Todays Scripture: Listening and Doing (James 1: 19-21)
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Today I wanted to share something with everyone that has been on my heart as of late. During the last several weeks, there have been some very disturbing incidents created by the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic. Violence against people of Asian descent has been on the rise nationwide. Also, there have been incidents where people wearing scrubs have been victims of violence because someone assumed that they were exposing the general public to COVID-19. During this time, I would like to suggest we review today’s scripture and do a moral inventory of our thoughts (myself included). The first thing we need to do, as I apply the scripture, is to quit assigning blame to racial or ethnic groups as being the fault of the disease. In a bit of irony, the Great Influenza of 1918 was given the pejorative term “Spanish Influenza”. The irony is the fact that it did not originate from Spain. This name was given by other nations because of Spain’s neutral stance during WWI and the assumption that it came from there. As it turns out, this was proven false. Some evidence suggests that a soldier from Haskell County, Kansas brought it to Camp Funston (now Fort Riley) thus starting the worldwide spread. Although this has not been definitively proven, imagine a world where people viewed Kansas as the source of an illness called the “Sunflower State Swine Flu”. I would think that many Americans (Kansans in particular) would be offended if such a name were cemented with the Great Influenza of 1918.
Today’s scripture suggests to us that we should do more listening (and by extension thinking) before we lash out in anger or fear. I know that we live in an unknown time (downright scary to be honest). The best thing that we can do is arm ourselves with the truth, or facts. By doing this, we can speak and respond with rational thought, kindness and love. Instead of looking for something to blame for COVID-19, we need to remember that we are all in this together. To arm ourselves with the truth for COVID-19 (and other public health issues), I suggest non-biased resources such as the following:
https://www.coronavirus.gov/ (Federal Government COVID-19 resource)
https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus (Kansas Government (KDHE) COVID-19 resource)
https://www.nortoncountyhealthdept.org/ (Norton County Kansas Health Department Site)
Today’s Prayer:
“Lord,
We come before you today as a concerned, worried group of people living in this uncertain time. Please help us combat our fears of the COVID-19 pandemic with facts and rational thought. Please allow us to respond in kindness to our neighbor. Remind us to think and listen before we speak and act. Help us to remember we are all part of your creation and we’re all in this together. Let us work together the best that we can for the best possible outcome for the world and each other.
In Jesus’ Name We Pray,
Amen.”
Todd's Pharmacy Blog 