ORA ET LABORA::Prayer and hard work
A response to the Coronavirus

By Nyk Huber

“Wash your hands”
“Stock up on toilet paper”
“Stay away from crowds”

Trying to sleep in uncomfortable hospital chairs while my daughter, Cosi, struggles her way through some breathing complications (four times in the last 6 months), listening to the howl of the tornado tear through my neighborhood while in the darkness I huddle with my wife and daughters in the hallway, and now waking every morning to a world that is seemingly more worse off than it was the night before I’ve found myself with a recurrent question. 

“What am I to do?”

This was an easier answer to find in the wake of our tornado. The need was obvious and it came with little to no personal risk to self, it may have even come with the promise of a boost to the ol’ ego. The danger had already passed, need for fear had diminished if not disappeared completely. Not to mention it was what everyone else was doing. So I donned my hippest lumberwear and gloves and went to work with everyone else.

Eden, my 4yr old, held my hand as we walked through the devastation of our neighborhood and talked about what took place in our hallway that night. She told me what she remembered about it: the pillows and blankets, the rain, the darkness, Cosi crying. I shared with her the prayer she couldn’t have heard me pray. I explained how we worked hard to protect ourselves, we did everything we knew to do, and we prayed.

The next day she asked me why Cosette had to be hooked up to the oximeter and why I would pin her screaming sister down to give her breathing treatments. I explained that Cosi was sick and how God has called me as her Papa to do everything I can to take care of her, so we work hard to heal her and do everything necessary to make sure she gets better. Her eyes lit up. “I know what else we do! Pray!” And right there on the kitchen floor, she prayed for her sister. She was right. As I listened to her ask God to heal Cosi (and fighting back tears, let be real) I remembered what I had told her we do the day before. We work hard, and we pray. She had remembered. 

But what now? The virus is still a very real and present event in the world. It hasn’t passed us like the tornado. It isn’t a toddler specific breathing complication like Cosi. 

“What am I to do?”

Martin Luther was asked this same question when the Bubonic Plague hit Wittemberg in the 1500’s. They called it the Black Death and it violently wiped out more than half of Europe’s population, somewhere between 75-200 million people over the course of all its outbreaks. People were fleeing the city, the Wittemberg University was closed, people were dying, and Martin Luther and his pregnant wife were not leaving. Pastors urged him to leave and when he refused they looked to him to make a statement and so he sent out an open letter titled, “Whether one may flee from a deadly plague.” I encourage you to read the whole letter, but here is a relevant excerpt:

"I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God." 

Whether you believe this virus is a true pandemic or believe it will pass quickly and end up old news just like previous viral scares in recent years the answer to the question of “what am I to do” is the same. This is an opportunity for us to love our neighbors well, place our faith and hope in the God who saves, and pray.

So wash your hands. Avoid places where your presence is not needed. Cover your mouth when you cough. Tend to your children, neighbors, and those who depend on you. Explain what you are doing and why to your children. Remind yourself of the Gospel, and for the love of all that is Holy share your dang toilet paper. Whether its tornados and viruses or gardens and homework, the answer to the question of “what am I to do” changes not. Ora et Labora: prayer and hard work.