Holy Week deep dive

The spiritual meaning of the April 7 full pink super moon is believed to be about balance, equality, nourishing our inner equilibrium, and inspiring collective consciousness. 

In the spirit of spreading happy, positive, and/or silly vibes:  

• Tracy Morgan staying busy with his wife during quarantine.
• #TonguesOutTuesday on Twitter celebrates pets.
• Comic impersonator JL Cauvin contemplates Easter pay per view. 

Daily pandemic update:  

Spain has reported a slight increase in the daily death toll of coronavirus for the first time in five days, with 743 people succumbing overnight. Japan declared a state of emergency amid a spike in coronavirus cases. Singapore began a partial lockdown. The WHO urged countries not to lift measures put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus "too early" after Austria and Denmark announced that they would start easing restrictions once Easter has passed.  Aljazeera.com timeline

8 Apr 2020	Cases		Deaths		Recovered
10:12 GMT*	Yesterday	Today	Yesterday	Today	Yesterday	Today
World	1,360,233	1,446,981	75,961	83,090	293,617	308,653
US	367,659	400,549	10,943	12,857	19,814	21,711
NY	131,916	142,384	4,758	5,489	14,236	15,592
CT	6,906	7,781	206	277	0	0
NC	3,039	3,348	48	58	140	190

*Documenting time of day because real time data updates continuously.
Tracking specific states:  NY is US epicenter, son Reid lives in CT, and I live in NC. 
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/               https://www.coronainusa.com/  

A moment of silence for those we’ve lost to coronavirus, including the first 100 in the US. 

Reported US coronavirus deaths via @CNN: 

4 weeks ago:      31 deaths

3 weeks ago:    111 deaths

2 weeks ago:    704 deaths

1 week ago:   3,834 deaths

Today:         12,893 deaths 

February 7:          0 deaths

March 7:            19 deaths

April 7:       12,893 deaths

In the news:

• NC faith leaders adapt Holy Week observations during pandemic. Side note, the government is helping pay some pastor salaries during the crisis. 
• Winston Salem residents encouraged to report over-size gatherings and other violations of state of emergency provisions using online form.
• African Americans are more vulnerable to coronavirus due to disparities including pre-existing health issues, less access to health care, and types of jobs.
• NY Gov Cuomo said daily death toll higher though hospital admissions may be leveling off; physical distancing is working. 
• Some employers support workers with Easter holiday off work, extra vacation days, bonus pay.
• Nancy Pelosi named recipient of Profiles in Courage Award.
• CDC director said US deaths likely to be lower than projected thanks to physical distancing compliance.
• Hong Kong second wave bigger than first; return to normalcy attempted too soon.
• US humbled, pleads for and receives coronavirus aid from other countries.
• Trump threatened to withhold funding from World Health Org, then backtracked.
• @realDonaldTrump encouraging Americans to use #AmericaWorksTogether online.  
• Trump removed independent watchdog, upending coronavirus funds oversight panel; investigation pending.
• Kayleigh McEnany replaced Stephanie Grisham as White House press secretary.
• Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned after apologizing for disparaging Captain Crozier.
• Tech billionaire Jack Dorsey pledged $1 billion (30% of his net worth) to fight coronavirus.
• Grocery stores using robots during pandemic.
• Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared April "Confederate Heritage Month". 
• Israeli health minister claims coronavirus is ‘divine punishment’ for homosexuality, tests positive for COVID-19.
• Wuhan, China celebrates end of lockdown after 76 long days.
• Tuesday, April 7 was World Health Day honoring nurses and midwives.  

Following Kenny Beck’s lead to share a few signs of hope:

• 90 year old woman recovered after preparing for her death.
• #Happy100 on Twitter celebrates people turning 100 years old.
• Faith Action House helps immigrants and refugees since they don’t qualify for any government assistance. During the pandemic, critical needs include: emergency funds to pay rent and utilities, food donations and deliveries, and emergency transportation for medical appointments.
• #SaveWithStories provides fun and education to kids and parents stuck at home during the outbreak. Donations help meet the health, education and nutrition needs of children impacted by coronavirus. 
• #TogetherAtHome global broadcast digital special to support frontline healthcare workers and the World Health Organization scheduled Saturday April 18. 

Holy Week

Today marks the middle of Christian Holy Week leading up to Easter and the beginning of Jewish Passover. Additional world religion holy days are observed throughout the month of April. 

North Carolina is among several states exempting religious gatherings from stay at home orders. Although many places of worship have switched to live stream services so people can safely participate from home, some argue that in-person sacred assemblies are essential.

First I want to highlight some positive examples of spirituality during the pandemic:  

• Our elderly neighbor and his wife use their computer to view online church services.
• Greg’s friend Billy hosts Facebook watch parties to connect members of his church community.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) recently invited the public to digitally attend their Annual General Conference April 4-5. The Salt Lake Tribune covered the event while #GeneralConference trended on Twitter.
• Pope Francis live streamed Palm Sunday mass from empty St. Peter’s Basilica.
• Jewish Passover (April 8-16) and Seder meal traditions also face changes this month.
• Reverend William Barber had planned a People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington DC June 20. Since mass gatherings are currently banned, the Poor People’s Campaign is using digital tools to organize including video conferences and social media.
• Harvard Divinity School crowd sourced a variety of pandemic spiritual resources.

