Andrá Tutto Bene, Everything will be fine!

Throughout 2020 and 2021 people wondered how long their restrictions would take. In many countries doctors and nursers had to give more than their best to save lives. In the health area they were at war, daily fighting this war whose enemy is invisible.
For them, there is this message.

We keep praying for all those involved to help people to survive this crisis.

As citizens, we can all do our best to stay safe by keeping to the Corona measures. Let us not forget all those health workers and in respect of them stay protected at home stay.

Andrá Tutto Bene, Everything will be fine!

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Let’s count…

Now that we have closed the curtains of the year 2021, when we open the blinds for 2022, let us consider how lucky we are to have the light of 2022 coming to us.

On January 8, 2021 Sushmita Sahay wanted to start with an empty jar and fill it with notes about good things that happen to you, her and us. On the next new year’s eve, we then could open it and see what an awesome year it has been. She wrote:

Imagine what a life it has been for all of us… You tell me, is it worth it, all these plans, new year resolutions etc ? Shut inside our holes, masked up faces, sanitizing any human presence… simply praying to see just another day; unscathed. God managed to puncture the great human Ego. So it’s time to start with counting our blessings in reflection:

The lockdown proved it beyond doubt that we could all cook, or at least potter around the kitchen with productive results. God and government kept our food supplies running, thank God. {This Year…}

So many people found so much to complain, about being limited in their freedom, about not being able to do what they wanted to do, etc.. Many could be at home for more hours than they would have been able when normal work times would have gone on. Instead of enjoying the extra free time at home they looked for reasons to complain and moan.

Last year many people could enjoy more time for themselves. Like the year before:

Snatched moments of fresh air on the terrace, walking in solitude on deserted garden paths became the most beautiful experience. Alps can wait forever. {This Year…}

2021 had started with so many wishes and what did we finally get?

The virus marauded us… taking away our loved ones. {and it’s December}

All the year through, we heard cyphers and numbers, see lots of statistics and heard lots of predictions.

Two years of confinement, new words in our lexicon and the undying spirit! With such optimism, we tread on, specially we the 1.39 billion! …. it’s all up to the media… They are capable of pushing things out of collective memory! …. {and it’s December}

No end to woes, it seems Covid likes reruns…race for cure began, vaccine came, but new strains came in stronger. {This and that}

The Indian traveller still went from the extreme South to the East in all PPE and social distancing that an economy class ticket of a budget airline could vouch for, whilst she hoped she and her fellow Indians can resist this virus as well. She like we came to see that

A virus can change the fabric of a society; this has been proved beyond doubt, as human survival takes over all social gimmickry. Weddings and funerals being binding factors in the Indian context, have been eye openers in the recent times. The virus has successfully imparted a life-lesson at what all can you manage without. When attendees numbers were compulsorily reduced, it was about making do with barest minimum people and paraphernalia. Covid reduced expenses, alright, but also reduced the need for bonding between neighbours, relatives and friends… {This and that}

For this New Year we should try to open our eyes again with the positive colours of life, being grateful for all the things we still have.

Heartfelt

Remember what I said at the start of this year? No? Read it here👇 http://sushmitasahay.com/2021/01/08/this-year/

Although it was an emotional watershed year…we still have lots to be thankful for if we begin to count our blessings one by one. Just for starts, here I go…

1. We are still here, me writing you reading.

2. Hopefully, not all our loved ones are gone, some still are waiting with enough warmth in their embrace to hug our miseries away.

3. Then there is this immense blue sky, filling us up with thoughts of immense infinity.

4. A child/ your child smiled back at you, just like that! No reason( Its a wonderful Kodak moment, I tell you 🥰)

5. You were able to help someone in dire monetary need without expecting a return because God has been kind to you.

6. Like me, you didn’t have to visit the doctor this…

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Sunshine for a New Year

Even when so many celebrate the birth of Jesus not on his real date of birth (October 17) but on the birthday of the goddess of light (December 25), at the end of the civic year we, before going into a new year, can bring our thoughts to him and his heavenly Father, the Divine Creator and giver of all good things around us. Let us in these darker days remember and be thankful for the light given to the world.

