I'm Grateful for Scientists (and so much more)
Dear Ones,
I pray you’re well and safe this week.
The Covid-19 virus has arrived at my household this past week and so we’ve been quarantined together—quite the throwback to early 2020 when we were all on top of each other then too! However, I’m giving thanks that we were all able to be vaccinated and the kids even just got their boosters, so we are hopeful that it will remain mild.
Do you remember those early days? I think being home has made me a bit reflective this week, and I just found old pictures showing the setup we had for our kids to do school online, for me to office at home for the first time and more. I remember when we didn’t know all we know now, so we sat and wiped down all our groceries before they came in the house; when our hands were cracked from using so much hand sanitizer; when my friend and I sat a driveway apart to have a visit because it had become so lonely. I have a family with a lot of respiratory issues, so we were particularly frightened back then.
Today, we know so much more, AND we’ve also seen dozens of variants. Viruses are tricky and wildly adaptable, and yet our scientific community has continued to find, study, comprehend, and solve for them as we've gone along this path.
A friend of mine who is a neurobiologist in Hamburg, Germany, told me that when Covid-19 emerged, her team dropped the research they were doing so they could be part of helping figure out how to best meet this profound challenge. They were, of course, not the only ones. It helped me realize the generosity of our scientific community. Their ongoing work has saved the lives of millions.
Some have said over the years that science and faith are incompatible with one another, but my friend, (a devout Anglican) always told me that for her, the two go hand in hand. That there will always be unanswered questions, and that’s where faith has been her companion and guide. And she said that the scientific discoveries she has witnessed help her understand the intricacies of the grand design our Creator bestowed upon us.
For many of us, life has resumed some normalcy in the past months—thanks be to God. For our scientific friends, their work surrounding Covid has not and will not end for a long time. They have shown up to the task day after day these past 2.5 years to try and help us find a road to a more stable and healthy future. This is humbling for me to think of today as my house is awash in a disease that 2 years ago—only 24 months ago—would potentially have killed us as it has so many on this road.
I would ask you to remember the scientists in your daily gratitude prayers today. Their love of the human family is a rigorous, disciplined, evidence-based love, and though that style of love may feel foreign to how we usually think of love, it is one kind of love that the world relies on every single day without even realizing it. Thanks be to God.
Peace,
Mother Erika
The Rev. Erika von Haaren
Interim Rector, Christ Church of the Ascension
