An Isolation-Aware Church (Elizabeth Coors)

A picture I took in my home state of Colorado

A picture I took in my home state of Colorado

As a person with chronic health problems, I have been training for this season my entire adult life. Being stuck at home is a normal, though unwelcome, activity. Feeling isolated from my church community is run of the mill. Been there, done that, and, based on the prevalence of articles about isolation and loneliness, you would think I would be doing it again.

But, in many ways, I feel less isolated than in those previous seasons of my life. All of a sudden, the playing field is level. Everyone is stuck at home. No one can meet up at a coffee shop or a bar. No one can gather for BBQs or late-night board games. For the first time in a long time, I don’t have to be the person who has to pass on group activities.

People are desperate to connect, and we can’t rely on our normal, physical meetings. This has opened a world of opportunity for me (and for others whose stories are not mine to tell). Suddenly, everyone wants to FaceTime, text, and hold get-togethers on Zoom. Church services don’t trigger crippling migraines—because I can turn down the volume on our TV. More gatherings are realistic options for me—because I can attend from my living room. These digital tools and approaches have always been helpful, but now, forced together in this way, people have begun to think of them as gifts, rather than inconvenient, impersonal, or inessential tools. Now, they are the only options. 

Of course, I would never say that the existence of a virus wreaking havoc on people’s lives is a good thing, nor would I ever wish for it to continue. It is undeniably a result of the Fall. This harm and death are not what God intended for creation. We do not give thanks for the presence of disease. Instead, we look toward Christ’s return, when he will set all things right.

In the meantime, as well-intentioned people have been quick to remind me, God uses painful experiences for his glory. Sometimes it feels as though such well-intentioned people are almost attempting to justify the pain. They forget that a glib “God will use it” is not an appropriate or Biblical response to the existence of suffering. But, as reluctant as I often am to accept or believe it, God does somehow use even these things for his glory. 

In fact, He is already using it for his glory. We are more aware of the elderly and the ill. We are more mindful of those living in precarious physical or financial situations. We are checking in on each other and offering to help each other in new ways, however we can. We may even be experiencing a rejuvenated prayer life.

More broadly, it appears as this season rolls on, that it is leaving a more isolation-aware Church in its wake. The stay-at-home orders are forcing the Church to be more creative and intentional in how it fosters and maintains community. People are suddenly experiencing the isolation that many in the community have long known, and sometimes it takes experiencing something ourselves to make us realize that it isn’t new or unique. Many members of our Body have spent a long and painful time in seclusion and isolation. 

For some of us, the primary form of community, even in the best of times, has been digital. Perhaps now an awareness of these platforms has become widespread enough to remain. Even after things return to “normal,” I hope we continue to pursue digital options alongside our in-person gatherings. This could include FaceTiming someone into a book club meeting (which might mean foregoing that trip to a hip coffee shop in favor of gathering somewhere quiet enough that they can hear and contribute); or continuing to text someone you haven’t seen in a while; or intentionally planning some events at places that are more accessible and comfortable for someone with limitations—including now-familiar digital mediums. 

Looking towards the future, I hope and pray that God uses this season to permanently change his Church for the better by making us more aware of the people who have often been left on the outskirts of fellowship, whether intentionally or not. Now that almost all of us have experienced the pain of isolation and the loss of traditional community, may the Church grow far more cognizant of those whose physical isolation will not end when the social distancing and stay-at-home orders lift. If it does, then what will emerge from this crisis is a Church that more fully embodies Christ’s instruction to love and care for each other, particularly those who have in the past spent so many hours and days and weeks and years of their lives watching from the outside. 

I do not give thanks for this virus or its devastating consequences. But I am hopeful for an isolation-aware Church, both for myself and for all those who have long known separation and isolation. 

Elizabeth Coors is a member of the Carver Project board of trustees and a 2018 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.

 

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