Facing Covid — 19: The Intersection of Science, Faith and Despair

Like so many, I’ve been having a difficult time pulling myself away from following the covid-19 news. I’ve been obsessed with written reports. I’ve been watching cable news endlessly. And I’ve been ceaselessly worrying about family, friends, my community, and the lives of people all around the globe I’ve never met.

As the pandemic unfolds the work I do with The Clergy Letter Project, an organization designed to demonstrate how religion and science can work together to solve pressing problems, frankly seems somewhat trivial. There seems to be more pressing issues to deal with and many more immediate concerns.

Because of these thoughts, my efforts on behalf of The Clergy Letter Project have waned. But I can’t help considering whether I’m over-reacting. Not over-reacting with respect to the dangers posed, they are very real and becoming increasingly evident on an hourly basis, but over-reacting by feeling that almost everything beyond the immediate crisis is insignificant.

I’m of two minds on this issue. On one hand, my reflection has led me to reaffirm my belief that the work of The Clergy Letter Project is actually more important now than ever. (I’ll explain in a minute.) On the other hand, I can’t fully focus given the situation that continues to worsen even as I write these words. (As I flip back to the Washington Post between writing every sentence I discover that Israel just banned gatherings of more than 10 people and that half of the covid-19…