Plea for faith, community

To the Times:

To our beloved community:

We, the undersigned members of the Interfaith Council of Southern Delaware County, have watched the growing physical, social, emotional, communal and spiritual toll of the coronavirus outbreak with full hearts.

Be assured that our faith communities are united in prayer and concern for the well-being of our entire community, nation and world during this crisis.

Each faith community is prayerfully discerning the best way to safely serve the growing and rapidly changing needs of our members and our community during these very uncertain times.

As we attend to the details of schedules and good health practices, however, we share a great concern about the spiritual, communal and emotional impact of the virus.

We fully recognize the extreme strain that the virus and its massive disruptions are inflicting on our daily lives. Fear and anxiety are palpable everywhere, and those feelings are certainly understandable.

However, as we continue to exercise the utmost preventive care to prevent the spread of illness, let us recognize that we remain one human family, and will get through this only by working together in a supportive spirit and by helping one another.

As we strive to ward off germs, let us not abandon our human connections in the process. In a society that is already divided among so many lines, let’s not let this virus become another.

We believe that this crisis, like all crises, presents an opportunity for us to show our best selves, by reaching out to others while caring

Our policy:

for our own safety. Let us focus on mutual preparedness and care. We encourage:

• Reaching out by phone, text, email or social media to isolated loved ones and neighbors to check on them and offer your contact information;

• Leaving your contact information in the mailbox or taped to the door of an elder neighbor you may not know well, offering to grocery shop or sharing supplies from your own pantry;

• Taking a deep breath and consciously increasing your efforts to be proactively kind and patient in all public situations – to one another and to those overworked employees who are keeping our essential operations open;

• Being extremely careful about the information you share, personally and on social media, so as not to perpetuate misinformation, quack cures, hysteria or demonizing of others (viruses do not have nationalities and cannot be “foreign”);

• If you feel able, calling your house of worship and asking if they have housebound seniors who may need shopping or errands run (and items left at their doorstep);

• Refraining from hoarding supplies when stores are able to restock, mindful that another family with similar needs will be shopping right after you.

We invite the entire community to join us in praying for the recovery of all those who are ill; for the strength and health of our healthcare workers and emergency personnel; and for an end to this crisis.

For whether or not we are able to shake hands, we must always remain good and caring neighbors – not only for our immediate health and well-being, but for the long-term health and well-being of our community and world.

Letters and guest columns are welcomed. Please include name and phone number for verification. Lengths should not exceed 400words.

All submissions are subject to editing.

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