Pandemic JoySample

Day 3: Still Human

“God-fearing men gave Stephen a proper burial and mourned greatly over his death.” — Acts 8:2 TPT

You will recall that in verse 1, we read of the followers of Jesus fleeing for their lives because of the persecution they faced. In this verse, however, our attention is drawn to some “God-fearing men” who, in the same context when people were fleeing for their lives, chose to do what ‘proper human beings’ will do when a loved one dies—they “gave Stephen a proper burial and mourned greatly over his death.” They stayed in touch with their ‘proper humanness’ in spite of the perilous times they were going through. 

Burying and mourning the dead is a very humane thing to do. These folks did not allow the ravaging epidemic of persecution to make them deny their humanness. Neither should we.

There are few things that are unique to humanity which we must fight to preserve even in times of uncertainty; for example, the use of words, proactive kindness, and the capacity to adapt and to be articulate in expressing our emotions. Keep a journal. Share your thoughts. Make the phone call. Stay in touch with your humanness.

C.S. Lewis reminds us that threats to human existence are not new and should not be exaggerated—whether they be plagues, cancer, fellow human beings, atomic bombs, and you can add to that, COVID-19—however, when such threatening realities emerge, Lewis suggests, “let them find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”