Covid-19 with its illness, death, disruption, economic pains and social distancing unimaginably disrupted Easter 2020. It can also transform it.
Disruption: Easter without family and friends
Covid-19’s first disruption to Easter is the massive inhibition of people getting together to eat, share, sing, play and enjoy. Instead, this virus disrupted a celebration of life with a stark reminder of death, pain and isolation. Many families, especially in virus hot spots, are living tragedies that tear and gnaw at the soul. Even in wartime it is possible for groups of people to come together and share some food and fellowship and reflect on a two thousand year old Easter narrative. We probably have to go back to the plague or other major pandemics to find a similar situation. The disruption brings isolation rather than fellowship, pain and suffering rather than celebration. It is a difficult time.
In the northern hemisphere Easter is also connected with spring, with Easter egg hunts, new spring clothes, the end of the cold. Covid-19’s rude intrusion pushes many to walking and biking and perhaps rediscovering the beauty, the majesty of seasonal change. It is a difficult time who’s disruption can let us rediscover what is forgotten.
The disruption is stimulating a massive search for alternatives. The common, now “viral” option is to “go virtual.” Millions today are chatting, texting, video conferencing, whatever they can do to pivot and enjoy some sort of Easter fellowship. While not the same, there is something to that.
Disruption: Easter without Liturgy
The second disruption comes with the almost universal inability to participate in some sort of liturgy, some place of worship where groups of people come together to reflect on the religious meaning of the holiday. The physical churches today are mostly empty.
This surprising transformation is also going virtual. Most churches are using internet channels to share ancient traditions with their members. Social distancing practices are forging new experiences. Music, participation, preaching, sacred space, all are in a new space.
How important is physical closeness in binding a community together? We are a social species; physical closeness and sharing are essential to the way we are put together. When we come out of this, there will be lots of questions.
Transformation: the polarization spiral
Whether the economy, addiction, depression, many of life’s major challenges tend to rotate in downward spirals. One worsening example is the polarization of society, often called “the culture wars.” Partisan sentiment serves as an accelerant to this phenomena.
Covid-19 may fracture that spiral. Rather than human society calculating how to get out of it, the need for cooperation regardless of partisan identity or preference holds out the tantalizing possibility of inverting the spiral from downward to upward. There may not be an option other that to move away from division and polarization and pivot to cooperation for the common good.
Covid-19 may also reveal deeper fissures in society. While the virus itself respects no human identity marker (gender, race, class), society’s use of resources and response to the virus will shed light on whether that response is universal or narrow. It is both an enormous risk for further societal fracturing and an opportunity for societal healing.
Transformation: the narcissist spiral
Society’s second downward spiral is the decent into the tyranny of the “I.” Egoism, narcissism, the lack of a balanced concern for the common good as well as the now infamous WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Biology as well as theology insist that humankind is a social species; both warn of the consequences of this downward spiral. Perhaps it is something of the message of Easter to reflect that a virus may transform that spiral upward.
Transformation: the consumption spiral
Society’s third downward spiral is the obsessive search for happiness in the consumption of goods. While there are many recent alarms on obsessive consumption, the spiral showed few signs of slowing or inverting. A virus, social distancing, loss of those close to us, all offer the possibility of turning the spiral around. Happiness can be found in so many places: music, games, literature, cultural events; all of them are going to be more accessible as the virus put the breaks on conspicuous consumption.
After the virus?
What will Easter be like in the future? What growth will virtual tools provide for fellowship and sharing? How will the virus change our awareness of life, death, and what they both mean?
The virus will spotlight two societal players: the scientific/technology network charged with developing a response, and the leadership network charged with finding a path forward. Leadership in particular faces challenges here. Can it break free of the “blame it or claim it” game prevalent for decades and characteristic of the “culture wars” and instead illuminate a path forward for the greater good of society? Both share risks if they fail but opportunities if they succeed.