Transcript: Together In Isolation
Elaine: It's in our face, it's there, every day that we wake up and every night that we go to sleep. Everybody, has a stake in it.
Valentina: This coronavirus really reminded us all, everything can change. All our hopes and dreams, it seems that they're on hold.
Elizabeth Smith: We're all much more aware of our inter-relationships than we have been in a very long time.
Cheryl: I'm heartbroken for what's going on all around the world.
Vanessa: It's a reminder that as far as we have come as humans in science, technology and medicine, we're not in control of our universe.
Elizabeth Breakey: And now we're just simply trying to protect ourselves, almost make it up as we're going along, as we try to avoid being killed.
Frida: Some of my friends have asked me, if God is who you say he is, then why is all this happening around the world?
Watts Where: All over the world, these reverends: I'm Elaine, Valentina Emmanuel, Elizabeth Smith, Cheryl Kimble, Vanessa Bennett, Elizabeth Breakey and Frida Yohana Lemi are trying to find answers to questions from their flock, and me, Laura Watts, about the coronavirus pandemic. For this Birds Who Pray podcast, they all independently recorded their answers to the same questions and entrusted me to bring their thoughts together. So let's start with the why.
Elaine: There are always going to be things that cause devastation in the world, there are always going to be wars, sadly, pandemics, sadly. There are always going to be things happening around us that cause pain and fear and loss.
Cheryl: I don't in any way, shape or form, think this is something that God has created to put on us to punish us or anything like that. I think the world is set in motion and things happen because of decisions that we all make.
Vanessa: Well, from the Christian perspective, you know as humans try to run the world their way, rather than God's way, the whole harmony of Creation has been disrupted so that even creation groans under the selfishness that has devastatingly impacted the environment, the climate, the extinction of species and famine among the poor and vulnerable. Along with the growth and spread of diseases.
Valentina: We as human beings who were not faithful to the planet that God has given us, we wrongly believe that we can just continue to destroy everything and there is no price to pay.
Elizabeth B: I don't think it's evil and I certainly don't think it's a punishment from God, it's part of nature and we need to respond to it in an appropriate way.
Elizabeth Smith: The scientists know why this is happening. It's not the first time a disease has jumped from animals to humans and it's not the first time that it's spread quickly through human communities and done a lot of damage. That's not really what people have in mind when they ask why is this happening though. People are really saying, I thought God was supposed to make everything alright if we were good and did the right thing and we went to church and said our prayers. I've been doing all that, so why is this happening? It's based on poor theology that says God is like the magic medicine man in the sky and he's going to make everything ok for the good people, and the bad people, well, they're in someone else's hands and we don't have to worry about them.
Elaine: God doesn't take lives. I really would struggle to worship a God that takes life, that causes fear and causes misery and causes loss and devastation, in order to test us in some way. I don't see God in that way, in this.
Elizabeth Smith: The kind of god we're dealing with is the God of Jesus Christ. The God who knows what suffering and trouble are all about from the inside, knows it personally. Not a god who sits up in heaven in a deckchair sipping champagne looking down at us and wondering how to reward the good people and how to punish the bad. Not that kind of god at all.
Frida: In the book of Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10 that says, do not fear for I am with you, do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you.
Cheryl: Every story in the bible gives us something that can help us during difficult times and I think the thing that we have to remember is that we're not alone in this, Jesus came into this world and sent the Holy Spirit to let us know that we would have someone with us through all difficult times and so that's what I'm trying to remember and understand most.
Elizabeth Breakey: I think it's a source of great stress for a lot of people, a source of anxiety and you can see it in the way people are responding.
Elaine: There are all kinds of human emotions being expressed all over the world.
Vanessa: Here is Australia we recently went through an unprecedented fire season and at that time we saw some of the best of human nature as those who weren't affected by the fires reached out with generosity towards those who were. But we've seen a shift in that with the threat of coronavirus to the whole community. And with the whole community threatened by it we've seen something of the core selfishness of human nature as people have fought each other in supermarket aisles and have emptied shelves, hoarding far more than they need without concern for those who've gone without. It's been disappointing to see how some people have responded in this time of crisis.
Elizabeth Smith: I see human beings as a real mix, a real messy blend of good, bad and miserable and this virus is just showing us our own usual selves in a particularly bright light.
Elizabeth Breakey: I'm hopeful for the longer term that we, as society, we will learn something from this. That we might discover how when our lives are pared back, when we rid ourselves of the busyness and the nonsense and the bright shiny things that distract ourselves, that we might discover what's really important for each one of us.
Frida: Everyone has been affected by the coronavirus, in one way or another. I currently miss the members of the church and the fellowship that we have together.
