Our government has failed us, is failing us, and will continue to fail us in this pandemic because Donald Trump is President.
Trump obviously didn’t cause the virus, but that our government is failing us in the midst of it is Trump’s fault. If you doubt that, just read this article by conservative Republican writer, David Frum (https://politicalwire.com/2020/04/07/this-is-trumps-fault/) who makes the case with facts and details that are irrefutable.
But because I am Christian my mind is also focused on Easter that the Christian world will celebrate this Sunday.
Easter carries a message of hope for new life whatever the circumstances, a word that is pregnant with meaning during this crisis we are in that is worse than it should have been.
I don’t believe much of what I was taught to believe (as you already knew if you have read my new book, Unbinding Christianity), but for me it is easy to believe Jesus was raised from the dead.
That’s because I believe in God, and if there is a God, then it makes sense to me to believe the God from whom all life springs can bring life out of death.
How is anyone to say what God can and cannot do, if there is a God? So the best case against Jesus being raised is that God is not real.
At the end of the day, though, God’s existence or non-existence is ultimately an un-provable claim. That means that believing or not believing in God is a choice, and I choose the former.
I believe in God because I choose to, thus, I find it sensible, even logical, to believe Jesus was raised from the dead. But why Jesus?
Why Moses? Why the Jews as the chosen people? Why Martin Luther King, Jr.? There is no answer, only that we believe they all were used by God to embody hope and good news.
So I believe Jesus was raised from the dead as a proclamation that because God is, life always overcomes death, light always overcomes darkness, hope always overcomes despair.
That is the message the Christian world celebrates this coming Sunday, a message Jews celebrated in Passover this week. God is God and life is the final word – always.
But I also believe that message has a practical application we especially need to hear during this coronavirus pandemic.
That practical expression of the message of new life, of hope, of light, is beautifully expressed in a song the great Neil Diamond sang a few years ago before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
Here are some of the lyrics:
Love is all about chemistry/Isn’t something you go off to school to learn.
Isn’t math or ancient history/It’s the kinda thing that comes down to simple terms.
It’s not about you/It’s not about me/Love is all about we/Yes it’s all about we.”
Love is not about young or old/Touches everybody in a special way
It’s a blanket when the nights are cold/It can even keep you dry on a rainy day
And it’s not about you/It’s not about me
Love is all about we/Yes, it’s all about we
Love is all about “we.” So life is all about “we” because life is all about love.
Sadly, we have a President who doesn’t understand that. He speaks of “me” as if no one else matters, to the point where it is clear that he is the only “me” he cares about.
But I think the nation sees how wrong he is. During this time of social distancing when we cannot be with those we love the way we usually are, we can’t give them hugs, a smile, a kiss, or hold their hand, we are realizing life is about “we.”
Tragically for too many of us, being “distanced” from one another has turned into grief as we have lost a husband, wife, child, son, daughter, friend, colleague, neighbor to this invisible killer.
The pain is too deep for words and touches us whether we are young or old, rich or poor, black or white, Democrat or Republican, American or Chinese precisely because love is all about we.
It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It is always and forever about we.
That is the practical expression of faith in God, that life overcomes death, love overcomes barriers of separation, and that is what the Christian world will celebrate on Easter.
It is a message that there is one God of life who overcomes death, whose light overcomes darkness, one God who, regardless of how “distanced” we must be from one another at this time, has gifted us with love that makes us forever and always “we.”
linnposts.com 
One of my disciplines as I bike around springtime in Washington DC is to notice the empty parks, playgrounds, places usually enjoy with others…. as Love in action… Staying home is love. The empty space is holy ground.
It is WE
You added to the “we” story, Dixcy. Thank you.
I find I’m missing the “we” more and more each day. I miss hugging my family and friends. I miss social interaction. It’s worth the small sacrifice knowing there’s a time of “rebirth.” Everyone, enjoy Easter and it’s resurrection message!
Thanks, Rollie. You and Becky as well.
For the duration of our national “Lock down” here in the UK, we’ve evolved the custom of going onto our doorsteps each Thursday evening. It’s to show our appreciation through applause of those who work as carers during the Covind – 19 emergency. It’s the one thing that we can do together that’s legal, and for the first time I turned up with a pot and an old wooden spoon. It’s good to see that what the famous writer J B Priestley called ‘the England of the free and generous temper’ lives on – even in the toughest of times.
Good for you, Nigel, and your neighbors. That is happening here as well, though our particular neighborhood arrangement does not lend itself to such a demonstration. So we cheer those who can. Your story also illustrates that the “we” we share spans all time and space. “We” will get through this, with the hope that the world will be even better on the other side because we rediscovered “we.” Note: I am glad to see your PM is now out of intensive care. That is good news, even though one might not share his politics. Stay safe.
A hopeful message. A hopeful time. Thanks Jan.
Thanks, Wilbur, and stay safe.