praise2worshipdotnet

Milk Eggs and Worry in the New Year by Peter Caligiuri

That is why I say to you, don’t worry about living—wondering what you are going to eat or drink, or what you are going to wear. Surely life is more important than food, and the body more important than the clothes you wear. Look at the birds in the sky. They never sow nor reap nor store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Matthew 6:25- 26 Phillips

I must confess that we New Englanders brag a lot about how tough we are when it comes to winter. We laugh uproariously at stories of school districts in the South shutting down because of a couple of inches of snow. But no matter how many New England snowstorms we have lived through, often our conversation at home when it starts falling, begins with the words, “Honey, can…

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Where are the church-members gone

When COVID subsided somewhat, and the nation began to open its doors again, churches also began to open and regroup initially with some level of precautions involving masks and social distancing. After several weeks, most churches were back to a semblance of normal operation. What wasn’t normal was that only about half of the pews or chairs were filled. Half of the congregation was looking around wondering where the other half went. Research shows that a few are still not comfortable with indoor crowds, since the pandemic has not yet fully ended. A much greater number have grown too comfortable with watching services from their home and are still in that mode. And, the hard truth is many have simply gotten out of the habit of church, actual attendance or on TV, and can’t get motivated to return. Being an online church member or avoiding church altogether can become addictive, but it comes at a price, spiritually and socially. {It’s Time to Get Back into Church}

Find out more:

1. Has Bible Engagement during Coronavirus Increased or Decreased?
2. About Three-in-Ten U.S. Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated
3. Less Americans interested in praying
4. My perspective: Virtual v Physical church attendance

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Related

1. Normal Christian Doctrine Explained: Church Attendance
2. Millions skipped church during pandemic; will they return?
3. Why We’re Not Going Back to Church
4. Probe 2020 Survey Report #3: Religious Practices and Purpose for Living
5. Why are people attending church less frequently?
6. “I Can’t Come To Church Because Of Covid”
7. Sellers: The Church is Losing Its Way
8. Church attendance is often a distraction from biblical Christianity
9. Is church attendance linked to higher rates of coronavirus?
10. Some Assembly Required
11. Only megachurches and “minichurches” in the United States?
12. Where Should You Go to Encourage & Be Encouraged?

My perspective: Virtual v Physical church attendance

After several months having the churches being closed, people now allowed again to meet in small circles (with the Covid Safe Ticket or Pass) every individual should check for himself or herself and should examine for the family if it would already be safe to go to gatherings, be it for relaxation, Bible study or church service.

Going to “the grocery store, the restaurants, the beauty shop, the office, the classroom, the gym, and the doctor” is something totally different than going to a church, where people are sitting close together and normally also would sing and say prayers together in an enclosed space making it very easy for a virus to spread.

When people go to the supermarket, they are only limited by the amount of people allowed per square metre, and as such have to follow the red and green light indications or the stewards allowing only the right amount of people entering the wide space. To enter the shops only a regulated amount of people per square metre is allowed and often only two at a time, plus always with a mouth mask.

To go to a café, snackbar or restaurant a person has to have the Covid Safe Ticket or Pass and the same regulation is there for other places (as churches) and events.

For going to a gp or doctor one must make an appointment and maximum two people are allowed in the waiting room, which should be ventilated and normally is spacey enough to receive much more people than two.

For going to church there is in many cases no controlling system, though there should be someone at the door asking and checking your CST.

Worship and Bible class are not simply about our being fed spiritually and matters that can be done on our own or via online meetings. Such online meetings can never take in the place of an actual real-life meeting. But we must be fully aware of the present conditions and dangers for each other when coming together in real life.
For every follower of Christ and every lover of God the gathering between all members of the faith community should be very important and not negligible. But, and a great But, we should be fully aware of the situation.

We must consider one another to stimulate unto love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24), and that the best way to do that would be in connection with assembling together (Heb. 10:25), but this also can be done by going in conversation online by the present technical progress. There are Zoom, Jitsi a.o. to have interaction when meeting online.

