Was the pandemic an opportunity for a cleansing?

One result of the pandemic is that things have gotten a little cleaner.

At least, the air in many cities around the world has.

With the global pandemic impacting travel, reducing daily commutes in major metropolitan areas, and slowing some polluting industries, various studies show the air quality in several cities has improved by about 30 percent, and in some cities by as much as 60 percent.

In that sense, the response to the pandemic has had somewhat of a “cleansing” effect.

That has led me to wonder if perhaps a greater purpose in going through a pandemic is to give us a much needed opportunity for a “cleansing” of our lives.

We had gotten pretty dirty.

I can think of 10 different aspects of our lives experiencing a pandemic has revealed needed a rigorous cleansing:

We were too busy. For a while before the pandemic, many had come to see making the claim of being “busy” as a mark of being important, or successful, or at least productive. But the horrendous impact on marriages, families, and relationships in general made clear that we were out-of-control with our schedules. Our calendars were overflowing with tasks and responsibilities and events and functions, all things penciled in … by our own selves. But we wouldn’t stop. We kept up our break-neck pace, and indeed, it was breaking us. One of the greatest “gifts” from the onset of the pandemic was that most things slowed down, and most people had more time for what is really important in life. Some used the time well, others missed the opportunity to cleanse their calendars and priorities.

We were too disconnected. Regardless of our “always on” and “always connected” capacity by living with our smartphones and other devices, many people around the world were suffering from an epidemic of loneliness. We might have been connected technologically, but often not nearly adequately connected relationally. Many people have used the pandemic to re-connect with spouses and children, family members and friends, and even neighbors, co-workers, and others. Sadly, too many have yet to use what was an opportunity to cleanse themselves from disconnectedness.

We were too uncommitted. We had become so busy and so disconnected it was difficult to get a real commitment from just about anyone for the simplest of things. A minister in a mid-sized church in a Minneapolis suburb remarked to me prior to the pandemic one of the greatest struggles he was facing was getting church members to commit to any kind of ministry because they were too busy with work, children’s sports or school events, or other functions and interests that they thought they just couldn’t make a commitment. When a minister has to “twist arms” just to get someone to hand out church bulletins because people “don’t want to commit,” you probably just aren’t willing to commit to much of anything.

We were too unappreciative. You often don’t fully and properly appreciate some things in your life until you don’t have them. Tight restrictions as part of the government’s response to COVID-19 has been a rude awakening of how much we take for granted things like going where you want, when you want, or even going out to dinner with friends. The past year has been a unique opportunity to cleanse ourselves from a lack of appreciation and re-position ourselves as people who are more grateful than we were.

We were too negligent. Slowing down and having more time with who is important to us and for what is truly important has revealed how many of us were just too negligent. Too negligent of our spouses. Too negligent of our children. Too negligent of our faithful friends. Too negligent of our church families and church leaders. Too negligent of our spiritual, physical, and mental health. Too negligent of our neighbors. Too negligent of the lost. Many of us saw where we were negligent and have been working at using this time to change that.

We were bad stewards of our lives. Talk about “being caught flat-footed,” the effects of the pandemic on the church spotlighted how undiscipled, unequipped, and biblically illiterate we are. Not only were we not taking good care of ourselves spiritually, it became easier to see how many of us also hadn’t been taking good care of ourselves physically, mentally, and relationally as well. We were not in the best shape to face a pandemic, but we could use the pandemic for a “cleansing” and learn to become better stewards of the life God has given us.

We were too comfortable. You have to be grossly comfortable to be too busy, too disconnected, too uncommitted, too unappreciative, too negligent, and a bad steward of your life … and still have an aversion to change. But we were. Some have used the last year to cleanse themselves of being too comfortable by learning how to live a more engaged, sober life.

We were too habitual. A great deal of the disorientation initially felt from the pandemic was the massive disruption it brought to several of our habits of daily living. Without life being mostly routine, and having to think anew and afresh, people were confused with what to do with themselves in their new circumstances. Habits can be good for us if they’re beneficial disciplines, but I think many of us saw we had just become too habitual in our living.

We were too uncaring. The pandemic has forced us to see that we need each other … but we have always needed each other. We had lost sight of that, at least to some degree, prior to the pandemic.

We were too far from God. Nothing can make you feel whatever distance there is between you and God like the fear of death can. Even though — rather incredibly — surveys reveal about one-third of church members have left the church during the pandemic, initially viewership of church services skyrocketed. People who never used to go to church began tuning in. Sales of Bibles was robust. Some churches actually grew by making new disciples. People were feeling their distance from God, and that scared many. It certainly has been a time to cleanse ourselves of our want to rule our lives and the need to turn to God.

Scanning over this list is a reminder of how many of us lived before the pandemic. In that case, we should give no thought to going back to the way things were before the onset of COVID-19. Instead, while we still have a chance, let’s grab hold of what opportunities for a “cleansing” remain and move toward a much improved future.

Scotty