Early last week Kelly and I went to Costco to get groceries. The usually busy, relatively boisterous warehouse store was eerily silent, with the employees strained and terse compared to their norm.
A few days ago it was a beautiful spring day. The boys were playing in the puddles left from melted snow while Kelly, Jolee, Sanjay, and I stood around talking and doing miscellaneous lawn work. An elderly couple that lives in our neighborhood walked by. Normally they would stop and talk for a bit, but this time they studiously avoided eye contact and mumbled a response when I greeted them from twenty feet away before speeding up towards their house.
Yesterday I went out to prayer-walk around the neighborhood. It was a nice day out, so there were several other people out walking. Twice I saw someone intentionally cross the road to avoid passing someone else on the same sidewalk.
Friends, social distancing is one thing. Fearful isolation and avoidance is another.
One of my biggest concerns is that COVID-19 will cause isolation and disconnection to become habitual for many of us. That avoiding eye contact and ignoring our neighbors will become (even more of) a social norm. That crossing the street to avoid having to walk within a few feet of someone will become our default. That hiding behind our phone screens will be our security more than Jesus is.
Isolation isn’t acceptable
As followers of Jesus – the Jesus who went out of his way to connect with those who were isolated and disconnected, even if they were carriers of a deadly infectious disease (Matthew 8:3) – we can’t settle for isolation becoming the norm.
We were created for connection – connection with God and with our fellow humans. While that connection may look a bit more “distant” during the current pandemic, we can’t let it cease to exist.
If you’re a follower of Jesus you have a responsibility to fight the isolation by connecting with the people you encounter.
Fight for connection
If you’re at the grocery store, smile and thank the clerk. If you’re out for a walk, greet the people you pass rather than quickly crossing the street to avoid getting too close to them. After all, if we can’t trust God to protect us from some germs as we pass someone on the sidewalk, do we really trust him at all?
Make eye contact with people. Smile. Call your friends and family. Facetime an old highschool buddy. Whatever the means, fight the isolation with intentional connection. Follow Jesus’ lead and be proactive about communicating and demonstrating care to those God’s placed around you.
No Comments