Valentina: I have lots of ups and downs, of course, the atmosphere is heavy, bad news everywhere, you know.
Cheryl: The fear of losing people you love, of the impact this is having on our community and on our world.
Elaine: The more I think about it, the deeper I go into how it feels to be living right now, through coronavirus and not particularly feeling affected. Then I realise that my family fear me leaving home every day to go to work at the prison, but actually then, so do I.
Elizabeth Breakey: I'm fearful to how I maintain this dispersed community and how I keep them faithful and keep them strong in the knowledge that they are loved by God and that they're not alone in this.
Vanessa: There are many challenges facing us as we move through the months ahead. We're seeing many at the moment, here in Australia anyway, losing their jobs, their source of income. There will be more deaths impacting families and communities and I guess the time will come when I will need to be taking funerals for people I care about.
Frida: Yes coronavirus has taken so many lives but we continue to pray for those who have gone to Him and continue to pray for the families that have been left behind, let them be strong.
Elizabeth S: I think part of my job as a priest is to stay calm, to reassure people, to validate whatever feelings they're having and say: yep, that's a pretty tough feeling to be living with, can I pray for you?
Elaine: For me, there is hope, we see stories of recovery. We see and read on the news how there are the slowing of infection rates in some places in the world.
Valentina: I'm hopeful that the world will change to become a better place. To be responsible for the planet earth, to be more compassionate toward one another.
Cheryl: I hope and pray that I will never take for granted the touch of another person again. I hope and pray that I'm able to share love with every person that I come in contact with in the future.
Elizabeth Smith: Theologically, I think the most important teaching is that no matter what is going on, God is in it with us, not outside of us, but in it with us.
Vanessa: It's important to hold onto his promises to be with us in the struggle now and also to trust him with our future that is in his hands.
Frida: Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23-25 encourages christians not to give up.
Vanessa: And so we wait with patience, reaching out with compassion to others and journey with them, supporting and providing for them as much as we can in this difficult time.
Elizabeth Smith: Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Elizabeth Breakey: And that gives me such strength.
Elizabeth Smith: And when you know that someone loves you, you can handle most things.
Elizabeth Breakey: We might be in isolation, but we are not alone.
Valentina: Amen.
Poppy (Elizabeth B's dog): Woof
Vanessa: God Bless.
Elizabeth Smith: Blessings, bye bye.
Matilda: Birds Who Pray is a Watts Where Media production.
Valentina: This coronavirus really reminded us all, everything can change. All our hopes and dreams, it seems that they're on hold.
Elizabeth Smith: We're all much more aware of our inter-relationships than we have been in a very long time.
Cheryl: I'm heartbroken for what's going on all around the world.
Vanessa: It's a reminder that as far as we have come as humans in science, technology and medicine, we're not in control of our universe.
Elizabeth Breakey: And now we're just simply trying to protect ourselves, almost make it up as we're going along, as we try to avoid being killed.
Frida: Some of my friends have asked me, if God is who you say he is, then why is all this happening around the world?
Watts Where: All over the world, these reverends: I'm Elaine, Valentina Emmanuel, Elizabeth Smith, Cheryl Kimble, Vanessa Bennett, Elizabeth Breakey and Frida Yohana Lemi are trying to find answers to questions from their flock, and me, Laura Watts, about the coronavirus pandemic. For this Birds Who Pray podcast, they all independently recorded their answers to the same questions and entrusted me to bring their thoughts together. So let's start with the why.
Elaine: There are always going to be things that cause devastation in the world, there are always going to be wars, sadly, pandemics, sadly. There are always going to be things happening around us that cause pain and fear and loss.
Cheryl: I don't in any way, shape or form, think this is something that God has created to put on us to punish us or anything like that. I think the world is set in motion and things happen because of decisions that we all make.
Vanessa: Well, from the Christian perspective, you know as humans try to run the world their way, rather than God's way, the whole harmony of Creation has been disrupted so that even creation groans under the selfishness that has devastatingly impacted the environment, the climate, the extinction of species and famine among the poor and vulnerable. Along with the growth and spread of diseases.
Valentina: We as human beings who were not faithful to the planet that God has given us, we wrongly believe that we can just continue to destroy everything and there is no price to pay.
Elizabeth B: I don't think it's evil and I certainly don't think it's a punishment from God, it's part of nature and we need to respond to it in an appropriate way.
Elizabeth Smith: The scientists know why this is happening. It's not the first time a disease has jumped from animals to humans and it's not the first time that it's spread quickly through human communities and done a lot of damage. That's not really what people have in mind when they ask why is this happening though. People are really saying, I thought God was supposed to make everything alright if we were good and did the right thing and we went to church and said our prayers. I've been doing all that, so why is this happening? It's based on poor theology that says God is like the magic medicine man in the sky and he's going to make everything ok for the good people, and the bad people, well, they're in someone else's hands and we don't have to worry about them.
