You can't move anywhere in the UK at the moment for talk of swine flu. There is simply nowhere to hide. Not even church.Attending my local Anglican church on Sunday morning I received, in the weekly bulletin, a double-sided leaflet outlining the precautions that churches are being advised to take during the current 'pandemic' (is it officially one yet?)
The guidelines include not sharing the peace, ensuring the bread and wine givers 'scrub up' before communion and not passing one big cup of wine around everyone for fear of spreading all those nasty germs. And if it all gets worse, we might have to cancel church altogether and other such mass gatherings.
Whilst I'm very sorry for those families who've lost loved ones due to swine flu and while I wouldn't wish anyone to end up in bed feeling awful for a few days (unless they wanted to avoid going to work), I do feel the whole situation has been hyped up beyond belief these days. Any big news story is the same these days.
Let's keep it in perspective folks - if we get it, the vast majority of us will get better fairly quickly just like we do when we get 'normal flu'. We are so fortunate in the developed world - spare a thought for those living in seriously poor communities facing seriously dangerous illnesses like malaria, TB, Aids, and those suffering from malnutrition and dehydration.
Maybe the Church of England need to think and pray a little more about that and less about which sort of vessel to use for communion.
(Photo credit: Paul Johns)
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Its been officially a pandemic since around 14th June. Also, I found the recent Anglican regs on communion a tad silly since you are drinking alcohol which kills bacteria and drinking from a (usually) silver cup which also kills germs... but anywho...
ReplyDeleteI guess the issue is that even if most of us only get a mild dose, we may pass it on to someone else who might have a nastier, even fatal, response.
ReplyDeleteThe fewer people that catch it, the fewer people that can pass it on.
Even in the midst of such huge numbers getting the virus, the effort to limit its spread is one worth making.
Good to see you blogging, hope to read more.
Grace and epace
Jonathan
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ReplyDeleteI agree with your key points. Swine flu has been overblown (mostly by the media), but it's now high in the public consciousness and as such, any organisation catering in some way for large numbers of people needs to demonstrate it's taking it seriously. Perhaps it's gone too far into the popular understanding, but we all have to live with the world we have, not the world we could like to have.
ReplyDeleteSo churches (along with schools, hotels, etc) need to show they are able to take appropriate practical action to mitigate against the risks.
There is another practical step we can all take, and that is to pray. We can choose what we pray about. Swine flu will be on my prayer list if people close to be are infected, but even then, there are possibly other priorities I will pray about first.