I want to begin by saying how proud I am of our Renforth people, of how you have been enduring well through this Covid-19 pandemic and have been persevering with us throughout this entire period. We know that you have been faithfully tuning into our YouTube channel every Sunday morning or have participated with us in person, and we appreciate it. We especially thank those who have continued to be faithful in their giving, so that we can continue to do the ministry that God has called us to, even if our ministry has been limited by the pandemic.
Many if not all of you have heard of the terms Covid fatigue, pandemic fatigue, or coronavirus burnout. Covid fatigue is described by an article from the Public Health of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph as such:
“Pandemic fatigue” can occur when people get tired of the pandemic measures and become less likely to follow public health practices or simply begin to drown out those messages. A natural sense of burnout can happen since we’ve had to stick to these public health measures for such a prolonged period of time. Pandemic fatigue can be experienced differently for everyone but often presents itself as feeling restless, irritable, lacking motivation, and difficulty concentrating on tasks. You may even notice yourself withdrawing from socializing with others or physical symptoms such as changes in eating and sleep habits.
It is tiring to be in this pandemic, to say the least! It has impacted some more than others, but it has impacted all of us. Aside from catching Covid-19 itself, many of us are dealing with stress and pressures related to the pandemic measures. And the difficulty of all of this is that we see no definitive end, although we do know that there will be an end to it, since we know that pandemics in the past have all ended at some point. The fact of not knowing and having to adjust our lives all contribute to Covid fatigue. It has affected our church too. Some of us may be tired of the online service. Some of us may be tired of coming to church with masks on. Some of us may be tired of not having the ability to sing as loud as we want in church. And some of us simply may be tired of not having church the way it used to be.
A few weeks ago (Sep 20), I spoke on persecution and suffering in the life of the church, and we are definitely experiencing that right now. I want to encourage you, however, to keep standing firm in your faith. God has not gone to sleep, God is not unaware, but He is doing something mysterious in the world right now that we may not understand. But if we stand firm during this time, we will attain the crown of life that is promised to us. Let us not forget the greater purposes of life and the greater rewards for enduring hardships such as this.
Loved ones, I encourage you to continue to be careful, continue to make responsible decisions, and continue to adhere to the recommended safety measures. Do not let your guard down, but continue to ask the Lord for strength and to trust Him for provision. In order to get through this pandemic—not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—we have to do it together and walk with one another. If you do not have a social circle around you during this time, I encourage you to join a mid-week small group (which meet online) or to reach out to any one of our people for support. Let’s get through this together!
In Christ and His strength,
Pastor Dave