Next I want to mention some controversial aspects of organized religion:  

• Historical mistakes were made by Billy Sunday during the 1918 pandemic.
• More recently, a Washington state church choir practice resulted in an outbreak and deaths.
• Florida pastor was arrested for violating county stay at home order. About the same time a Louisiana pastor continued to host massive in-person church services despite guidance from public health officials and a stay-at-home order from the governor. 
• Evangelist Franklin Graham told Fox viewers coronavirus is the result of sin. 
• Televangelist Jim Bakker was sued after trying to sell a fake coronavirus cure.
• Televangelist Kenneth Copeland claimed to destroy the virus during a sermon.
• Government prosecutors in South Korea accused church leaders of withholding the names of some members as officials tried to track patients before the virus spread.

When President Trump announced his intention to open the country and put Americans back to work by Easter (April 12), concerned reactions from health advisors, media and voters led him to reconsider. The symbolism of the resurrection of Christ was perhaps his inspiration for the well intentioned aspirational goal. As much as folks are looking forward to a return to relative normalcy, a longer shut down has been deemed necessary to effectively flatten the curve.

In my personal life…

Despite being agnostic, I empathize with people who believe in God and receive spiritual nourishment from religion. I do not, but I try not to judge others who do. Most of my relatives are Baptists; my dad is/was Methodist. As an adult I choose to opt out of organized religion, though I’ve visited a variety of houses of worship over my lifetime including an unusually long African American service, Anglican, Baptist, Catholic mass, Episcopal, Friends (Quakers), Greek Orthodox, Methodist, Moravian, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, and Unitarian.

As a child I attended summertime vacation bible school and church revivals with my Baptist grandparents. For a while my brother and I rode a bus to church with other neighborhood children so our parents could enjoy a few hours of kid-free couple time. Sometimes our entire family attended church together though not on a regular basis. 

One time when I was around 10 years old, a pastor was preaching about an upcoming election and managed to weave into his sermon his opinion supported by biblical scripture that a woman’s place is in the home, not running for political office. As I thought about his words, and the separation of church and state I had learned about in school, I cut my eyes toward my parents. They both sat passively listening without the slightest indication of disagreement. Confusion then anger began to well inside me. Not wanting to subject myself to inappropriate indoctrination, I calmly stood up and walked out to our car where I waited for the service to end. During the ride home my parents let me know how disappointed they were in me, angry that I had embarrassed them by walking out. I told them anyone who noticed probably assumed I just needed to go the bathroom. They insisted I was being disrespectful. 

Later when I told my parents I didn’t want to go to church anymore, they called me an atheist. I tried to explain that I felt more akin to agnostics than atheists but they didn’t want to hear it. I wish I had known about Schrodinger’s Cat back then, about the analogy of Schrodinger’s God, but I doubt it would have made a difference. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince are right; sometimes parents just don’t understand.

My first husband and I had wanted an outdoor hippie style marriage ceremony at Brown’s Mount, a Native American site in Georgia, but his family insisted we have a traditional church wedding. Although the female minister was supportive and sympathetic, I cried buckets of tears before, during and after the ceremony because it just didn’t feel right. I had agreed only to appease my in-laws, to make everyone else happy, everyone except me. Perhaps my tears forebode our eventual split.

When Greg and I decided to marry 5 years after our respective divorces, neither of us wanted a big formal church wedding so we flew to Vegas where an Elvis impersonator facilitated our nuptials at the Graceland Wedding Chapel. It was fun in an ironic, playfully tacky way. We’ll be celebrating our 15th anniversary this July. Knock wood.

Since moving to Pfafftown, Greg and I have been solicited by an elderly evangelical neighbor multiple times. He carries church pamphlets in his shirt pocket to facilitate inviting people to church while stopping to chat during his daily walks. He seems like a nice man, truly, though I try to coordinate gardening and dog walks around his schedule to avoid his inevitable attempts to save my soul. Even now during the pandemic when we’re supposed to maintain a safe physical distance, he still can’t resist the temptation to proselytize. Bless his heart.

My 95 year old grandmother is also a kindly Christian. When I asked her questions about her life for a family keepsake scrapbook a few years ago, she talked a lot about church. I wonder how she is receiving spiritual sustenance during the statewide lockdown. If her pastor is not able to live stream then she might be watching a televangelist. I remember watching Ernest Angley with my brother as children, and later trying to “heal” our dachshunds like he helped people on tv. It didn’t work.

The best church experience of my life was an unprogrammed Friends meeting. There was no preacher, no sermon, no agenda; just a few people sitting together mostly in silent meditation. Two or three members spoke softly, intermittently piercing the stillness. The practice was spiritually satisfying like no other ritual before or since. I attended only a few times though. Rather than drive across town, I prefer to enjoy my meditations at home or in nature. The feeling is similar plus I conserve gas and don’t have to dress up. Win/win/win!