A Palm Sunday Reflection in the Time of COVID-19

This personal reflection was written for our virtual Palm Sunday service today:

The word I am offering personal reflection on today is “choose.” With everything that is going on in this time of global pandemic, physical distancing, and fear, it may seem like an ironic time to focus on the choices we have. Still, I can’t help but reflect upon the most impactful piece of advice that my mom ever gave me related to the word “choose.” Her advice was to remember that we are never truly stuck in any situation. We always, no matter how difficult things might appear, have the opportunity to choose and to find the freedoms that we do have.

So although I have spent much time with fear and anxiety and isolation over these last weeks, there is still so much I - and all of you - can choose:

We can choose to acknowledge that there is no right way to feel right now in these unprecedented times and allow ourselves some grace to not be the best versions of ourselves.

We can choose to see the beauty in this unimaginable time. It might be in the togetherness with family members that we always hoped we would have time for, or in the power of everyday heroes rising to face challenges, or in this chance for the earth to heal from past pollution as we consistently stay in our homes.

We can choose to see that all of the time we have spent having faith in God and goodness and humanity throughout the good times has strengthened us for this time of need. Though we may not feel strong, we can choose to remember that our faith will carry us through no matter what the path may look like.

We can choose to remember that it is okay to feel weak right now, and that in our weakness, we are not separated from our faith. As I heard on a wise podcast recently, “Pain can be a prayer even when you don’t have the words.”

We can choose to see our choice of physically distancing ourselves from others as a choice of love made to protect people that we know and those that we may never know. We can choose to see that we are doing so much good just with this one choice and by putting our faith in action. Just as Jesus sacrificed for us, we can now choose to make sacrifices to save the lives of others.

We can choose to remember that tragedy can be seen as a great equalizer. We are able to clearly recognize the most vulnerable members of our society and the fragility of the systems and constructs that hold us all. We can also choose to acknowledge the power of human connection and that we are all co dependent upon each other to stay safe right now and always.

On this Palm Sunday, as we enter Easter week, we can choose to remember that just as Jesus knew he would have to go through times of hardship and that he would need to make the ultimate sacrifice, we know we will have continued hard times ahead. But also like Jesus, we can choose to know that there will be new life at the end of all that we are going through right now. There will be an After to this situation, and one day, God willing, we will be on the other side where we can choose to appreciate the power of our good choices and faith in action throughout this time of pandemic challenge.