That people would stay away from the assembly in present times does not mean that they would be less religious or would have abandoned their faith. It is essential to protect the own health as well as the health of others. This can mean that we still have to wait sometime before coming together in real-time and/or real life.

Our relationship with God and with His beloved son shall not be less or of less value. It is from the depth of our heart that the love for God should rise above all our present limitations.

 

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Preceding

Ideas about Religiosity

May we have doubts

Religious Resistance against vaccination

Covid-19 update | Covid Safe Ticket

New rules in Belgium to stop the spread of coronavirus

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Additional reading

1. Christian in Christendom or in Christianity
2. Daily thought for July the 8th and the Summer months
3. Not created to be on our own
4. No time yet to relax the CoViD-19 restriction measures
5. Fourth wave of COVID-19 a pandemic of the unvaccinated
6. According to Pew Most White Evangelicals Don’t Think COVID-19 is a Medical Crisis
7. Did the first followers of Jesus have ‘church’
8. Priorities for our Christadelphian community and for the spreading of Good News
9. Worship

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Related

1. Get Back to Church
2. Is church attendance linked to higher rates of coronavirus?
3. Enjoying Christian Fellowship
4. Church attendance is often a distraction from biblical Christianity
5. Normal Christian Doctrine Explained: Church Attendance
6. Three good reasons to come back to church
7. Millions skipped church during pandemic; will they return?
8. No Family Is Too Busy for Church by Desiring God
9. Why are people attending church less frequently?
10. Why We’re Not Going Back to Church

OMT's Digest

This post is dedicated to all the virtual churchgoers like myself and those who are still unsure about whether it is best to worship virtually or physically in a church every Sunday. If this is the first time reading any of my blog posts and you want a straight answer, then please don’t proceed because this post is meant to get you thinking to find the answer within yourself.

Prior to COVID, I wouldn’t say I was a consistent church goer. If there was an attendance register, I am sure I would be called to ask why I get in late or why I have been absenting myself from church. COVID however resulted in a lot of churches going online because of physical safety restrictions so I guess I found it very convenient to wake up and have church right in the comfort of my living room.

Afterall, we learn…

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Freedom for whom?

 

East of Eden

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drag on, one thing is emminently clear to politicians, scientisits, business leaders and the public at large: mass vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic, and thus the only way out of the cycle of restrictions that have been imposed on our lives. Most people can see this, and thus most people in Britain have already gotten vaccinated at this point. But of course, not every country is as fortunate to have vaccination rates as high as ours.

In Austria, which has among the lowest vaccination rates in Europe at 42%, has recently become the first country in Europe to make it mandatory for all eligible citizens to recieve the Covid vaccine. In the US, only about 59% of the population has been vaccinated, which sounds fine until you remember that a large and vocal part of the population resists the idea…

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Allister Heath on people who have a vested interest in this permanent Covid emergency

In the Daily Telegraph Allister Heath brings a comment where he blames that the pandemic has become a convenient excuse for bodies that fail to do their jobs properly

He writes:

There is much that we have learnt about the character of modern Britain since Covid burst so disastrously on the scene almost two years ago. The only unambiguous positive is that our community spirit is alive and well, with millions ready to volunteer for the general good. We are more trusting of political and medical authorities than most other societies, and in return the British state has remained ever so slightly more liberal towards us; unfortunately, our second-rate machinery of government is still scandalously unprepared for modern-day pandemics, new variants or any kind of genuine crisis.

Read further: Too many people have a vested interest in this permanent Covid emergency

You also may find more crucial insights and in-depth analysis as Boris Johnson announces all adults will be offered booster vaccinations by the end of January. The Telegraph’s expert team will talk you through everything you need to know about the third vaccine dose. You’ll also find answers to our readers’ most pressing questions on the omicron variant, including how the symptoms differ and what protection vaccines offer. Paul Nuki examines whether the new variant will cause severe disease or just a runny nose, while Sarah Knapton explains why “The Ghosts of Variants Past may bring comfort amid omicron gloom”.

Sherelle Jacobs provides illuminating commentary as she warns that “The failed Whitehall blob threatens to push Britain back into lockdown”. Tom Harris is incisive as he explores “Why many on the Left want another lockdown”. Plus, as new rules are brought in to combat the variant’s spread, Tim Stanley laments that “Lockdown looms and our liberties are in tatters”.

