THE UNCERTAINTY AND DISORDELINESS OF LIFE: WHO ARE YOU, GOD?
On the 27th of March 2020, we had our official shutdown as a Country, (South Africa), due to the Covid-19. We are staying indoors, and this forces us to look at home in us.
I am reminded of the era of HIV and AIDS when there was no treatment. Working as a pastoral care practitioner, who walked along with people who were infected and affected by the HI virus. We witnessed the brutality of this disease that threatened the future of young people. That era forced us to fight us, because the enemy was/and still is in us, in our blood. The stigma that escorted the disease, who can forget it? The papers were written addressing stigma, workshops were conducted, and sermons were preached, and hope we're given to people infected and affected by the disease. Yet, people died, not from the disease, but from the stigma. Life once again became uncertain and disorderly. I hope we will not forget the lessons God taught us during that era.
Musa Dube (2001) laments: "Mama Africa has been struck by a new disease, and that disease is HIV/AIDS. Mother Africa now is the nurse, she runs home-based care centers for the dying children and people of this continent. This woman who is Mother Africa washes the people, feeds them, holds them in her arms, and rocks them, singing songs while she is waiting for their deaths. When they eventually die, she rises to close their eyes, wraps them and bury them”.
Daniel Louw (2008) calls that era the great tragic drama that challenged theology and showed theology the difficulty of offering clear answers to questions regarding the significance of our lives. One of those quick and cheap answers was the fact that HIV/AIDS was seen as punishment from God. We were in the state of not knowing, yet some of us gave answers and promised miracles to heal the HI virus. Not so long ago, grass and petrol were amongst the “God-given” answers to human suffering. We thank God, for the Anti Retro Viral treatment. The treatment saves lives, amongst those are the lives of unborn babies. We once again, let our guard down and moved on.
There comes another fierce enemy, Corona! This one goes at a very high speed. We are back at the firing line, fighting the violent enemy. We are experiencing messiness of life, while our routines are disrupted once again. We are back in the not in control state. Unlike with HIV/AIDS, there is no one to bring comfort and hope to the people who need it the most. This enemy isolates us, separate us, segregate us from each other. And this exposes the inequalities here at home, South Africa, the inequalities that we became immune to. Maybe, just maybe we need to change the questions we ask God as we are isolated.
The theological question I think we should be asking is not, why me? nor where are you, God? But who are you to me, God? It is convenient when we ask God this question as a collective, in the congregations. However, it is different when one is asking this question on a personal level. Therefore, in the isolation and messiness of life, we encounter God on a personal level. Let me qualify this statement by pointing us to the gospel of Mark 4:35-41, The waves disrupted the boat in which the disciples were in. They woke Jesus up, in fact, they asked Him, don't you care? “When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” It is interesting, they did not ask “where” or why questions. But, “who is this man? When the question is who? The relationship becomes personal. I want to believe that, this Coronavirus can give us an opportunity as we are isolated, locked down to be in a personal space with God. And I am sure that God will encounter us in this disruption and uncertainty we found ourselves in.
