Christianity Today has been thoughtfully reflecting on how Christians can be faithful in this season of coronavirus. Here is an aggregation of their best articles, many of which are translated into multiple languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese Simplified and Traditional, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, and Russian.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has a webpage devoted to the particular impacts of COVID-19 on Community and Faith-Based Organizations. The site, from our country’s leading experts on disease, offers a high-level look at community health concerns specific to churches and the pandemic.
Humans are relational beings. Biologists often refer to us as a social species, one of the most social of all species. Isolation is not in our nature. In fact, most of what nurtures us is interpersonal connections. So what do we do when, for the greater good, we are forced to stay away from one another, to not to leave our homes unless it is absolutely necessary?
We all work too hard, some of us more than others. Pastors do it; I’m married to one, and she rarely stops pastoring. Scientists do it. White-collar and blue-collar workers do it. So what does science have to say about Sabbath?
The religion-vs.-science narrative persists in our wider culture, but that’s clearly a false narrative when it comes to the interface between religion and health. Study after study shows positive connections between health and things like church attendance, religiosity, and religious coping.
In recent decades, many interesting studies have examined how religion and faith help us deal with stress, loss, and trauma. Events as different as 9/11, near-death experiences, and caring for someone with cancer have been studied.