The upheaval we are experiencing has given me pause to reconsider plenty in my approach to life.
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Apparently I'm not alone in this.
A recent survey found that 25 per cent of adults in the UK had tuned into a religious service online or on traditional media during this pandemic.
Another survey found that that number jumps to 33 per cent when considering 18-34 year olds.
The Church of England has also reported that 6000 people called a hotline set up for prayer within the first 48 hours of it opening.
As far as I am aware no similar statistics have been gathered for Australia.
However Facebook and Youtube have both shown me that many people in our town are engaging with our Church services and other videos who do not attend our regular Sunday gatherings.
Could it be that people are reconsidering their approach to God?
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The decline in those identifying as Christian has been well documented over many years.
However it would be a mistake to think that belief itself is in decline.
A rejection of traditional Christianity does not leave an empty void.
Instead it leaves a space which is filled by some other belief.
Some other faith, some other ideal, some greatest good. Something will inevitably fill the void.
In Australia that is most commonly a belief in self.
A belief that life is all about pursuing our dreams and desires.
A belief that life is all about doing what makes me happy.
One of the keys to making that work is having the right job, the perfect partner, a list of great experiences which make for good photos, the dream job or whatever else it is that I can build my dream life upon.
If we have any spirituality at all it is one which suits me.
The only god I will believe in is one which I am comfortable with.
Yet a life built on such fragile foundations is bound to fail.
A rejection of traditional Christianity does not leave an empty void. Instead it leaves a space which is filled by some other belief. Some other faith, some other ideal, some greatest good. Something will inevitably fill the void.
Another recent report is that released by Professor Ian Hickie of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre.
It showed modelling by a number of Australia's leading experts on mental health which estimates that the negative economic impacts of COVID-19 may lead to a 50 per cent spike in the suicide rate each year over the next 5 years.
That's 1500 Australians each year.
What a tragedy that would be! I hope and pray that this doesn't happen.
Yet I also despair at what this is telling us.
Have we really allowed ourselves to believe that money, our careers, or the way of life that money can buy, are that important to a good and worthwhile life?
So important, in fact, that when they are taken away we expect an extra 1500 people a year will feel that taking their own lives is their only option?
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If this turns out to be even remotely true we are in desperate need of reconsidering what we've decided life is really all about.
Yet could it be that the two sets of reports I've mentioned have are actually telling the same story?
The story of people trying to come to terms with COVID19 taking away much that we hold dear.
I am thankful that many people are responding by reconsidering old truths which they may have thought to be old and outdated.
I am thankful because in Jesus they will find the one who is a firm foundation on which to build our lives.
For 2000 years Jesus has proved the rock which can enable us to stand whether we are in green pastures or in the valley of the shadow of death (as psalm 23 famously puts it).
My prayer is that in this moment of uncertainty you will reconsider him rather than being overcome by despair over what is lost.