Covid-19 sucks! It has seen loved ones die and caused untold grief. In an effort to keep ourselves and others safe, it has caused changes in all of our lives. The places we can go are more limited and people we interact with are more physically distant. I find it harder to mark time and tell the days apart.
This made me harken back to the classic movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. The film is now 25 years old, so I don’t know if you have seen it; if you haven’t, it’s about a man who becomes trapped in a cycle that he desperately wants to escape. The main character, Phil, has to repeat the worst day of his life.
I wonder if Covid doesn’t have us feeling similarly trapped. In my life, without the usual changes in scenery, the days run together making them hard to distinguish from one another. The film Groundhog Day might have a lesson for us at times like this. Like Phil we have to turn inward to our own spiritual resources. Phil has to acknowledge that he isn’t able to alter the circumstances of his life, but he can control his reactions and find ways to embrace the world around him.
Fascinatingly, the film has been interpreted in various ways by different religious groups. From my own Christian tradition it reminds me of a story from the Desert Fathers, austere religious folks in the 3rd century who moved to the Egyptian desert to become hermits so that they could focus on an interior life of prayer. People would seek out their wisdom and we can still find insight in those stories today. One of the fathers was asked the question by a visitor, “Father, how do you know what to pray for in the world when you live cloistered and away from the world?” He replied, “I know what to pray for because I am part of the world. Everything that happens out there happens inside me - all of the love, fear, joy, doubt, and suffering, all of that happens inside me." Humans are complex and we have deep wells within that can provide us spiritual sustenance when we are attentive.
The Multi-Faith Chaplaincy is here to support students and staff in exploring their faith and/or spiritual life. While we unfortunately don’t have a magic wand which will change the monotony and circumstances of our pandemic lifestyle, the chaplains are skilled in the spiritual exercise of our faith traditions and are happy to help resource you for these trying times. It is my hope and prayer that together we find the resources to grow, change, and adapt so that, just like Phil, we too come to embrace the world around us.
Blessings,
Mindy
Rev. Mindy Bell - Methodist Chaplain