Elaine: God doesn't take lives. I really would struggle to worship a God that takes life, that causes fear and causes misery and causes loss and devastation, in order to test us in some way. I don't see God in that way, in this.
Elizabeth Smith: The kind of god we're dealing with is the God of Jesus Christ. The God who knows what suffering and trouble are all about from the inside, knows it personally. Not a god who sits up in heaven in a deckchair sipping champagne looking down at us and wondering how to reward the good people and how to punish the bad. Not that kind of god at all.
Frida: In the book of Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10 that says, do not fear for I am with you, do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you.
Cheryl: Every story in the bible gives us something that can help us during difficult times and I think the thing that we have to remember is that we're not alone in this, Jesus came into this world and sent the Holy Spirit to let us know that we would have someone with us through all difficult times and so that's what I'm trying to remember and understand most.
Elizabeth Breakey: I think it's a source of great stress for a lot of people, a source of anxiety and you can see it in the way people are responding.
Elaine: There are all kinds of human emotions being expressed all over the world.
Vanessa: Here is Australia we recently went through an unprecedented fire season and at that time we saw some of the best of human nature as those who weren't affected by the fires reached out with generosity towards those who were. But we've seen a shift in that with the threat of coronavirus to the whole community. And with the whole community threatened by it we've seen something of the core selfishness of human nature as people have fought each other in supermarket aisles and have emptied shelves, hoarding far more than they need without concern for those who've gone without. It's been disappointing to see how some people have responded in this time of crisis.
Elizabeth Smith: I see human beings as a real mix, a real messy blend of good, bad and miserable and this virus is just showing us our own usual selves in a particularly bright light.
Elizabeth Breakey: I'm hopeful for the longer term that we, as society, we will learn something from this. That we might discover how when our lives are pared back, when we rid ourselves of the busyness and the nonsense and the bright shiny things that distract ourselves, that we might discover what's really important for each one of us.
Frida: Everyone has been affected by the coronavirus, in one way or another. I currently miss the members of the church and the fellowship that we have together.
Valentina: I have lots of ups and downs, of course, the atmosphere is heavy, bad news everywhere, you know.
Cheryl: The fear of losing people you love, of the impact this is having on our community and on our world.
Elaine: The more I think about it, the deeper I go into how it feels to be living right now, through coronavirus and not particularly feeling affected. Then I realise that my family fear me leaving home every day to go to work at the prison, but actually then, so do I.
Elizabeth Breakey: I'm fearful to how I maintain this dispersed community and how I keep them faithful and keep them strong in the knowledge that they are loved by God and that they're not alone in this.
Vanessa: There are many challenges facing us as we move through the months ahead. We're seeing many at the moment, here in Australia anyway, losing their jobs, their source of income. There will be more deaths impacting families and communities and I guess the time will come when I will need to be taking funerals for people I care about.
Frida: Yes coronavirus has taken so many lives but we continue to pray for those who have gone to Him and continue to pray for the families that have been left behind, let them be strong.
Elizabeth S: I think part of my job as a priest is to stay calm, to reassure people, to validate whatever feelings they're having and say: yep, that's a pretty tough feeling to be living with, can I pray for you?
Elaine: For me, there is hope, we see stories of recovery. We see and read on the news how there are the slowing of infection rates in some places in the world.
Valentina: I'm hopeful that the world will change to become a better place. To be responsible for the planet earth, to be more compassionate toward one another.
Cheryl: I hope and pray that I will never take for granted the touch of another person again. I hope and pray that I'm able to share love with every person that I come in contact with in the future.
Elizabeth Smith: Theologically, I think the most important teaching is that no matter what is going on, God is in it with us, not outside of us, but in it with us.
Vanessa: It's important to hold onto his promises to be with us in the struggle now and also to trust him with our future that is in his hands.
Frida: Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23-25 encourages christians not to give up.
Vanessa: And so we wait with patience, reaching out with compassion to others and journey with them, supporting and providing for them as much as we can in this difficult time.
Elizabeth Smith: Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Elizabeth Breakey: And that gives me such strength.
Elizabeth Smith: And when you know that someone loves you, you can handle most things.
Elizabeth Breakey: We might be in isolation, but we are not alone.
Valentina: Amen.
Poppy (Elizabeth B's dog): Woof
Vanessa: God Bless.
Elizabeth Smith: Blessings, bye bye.
Matilda: Birds Who Pray is a Watts Where Media production.