Dr. Rick Mandl - August 5, 2020
COVID Stole The Wienermobile And Everyone Is Grieving
COVID Stole the Wienermobile and Everyone Is Grieving
Wednesday August 5, 2020
Hey church family. I came across an interesting headline for a news story this past week. The headline was “COVID Stole the Wienermobile and Everyone Is Grieving.” Think about that for a moment... COVID Stole the Wienermobile and Everyone Is Grieving.”
The writer went on to share how the virus had finally hit his small town in rural Pennsylvania last week, and that it hit in a way that surprised everyone. He said, “The most recent casualty of COVID-19 was our annual town festival, which was officially cancelled last week.” He went on to explain that this town festival is not just any town festival. He wrote about how his sleepy borough of 2,000 residents welcomes 100,000 people over three days to a festival that features food, craft vendors, and the region’s best parade. He explained that when he said parade, he wasn’t just talking firetrucks and homecoming courts - but that they bring out the big guns: Icons like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and the Budweiser Clydesdales, NFL stars and collegiate marching bands! He said that their local school system shuts down for a day to let the kids enjoy the festivities each year.
Every year, that is, except this year. This year, our town festival was stolen by the coronavirus. He said “The virus has stolen much from us this year. Grandparents are missing out on time with grandchildren. Jobs have been lost. Work projects are on hold. We have lost the blessing of living in a world where death was not at the forefront of our minds. Kiddos are separated from their classmates; Nursing home residents are in solitary confinement. The virus has even stolen church from most of us.
The writer went on to share that the things that are driving us insane during this pandemic season all make sense through the lens of grief. Grief looks different depending on the person, but there are patterns to how our grief manifests in the day-to-day. As suggested in a book written by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, grief can reveal itself in other emotional states, with her top five being... Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The virus has stolen so much from us, we might benefit from using her insights on grief to understand the behaviors we see in the news (and in ourselves!).
I think you can see all five of those stages of grief manifesting themselves in many ways. Unfortunately, the depression phase of grief is the one that is hitting many the hardest. I highlighted the results of a study a little while back that shows that Americans are the unhappiest they’ve been in 50 years. And that is a testament to the grief we are all experiencing. The lives we wanted for ourselves, the lives we took for granted, have been upended. Vacations have been cancelled, concerts have been indefinitely postponed, and many churches continue to meet digitally.
When it comes to GRIEF I want to challenge you to remember something that the Apostle Paul shares with us in 1 Thessalonians 4 and that is that as Christians, we still grieve but we grieve differently than the rest of the world. Because in the midst of our grief we have hope, and a hope that we know will not disappoint.
If you have been a recipient of God’s unconditional love that means that God has given you a unique gift to offer your neighbor. It means that you’ve learned to provide a non-condemning and gracious space for grief, because you have received that same space from a non-condemning and gracious God. Hopefully that will show itself in many ways in our dealings with one another... Maybe it’s by practicing a kind of intentional amnesia when a friend says something offensive. Maybe it’s meeting the anger of a stranger with unusual kindness. Maybe it’s seeing our neighbors as wounded and grieving instead of ignorant or detestable. COVID 19 has already stolen so much from so many. Don’t allow it to steal the grace and forgiveness and love that God has shown to you and me and desires us to show to others.
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