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BE STRONG (International English Edition)

E-BookEPUB0 - No protectionE-Book
Englisch
Buchschmiedeerschienen am09.01.2023
There are times when crises shake our lives and get to the heart of things! Fate sometimes has harsh realities in store for us...and to top it off, then came the Covid pandemic. Through biblical texts and contexts, Oliver Meidl unravels answers to questions of survival in an accelerated world that keeps pushing on and often leaves religion behind. From the content: •Sticking Together While Maintaining Distance •Christians Don't Have to Be Wimps •Moses Heading for a Burnout •Jesus Had a Good Sense of Humor •»Lessons Learned« in Crisis Management An entertaining »thought goulash« from Vienna-Inzersdorf with encouraging messages and sermon morsels about the strengthening power of faith in times of crisis.

Oliver Meidl, MBA MAS, ist internationaler IT-Projekt- und Programmleiter und engagiert sich als ehrenamtlicher Diakon. Er ist Autor von Fachliteratur zu globalem Webdesign, der Reiseanekdotensammlung »?? Bu Dong« und von »Mutmachertexten für Veränderungsunwillige«. Sein neustes Buch ist der stärkenden Kraft des Glaubens in Krisenzeiten gewidmet. Oliver Meidl, MBA MAS, is an international IT project and program manager and serves as an honorary deacon. He has authored reference literature about global web design, a collection of travel anecdotes titled »?? Bu Dong,« as well as »Encouraging Messages for Change Sceptics.« His latest book explores the strengthening power of faith in times of crisis.mehr
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KlappentextThere are times when crises shake our lives and get to the heart of things! Fate sometimes has harsh realities in store for us...and to top it off, then came the Covid pandemic. Through biblical texts and contexts, Oliver Meidl unravels answers to questions of survival in an accelerated world that keeps pushing on and often leaves religion behind. From the content: •Sticking Together While Maintaining Distance •Christians Don't Have to Be Wimps •Moses Heading for a Burnout •Jesus Had a Good Sense of Humor •»Lessons Learned« in Crisis Management An entertaining »thought goulash« from Vienna-Inzersdorf with encouraging messages and sermon morsels about the strengthening power of faith in times of crisis.

Oliver Meidl, MBA MAS, ist internationaler IT-Projekt- und Programmleiter und engagiert sich als ehrenamtlicher Diakon. Er ist Autor von Fachliteratur zu globalem Webdesign, der Reiseanekdotensammlung »?? Bu Dong« und von »Mutmachertexten für Veränderungsunwillige«. Sein neustes Buch ist der stärkenden Kraft des Glaubens in Krisenzeiten gewidmet. Oliver Meidl, MBA MAS, is an international IT project and program manager and serves as an honorary deacon. He has authored reference literature about global web design, a collection of travel anecdotes titled »?? Bu Dong,« as well as »Encouraging Messages for Change Sceptics.« His latest book explores the strengthening power of faith in times of crisis.
Details
Weitere ISBN/GTIN9783991394280
ProduktartE-Book
EinbandartE-Book
FormatEPUB
Format Hinweis0 - No protection
Erscheinungsjahr2023
Erscheinungsdatum09.01.2023
ReiheBuchschmiede von Dataform Media GmbH
SpracheEnglisch
Artikel-Nr.10716619
Rubriken
Genre9200

Inhalt/Kritik

Leseprobe



Empty Streets, Full-blown Fears

»Corona, Corona, Corona - I ve washed my hands twelve times now,« blasted from my cell phone to the tune of Rocco Granata s »Marina.« I had received a message intended to cheer me up.

The frightening speed with which Covid-19 spread across the globe in the spring of 2020 showed us the disadvantages of mass mobility. Our world had literally become borderless, and that made it vulnerable. All of a sudden, everything changed. My international friends told me about empty streets in formerly vibrant cities, of dead bodies being kept cold in Spanish ice rinks, of closed beaches on the American Pacific coast, and about a walk in a Polish forest that almost led to an arrest - curfew was strict.

The attitude of a friend from Milan, Italy, a Covid epicenter in the first weeks, really impressed me: »You know, I m taking the good that s mixed in with the bad.« Sure, we also enjoyed the chance to get up a bit later when distance learning and working from home were the order of the day. We took advantage of the »lockdowns« to embrace a more intense family life while we maintained »online« connections to the rest of the world.

