Pandemic Parables: Emerging

Pandemic Parables: Emerging

May 26th 2020

Over the last couple of months, since the start of the pandemic, my morning commute to the hospital where I am working as a Resident Chaplain until the end of August, has been almost deserted. I like to drive up North Market Street, the main road through the historic part of town, and soak in the atmosphere of this city that I love, and where I have lived for the last eighteen years.

This morning though was different. There were many more cars on the road. Bright yellow balloons bobbed outside Starbucks encouraging people to enter. The lights were on, and there was an “open” sign on the sidewalk outside my favorite shoe repair place. The one that when you step through the portal you are time warped back into cobblers of the past where craftsmanship, good service, and the smell of fine leather were an integral part of the establishment. 

The city is stirring. 

The citizens slowly emerging.

And in the hospital I got to witness an emergence. 

A rebirth. 

At least that’s what it felt like. 

As I was walking past the coffee shop on the first floor on my way to do rounds this morning, I noticed two workmen by the side of the large, white construction shell that has dominated that space for the last six weeks. One of them was up a ladder and was doing something to the top of the edifice. 

On my return  I saw that half the box was gone. I saw stained glass. The chapel was beginning to emerge.

“You’ve done such a marvelous job!” I said to two of the workmen. “Thank you! Thank you!”

They nodded their appreciation. 

I stood and watched, excitement growing within me. The exterior was now being completely stripped away away and it really felt as though I was watching this new version of the chapel being born. 

A great eagle breaking out of its shell. 

Which was very appropriate given that the entrance to the Birthing Center is steps away. 

I retuned later in the afternoon - the chapel is near our office. And there it was in its freshly carpeted, newly released glory. 

As yet it was devoid of furniture. The ceiling wasn’t as beautiful as the last incarnation - it didn’t have the recessed lights. It is smaller than before. 

But the compassionate hands, a gorgeous wooden carving of an older hand cradling a younger one was there on the wall. 

We had our chapel back. 

I could have wept. 

I was surprised at how emotional I was. 

The last chapel was tucked out of the way. An oasis of calm and quiet in the middle of a non-stop medical world. A world awash with cares, concerns, grief. 

This one is next to a busy thoroughfare. 

The Coffee Bean is a gathering place. It has a delicious assortment of beverages, pastries, pizza, and other yumminess. People gather at the tables in its forecourt. 

It is a hub. 

I often think of the main servers there as secular chaplains as they dispense care, bonhomie, and nourishment. 

Then I realized that the Birthing  Center, The Coffee Bean, and the Chapel were new neighbors. They lie in a straight line. 

So now you have miracles of birth, next to earthly nourishment, flanked by spiritual solace. 

It seems like a God-inspired sandwich to me!

The Emergency Department is also re-emerging. 

Patients stayed away during the height of the pandemic putting off treatment as long as possible, often to their great detriment. 

The hospital was the last place most people wanted to be in the middle of Coronavirus. 

But now things are changing. It seems as though, despite the virus still being with us, people are no no longer anxious to delay health care. 

Because of increased activity, daily prayer meetings at the end of the huddle have now been reduced to one day a week on a Tuesday. So that is when I go over. 

In the few days since my last visit the atmosphere in the ED had completely changed   They were buzzing with the energy and tension that had always marked this Department. Some of the fear and the feeling of being overwhelmed by an unseen, pervasive enemy has lifted. 

They are on a fast track back to normal. 

There are other signs that normal is re-emerging. The number of Coronavirus cases in the hospital has declined again. Although we now have thirty two people who have died, we only have twenty four Covid-19 positive patients in isolation and two under investigation.  And one hundred and twenty three former virus patients have been discharged. 

Glory!

In another sign that we are well over the hump of this pandemic, the Incident Command Center, that was putting  out daily Coronavirus dispatches, are reducing their missives to three times a week - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

This is a good thing. 

We still have a tough journey ahead of us - miles to go before we sleep - but we are on our way. 

The new chapel made me think about our future. 

There is no question that this virus has come in like a mighty wind that has turned our lives, our plans, our desires around. 

Like the chapel we might well find ourselves in a different place, emotionally, physically, mentally.  

Things - attitudes, opportunities, relationships - that seemed lost, long gone, somehow, unbelievably, restored. 

For many we will be taken out of a quiet backwater into a greater relevance, a busier emotional thoroughfare. It might not be as tranquil, as beautiful, or as comfortable as the places we have left. But it will be real, a fulfillment of dreams in a totally different way than we ever expected. 

But whatever our new reality holds, we can emerge safe in the knowledge that the compassionate hands of God will continue to hold us, care for us, provide for us.

And so whatever form the future takes. 

It will be good.