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Reflections on the Pandemic

I am a pastor at Centre Biblique d’Épinal and the FPC mission. Quarantine has not severely disrupted my ministry, which already includes a large part of “quarantined” work: emails, phone calls, different tasks for the office… All of that hasn’t changed much.

What has changed are the pastoral visits, the activity of the bible study groups among church members, Sunday morning worship and prayer meetings. In addition, our charitable service efforts are suspended.

Very quickly I realized the importance of organizing video conferences among members of the Centre Biblique d’Épinal. At first, the idea of living in brotherly communion during quarantine was difficult to wrap my head around. It’s not ideal, but clearly our brothers and sisters like to meet with one another, to have time to chat and be able to worship together. These meetings are prepared as a team, usually with a common thread from beginning to end, obliging the leaders – the one who presides, the one who teaches, and the whole music and singing team – to collaborate. We also created a church WhatsApp group. Prayer requests, words of encouragement, videos, various messages are all shared there.

As surprising as this may seem, I feel that in the midst of this trial we are living, relationships within the church are developing and deepening. Solidarity between members increases. It is also evident that, for each person, this is an opportune time for reflection, meditation, and listening to God more closely.

If the pandemic has not produced great upheaval in my ministry, it has sparked deep reflection within me. I think God is using this disaster to speak to me. I have questioned my behavior. Samuel Peterschmitt, pastor of La Porte Ouverte Chrétienne in Mulhouse, in his sermon on #OnEstEnsemble, spoke about “arrogant faith instead of dependent faith and humility.” I share his analysis. It brings me to examine myself, review my operations, humble myself, and gives me a desire to change my attitude in preaching the Gospel, to place a stronger emphasis on love, which only Jesus Christ can give me.

I also ask myself about the way in which I live God’s command from the book of Genesis: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”[1] In what ways am I responsible for the overexploitation of our planet? I wonder about the economic systems of this world. In the gospel of John, chapter 17, verses 13 to 20, Jesus says to his disciples that they are sent to be in this world, but they are not of this world. The world of which Jesus speaks is a system (of thought, action, governance, etc.), put in place by men, sometimes inspired by Satan, that goes against the will of God. This system is in the middle of destroying God’s Creation: overproduction, the race for money and for profit, to the detriment of the planet and its inhabitants. Jesus’s disciples should be aware that the planet is dying. In this respect, we should be living in a coherent way while also aspiring to the new creation.

Will the world learn from COVID-19? Will I? Will the members of my local church? Will we live differently, in a way that honors God? Will we know how to respond to the concerns of those around us? How?

Didier Conte

[1] Genesis 2.15

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