Storms are Coming

 

Friendly Fairy Tales

storms are coming,
as the skies grow dark, remember,
you can’t dodge the rain 

Copyright 2021 Brenda Davis Harsham

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Al of niet corona-vaccinatie verplichten

Er is al heel wat te doen geweest rond het al of niet vaccineren. Er zijn heel wat mensen die niet inzien dat vaccinatie het beste redmiddel is om zo veel mogelijk mensen te beveiligen tegen het Coronavirus. In meerdere landen gaat het zelfs zo ver dat er mensen oproepen tot burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid. dat is totaal onverantwoord en zou ernstig bestraft moeten worden met een duidelijk making dat men enkel ieders vrijheid en gezondheid kan beschermen door deze maatregel van injectie op te leggen.

Vooral die mensen die de verantwoordelijkheid dragen over anderen, zoals mensen in de zorgsector, horen hun gezond verstand te gebruiken en te beseffen dat een injectie met het coronavaccin niet enkel hen, maar ook de anderen rondom hen beschermd.

Met recht en rede heeft de minister van Volksgezondheid Frank Vandenbroucke in de ‘Cooke & Verhulst Show’ gepleit voor een verplichte vaccinatie voor het zorgpersoneel. Daarom wil Vandenbroucke dat er een wet wordt goedgekeurd die de vaccinatie verplicht voor wie werkt in de zorgsector ook al is hij geen voorstander van een algemene verplichting om zich te laten vaccineren met een vaccin tegen het coronavirus.

De regering twijfelt nog steeds om het vaccinatiecertificaat te verplichten als een toelatingsbewijs voor bepaalde evenementen. Maar zulk een verplichting zal juist een goede aanzet zijn voor heel wat mensen om de knoop door te hakken en zich te laten inenten met dit vaccin, zoals zij ook al zijn ingeënt met zovele andere vaccins (de meeste kinderziekten, pokken, rode hond, tetanus, e.a.).

Indien wij terug onze vrijheid willen herwinnen en komaf willen maken met dit longvirus, zijn wij beter om de bevolking algemeen gevaccineerd te krijgen en niet te snel mondmaskers en sociale afstand regels over boord te gooien.

Het zou trouwens niet slecht zijn indien mensen er nu een gewoonte van zouden maken in de winter periode bij de banale verkoudheden en griepvirussen ook een mondmasker in het openbaar te dragen.

Waarom je laten vaccineren?

Vreemd genoeg vinden wij in zeer veel landen nog altijd mensen die tegen de anti-coronavaccinaties zijn.

Door het vaccin maakt je lichaam antistoffen aan. Die stoffen helpen om tegen de deeltjes van het virus te vechten. Kom je later in contact met het virus? Dan beschermen de antistoffen jou.

Het gaat er niet alleen om je zelf te beschermen. Het weigeren van gevaccineerd te worden doet de vraag rijzen of men wel voldoende rekening houdt met de mensen om zich heen?

Het vaccin beschermt niet alleen jezelf, maar ook de mensen in je omgeving. Als zoveel mogelijk mensen in België en andere landen zich laten vaccineren, kan het virus zich minder snel verspreiden.

De vaccinatie tegen het coronavirus is gratis voor iedereen, dus dat kan zeker geen reden zijn om zich niet te laten vaccineren.

Doordat meerdere mensen nog niet gevaccineerd zijn, is de mogelijkheid ontstaan dat het virus over gaat van de een naar de ander waarbij er ook mutaties optreden. Sommige mutaties blijken nu zelfs gevaarlijker dan de oorspronkelijke boosdoener. De Delta variant is nu zelfs de grootste variant van het virus geworden die over de hele wereld weid verspreid is.

Het coronavirus overwinnen staat of valt met de vaccinatiestrategie, maar dan moet iedereen ook bereid zijn om zich te laten vaccineren.
We willen allemaal ons normale leven terug. Dat kan alleen als we de verspreiding van het virus tegengaan en ons met z’n allen laten vaccineren.