Today is a St. Patrick’s Day unlike any other in my lifetime. Parades were canceled across the country last weekend. Bars and restaurants are being closed. People are being urged to work from home.
Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the late fourth century. He was kidnapped at the age of sixteen and enslaved in Ireland, but he escaped back to Britain. He then chose to return to Ireland as a missionary, where he established churches, monasteries, and schools.
His compassionate courage is a model we’ll consider today.
Hope in hard days
The stock market plunged nearly three thousand points yesterday, its second-worst day in history. Coronavirus deaths outside China have now surpassed those in China. The Supreme Court postponed oral arguments because of concerns over the novel coronavirus, apparently the first time the court has scheduled such a recess since the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918.
The Peace Corps has suspended operations and evacuated all volunteers. Schools have closed to more than thirty-two million students. The Trump administration released new guidelines that include avoiding groups of more than ten people. And we are learning that people without symptoms may be spreading coronavirus more than was previously thought.
Where do we find hope in these hard days?
On the medical front, the first human trial to evaluate a candidate vaccine against coronavirus began in Seattle yesterday. Other treatments are also being developed that, while not vaccines, hold promise and could be available more quickly. The world’s governments are taking very significant steps to support their economies. Social distancing measures will help to keep people from becoming infected, infecting others, and overwhelming our medical resources.
But there is an additional source of hope to which Christians can turn in days like these.
When the plague came to Wittenberg
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