Saturday, April 11, 2020

Pandemic Planet

The dramatic turn of events in the past couple of months has been astounding. The coronavirus pandemic which apparently originated in Wuhan, China has swept around the world. While there have been other shocking, tragic events in my lifetime, none has had such an ongoing impact on daily life. The effort to halt the spread of the virus has meant drastic measures to limit close contact among people, with many largely confined to home. Even mundane tasks like grocery shopping have turned into a surreal adventure involving masks, limits on number of shoppers present, etc. And the economy has taken a big hit with workers and businesses idle or under-utilized. Many legislatures have recessed or adjourned. Some essential government and industry activities do continue.

Today is Holy Saturday, and the usual practice of group church and temple observances of the holy days surrounding Easter and Passover has turned to mostly online participation by worshipers from home. Though the form in which most of us observe will be a little different this year, the profound meaning is as present as ever. And yes, special prayers are being offered for the end of this global pandemic.

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