the pandemic.
When I was a pastor in North Dakota in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I encountered quite a few people who had survived the 1918 flu pandemic. They reported about how it changed their lives. Some had lost loved ones to the flu as their loved ones were returning from fighting in World War I. There was a certain irony of having survived the war only to be killed by a virus contacted on a crew ship on the way home. Others reported how the community took to having direct burials as soon as a death occurred, not waiting for the funeral to dispose of the body out of fear of additional infection. They remembered friends and family who had died as a result of the disease.
I listened to their stories thinking that they were stories that didn’t have a lot of application in the contemporary world. We have vaccines. A global pandemic seemed to be something that was relegated to the past. Then covid came. Now I have stories of friends who have died. I have stories of lives that were disrupted. My grandchildren had a year when they were unable to attend school. I learned a lot about social media, video live streaming, teleconferencing, and other technological innovations in a very short amount of time.
The impact of the pandemic on churches is still easy to see. Worship attendances are smaller. People spread out when they do come to church. More and more of our elders are isolated from the community. Live streaming of worship is here to stay. The investments churches made in video cameras and sound equipment was significant and will be ongoing. Having a crew at the controls of a computer is now a regular part of worship.
In all of this, however, there remains a hunger for contact. People want to have real connections with others. Our church held its first potluck since the pandemic on Sunday. We had a picnic at the end of the summer. It was outdoors and well attended. But this Sunday marked a return to the way we used to do things. People brought their dishes to share. Tables were adorned with lots of food. And folks sat around tables in a relatively crowded social hall eating with no masks. I’m sure there were a few folks who felt that the risk of exposure was too great. Some of them stayed away to protect themselves. But those who gathered were energized. They were delighted to be able to sit at table and talk with friends. Folks lingered after the meal was eaten. It is obvious that we missed such opportunities.
As the pandemic slides towards endemic, whatever that means, we are returning to a few of the events and activities we practiced before the pandemic. It isn’t that life has returned to normal. We won’t go back to the way it was before the pandemic. I’ll still be quick to reach for a mask and to stay away from the office whenever I feel a few symptoms. We won’t see a return to the same number of people in church. We will continue to have an online community and those who participate from home.
Still, we continue to be human. We long for times of connection. In person worship still has a lot to offer to participants. I’ll be in church on Sunday.
Having a cold is different in these days of the Covid pandemic. I’ve learned to don a mask to help prevent spread to others. I worked at home yesterday instead of going into the office. Unlike the pre-covid days, we are all set up with Zoom meetings that make telecommuting possible.
Having a cold is pretty much a foregone conclusion for someone who has three school-aged grandchildren. We have the good fortune of living very near to our son and his family. His children bring home all kinds of viruses and infections from school. Our immune systems probably get a boost from an occasional exposure to a virus. In the early days of the pandemic, we were pretty much isolated. I wore a mask every time I went outside. We had a couple of years when we didn’t suffer any colds at all. That part of the pandemic was nice. However, as we have begun to emerge from the strictest of covid protocols we have discovered that we are more susceptible to infection than was the case prior to the pandemic. It is possible that our immune systems simply aren’t as robust as they had been when we were nearly constantly exposed to a variety of colds and other illnesses.
Over the years, I was fortunate not to miss much work due to illness. I admit that there were a few occasions when I pushed myself and went to work when I was feeling less than completely healthy. It is what the people who were around me did when I was growing up. I had a friend who was a teacher who once bragged that he never missed a day of work due to illness. The way he achieved that record was to go to work when he was sick, of course. I don’t know how many students he exposed to various small illnesses over the years, but I’m certain he wasn’t the only vector of infection.
The rules, however, have changed. Since the pandemic, it is a pretty clear rule to not go to work when one is feeling ill. I know I would raise more eyebrows by going to work with a slight cough than I do by staying home.
It is just one of the things that have been changed by the pandemic.
When I was a pastor in North Dakota in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I encountered quite a few people who had survived the 1918 flu pandemic. They reported about how it changed their lives. Some had lost loved ones to the flu as their loved ones were returning from fighting in World War I. There was a certain irony of having survived the war only to be killed by a virus contacted on a crew ship on the way home. Others reported how the community took to having direct burials as soon as a death occurred, not waiting for the funeral to dispose of the body out of fear of additional infection. They remembered friends and family who had died as a result of the disease.
I listened to their stories thinking that they were stories that didn’t have a lot of application in the contemporary world. We have vaccines. A global pandemic seemed to be something that was relegated to the past. Then covid came. Now I have stories of friends who have died. I have stories of lives that were disrupted. My grandchildren had a year when they were unable to attend school. I learned a lot about social media, video live streaming, teleconferencing, and other technological innovations in a very short amount of time.
The impact of the pandemic on churches is still easy to see. Worship attendances are smaller. People spread out when they do come to church. More and more of our elders are isolated from the community. Live streaming of worship is here to stay. The investments churches made in video cameras and sound equipment was significant and will be ongoing. Having a crew at the controls of a computer is now a regular part of worship.
In all of this, however, there remains a hunger for contact. People want to have real connections with others. Our church held its first potluck since the pandemic on Sunday. We had a picnic at the end of the summer. It was outdoors and well attended. But this Sunday marked a return to the way we used to do things. People brought their dishes to share. Tables were adorned with lots of food. And folks sat around tables in a relatively crowded social hall eating with no masks. I’m sure there were a few folks who felt that the risk of exposure was too great. Some of them stayed away to protect themselves. But those who gathered were energized. They were delighted to be able to sit at table and talk with friends. Folks lingered after the meal was eaten. It is obvious that we missed such opportunities.
As the pandemic slides towards endemic, whatever that means, we are returning to a few of the events and activities we practiced before the pandemic. It isn’t that life has returned to normal. We won’t go back to the way it was before the pandemic. I’ll still be quick to reach for a mask and to stay away from the office whenever I feel a few symptoms. We won’t see a return to the same number of people in church. We will continue to have an online community and those who participate from home.
Still, we continue to be human. We long for times of connection. In person worship still has a lot to offer to participants. I’ll be in church on Sunday.
