Dear UUC – Hope on Union faith family,

As the country starts reopening slowly, I find myself asking the question, “What kind of world we will return to after a dramatic shutdown?”. While many may be dreaming of returning to the world we had known before, I am not optimistic. What I see is growing selfishness in our world.

Don’t get me wrong, I also want to live in a healthy economy. However, we have to ask the question, “At what cost?”. Most of the answers I hear are disappointing, discouraging, and downright dangerous.

The answer I hear – and the unacceptable one – is this, “So what if a few people have to die.” This answer of course has a caveat, that is “as long as I, or anyone I care about, are not the ones who die”.

This is the penultimate example of selfishness. This is as antithetical to Bible as it gets.

Paul's writing to the church in Philippi says, “…be humble toward one another, always consider others better than yourselves. And look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own.”

The purpose of social distancing (6 feet distance) and wearing a mask, is not only about protecting you from potential exposure, but it is about preventing you from giving the virus to others. Because of the incubation period, you may be infectious without displaying any symptoms.

An alarming statistic is that the mortality rate for African Americans is 2.3 times higher than the rate for Asian Americans and Latin Americans, and 2.6 times higher than western European Americans. This means if the African Americans’ mortality was same as that of European Americans, more than 10,000 African Americans would be alive today. Shocking numbers.

What could be the cause of the differential? It is simply economics. The areas that has the highest density, people relying on public transportation, people who are in “essential” service industry are all much more susceptible to be exposed. Economic means simply can buy you isolation. And those who have lesser means live in greater danger. We cannot demand that “workers” live in greater risk simply because we want to go eat out, see a movie, or go shopping. Our sense of justice cannot allow it.

The Global Risks Report warns of the downward pressure on the global economy from the financial inequality is the greatest threat to global stability. Amid the darkening economic outlook, people’s discontent has hardened the systems that have failed to promote advancement. Embedded in this system is racism, hatred of the poor and misuse of power.

We see protesters demanding opening up of beaches, malls, movie theaters as well as churches, but as Bishop Hagiya said earlier this week, I cannot imagine how we can ever forgive ourselves if we opened up too soon and someone came to our church and got infected, much less died. One death would be too many. I believe our faith demands that Christians ought to be the ones in the front lines demanding that we stay closed for the sake of all people, especially the most vulnerable.

This is the time for the church to stand up and be the moral voice and speak of justice and righteousness in the midst of current chaos of selfishness. We must speak up of staying at home as an act of love for our neighbors. We must demand actions by the federal government to provide for those who are most in need. It is about keeping people alive. It is about promoting love for all peoples.

We must not only look for the new day when the ban on large gatherings is over, but as Linda Culbertson, General Presbyter of the Pacific Presbytery says we must work to make most of what is available to us today. We must look and find the grace of God in the midst of what is there in our midst. This is the time to be creative and concentrate on connecting with our loved ones by every means possible.

Let us be the people of God. Let us keep everyone safe. Let us be the voice of justice for fair and equitable society.

Pastor Sunny