It was a little odd seeing pictures and video clips of Aussie and Kiwi cricketers doing their thing at the Sydney Cricket ground with not a fan in sight.  Newspapers hailed it as the first “fan-free sporting event in the corona virus era”.  Reports are that the various football codes are bracing themselves for similar ‘ghost games’.  League managers are letting people know that no spectators will be allowed into the stadiums until further notice.

I found myself wondering what effect that has on players.  Can we really expect the best from sports players when there are no fans to cheer them on?  And how many loyal fans will have ‘withdrawal symptoms’ as weeks go by without being able to attend their favourite sporting event?

This morning after our church worship service we had a brief meeting to discuss our own response to this pandemic when it hits town.  Everywhere the word is out that people with symptoms need to isolate themselves.  Already this morning one lady stayed home because of flu-like symptoms.  She plans to see her GP in the morning to check whether it is just the common flu or whether it is something more sinister.

We discussed whether in this situation we should continue serving refreshments after Sunday worship and even whether church services as such should continue.  I had visions of preaching to an empty church and the service being live-streamed so people could participate at home.  It wouldn’t be quite the same, would it?  Spectator sports are meant to have spectators.  Congregational worship is meant to take place with a congregation present.  An attentive congregation can even help bring out the best in a preacher.

This morning our church community not only decided not to cancel worship services but to continue serving morning tea afterwards as well.

As part of that discussion someone suggested that we need to trust God to care for us.  It was stated that a certain church had made it known that they would not cancel worship services because God would care for them.  It’s true that God’s protection is a powerfully encouraging teaching of the Bible and of the Christian Church.  Psalm 91 spells it out nicely for us.  Amongst other things it tells us that God sends His guardian angels so that you will not even stub your toe on a stone.  We have reflected that teaching about God’s protection also in the church’s songs of faith, such as the hymn, “God will take care of you!”

However we need to keep this in perspective.  In a fallen and broken world, we human beings are terminal from the moment we are born.  Some human beings live for only an hour or maybe a day.  Others get to celebrate their one-hundredth birthday.  But we all get to die… and we die in a myriad of different ways.  I could as likely get wiped out in a car accident as I could by the corona virus.  You could die as likely from a massive stroke or heart attack as you could from this current pandemic.

So what happens to the teaching about God’s providential care?  Well, it certainly isn’t so that God almighty is going to suspend the laws of nature for Christians, so that only unbelievers die because they succumbed to the corona virus.  We need to take a big-picture view of God’s care and protection.  God does watch over us – yes, even to the point of keeping us from stubbing our toe on a rock.  But He also determines the number of our years – so that the moment comes when He takes us out of this life and into His glorious presence.  He may do that in your sleep.  He may do that as you get hit by a bus crossing the street – or He may do that through the tiny little microbe that is the corona virus.  But in whichever way He does it He wants you to know that you are in His Fatherly care.

It was good that we had that meeting this morning.  Under the present pressing circumstances we have a duty of care.  However I’m glad that instead of irrational panic there was a determination that life needs to go on as normal as possible – because we are held in the loving hands of a Father-God who cares for us.

John Westendorp