It has been more than 30 days for me now, living in isolation to avoid the pandemic sweeping throughout the world. I am grateful for a wife and telecommunications channels that allow use of different means to stay in touch. I am also grateful for some leaders with sensibility, and a reasonable path of action that provides guidelines to shelter in place. The tricky part is the question of how to handle the ongoing isolation. We humans are social creatures. We want to be around people. We want to be able to mingle with others, and interact. It is important for healthy living.
Besides our isolation, there is a need for church worship, which continues to be a challenge when we cannot be in church. I am encouraged by this passage in Philippians 1:
27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.
At first observation, we may not see a lot of encouragement here. Paul is writing to the church at Philippi, and notes that whether he sees them or not, “I know that you stand firm in the Spirit”. He can say this because he knows these people – he knows that their faith is strong and they will hold up in the face of adversity. Even though the Philippians did not face social isolation, they did not have Paul as a spiritual leader and guide. What they did have was the Holy Spirit., and their will to press on as a community.
There is huge comfort in knowing we are not going through all this on our own. This is not a situation where I ‘pretend’, or ‘fake it till I make it’ to get through a trial. The Holy Spirit, a person, a friend, a counselor, is with me – with us. We are not alone.
