Easter 2020: The Church and COVID-19

My brother, like my late father, fasts from non-veg during lent every year, planned a grand meal set for Easter this time as well. While a grand Easter celebration was in line, down came Corona and stole his Easter away. This pandemic has left us perplexed with the sudden change in lifestyle, with everyone staying indoors, nations locked-down, the homeless stranded, the hungry starving, no traffic, the earth breathing fresher air and so on, both good and harsh visible realities of life. 

This weird, yet baffled experience, kindles several contradictions of life’s realities and faith reflections, like parents using WhatsApp and Facebook which they complained of being the only reason for everything ‘affecting or deceiving’ their child; IT/MNC employees waiting to go to office, which they once craved for ‘freedom’ from; Churches being closed which were once claimed to be always ‘open,’ preachers active on social media, they once claimed ‘evil;’ and many more. All live only with this hope that, it will all change. 

The celebration of Easter is an important event in the Christian calendar. It is also known as the starting point of Christian faith, the very reason why Christians go to church on the first day of the week. The first question on the first Easter morn as recorded in verse Luke 24:5b, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” asked to the women who came to see Jesus’ body, sets the tone for the faith-revival that is to follow. They are explained that he is not there, but risen as he had already spoken to them in Galilee. This rising from the dead was a fulfillment of the many prophecies found, for example, we read in John 2:19 Jesus replied “destroy the temple and I will raise it up in three days.” Though he was referring to his own self, the people misinterpreted it to the temple of Jerusalem. This way of misinterpretation has always existed even till today. 

The church today is confined to the walls of the structure that we meet in on every Sunday. The outbreak of the COVID-19 saw many Christians wage war against the virus by keeping the doors of the church open and also risking to gather in groups for worship services. However, the inevitable lock-down came and everyone had to move on from this understanding of the church. Paul speaks of the Church as the body of Christ in Romans 12:5; Eph 3:6; Col 1:18. The understating that the structure is the body of Christ is a common understanding for all. But the lesson from the pandemic only made it clear that the structure is not the body of Christ but, “we are.” 

The Church, therefore, ought to exist not with walls but be present among the living. It needs to transcend walls and gates of the physical structure and move beyond the church to realize itself among creation. The creation is the church God created. All are members of that one body to whom all belong. The tomb could not hold the body of Christ. The same way the building that we called church could not hold the Church. It has begun to transcend the walls. The Church becomes visible among the people in distributing daily essentials and food, conducting worship services on the internet, reaching out and praying for those affected victims and so on. This Easter, is a reminder that going further the church needs to be understood not as a mere physical structure where people gather but the very creation that worships God in its own expression of life.

Wishing you and your family a blessed Easter. May the risen lord journey with us in these uncertain times and grant us the strength to believe that life in God will be sustained. Amen