The pandemic disrupted familiar social routines and led to an unusual Lenten season. Suddenly we could no longer live our regular lives to the normal extent, let alone enjoy them. Social distancing reduced the risk of infection but came with a lack of much-needed personal interaction. We traded more security for less quality of life, even when we had time off. When everyday life shifted to the home, vacation on the balcony was called for - »staycation« instead of »vacation.«

Covid taught us a lesson in agility and adaptability to new circumstances. When you have no other choice, some things become possible that were unthinkable before! Yet, the restrictions that were imposed on us changed us. Out of fear of contagion, people stopped shaking hands when they greeted one another, and in church the »greeting of peace from a distance« by just nodding the head became common. After a while, not just people s hair, but also their faces grew longer. With each new wave of cases, the measures that were meant to help reduce the risk of infection met with less and less acceptance. People were no longer full of fear; they were just sick and tired of it all.

Reactions to the invisible threat of a small virus that was disrupting our lives big time varied greatly. While some coped quite well with curfew regulations and a push into digital learning and working, others were overwhelmed by the »new reality.« Some participated in demonstrations where they loudly protested against Covid restrictions, while others put on a Covid pound or two for lack of exercise and fell into a depressive mood. Difficult times are moments of truth. Do I give free rein to compassion and solidarity, or to my anger?

Sticking Together Despite Maintaining Distance

When public life was restricted, we developed new ways of living together at a distance by leveraging social media, video conferencing, and livestreaming. Meanwhile, masked men and women shaped the city s appearance and kept a »baby elephant s distance« apart, with »baby elephant« being Austria s word of the year in 2020. The face mask was soon nicknamed »Pappenfetzen (yap rag)« or »Ausgehfuahangl (going-out curtain)« in Viennese, and »Snutenpulli (snout pullover)« in Low German. The online store of the Vienna Funeral Service sold black masks printed with »Covid denial secures jobs« - black humor as a remedy against pandemic dreariness.1

Economic consequences were felt soon, too, and inflation surged as a result of disrupted supply chains. This included some panic buying, just think of the empty toilet paper and noodle shelves. Hard lockdowns caused a drop in sales, and many were put on short-time work or lost their jobs. Even where working from home was possible, it was not necessarily encouraged. In the office of a friend, they said: »If you re not in the office, you re probably not working!« Next to the threat to our physical health were psychosocial effects of the coronavirus. A tendency to digitally outsource social relationships increased the risk of massive loneliness for singles who lived alone and were now forced into a hermit-like existence by restrictions on leaving their home. The feeling of powerlessness brought an inner rage to the surface, which intensified existing relationship problems and let hidden conflicts erupt. At the same time, there was also a lot of mutual support and loving care - a wave of solidarity and willingness to help. In crisis situations, people show what kind of people they are!

After the Crisis

Working through the parish chronicles, our priest received an Easter message: »There have been terrible crises throughout our history, but at some point, everything returned to normal. The belief in the resurrection gave people new hope in difficult times.«2

Meanwhile, the futurologist Matthias Horx was already taking a look at our existence after the existential crisis - the post-Covid world. Would digital collaboration lastingly reduce excessive travel and its related environmental impact? Would distance working and distance learning become the norm rather than the exception? Would we later stand in awe of the compassion and humor that had surfaced in the days of the virus? Would we be amazed about all the things we had endured, and humbly settle for less going forward?3 Wouldn t we be downright foolhardy to pass up such an invitation to reassess our own lifestyle?

»Every blessing has a curse,« and vice versa, there are also good outcomes of bad things. The Covid pandemic may have led to an advancement of our digital capabilities and a new dimension of self-organization. Above all, it has imposed a deceleration of our everyday lives on many of us and thus given us opportunities to rediscover our lives - just like in the movie »Regarding Henry.« Harrison Ford played a workaholic who has to »re-learn« his life after a serious accident, and thereby gets to spend an uncommon amount of time with his family. On his cumbersome way back, he realizes that he cannot have his old life back because he no longer fits in.4 Would we be able to simply return to our old life after the pandemic?

Quarantine in Jesus Day

»Even worse than this crisis is the tragedy of squandering it!« Pope Francis declared at Pentecost 2020. Severe crises like the Covid pandemic with all its burdens can shake us up spiritually - if we allow them to. They are meant to bring out the best in us, so that we encourage and support each other. When we are no longer able to constantly distract ourselves from deeper questions of meaning, it is time to deal with those questions. A forced break from the daily rat race is a chance to think over the significance and effectiveness of what we do every day! Some people pause, remember their faith, and pray to God Almighty for strength and endurance. For it is precisely when a situation becomes unbearable that we can count on his gracious assistance.5

At all times, there have been people with a deep faith that carried them when they were in danger of collapsing under the weight that was imposed on them. The Bible tells us of the sick who came to Jesus to be healed. After he healed them, they reacted in quite varied and yet deeply human ways.

The gospel story of the thankful Samaritan describes the fate of ten lepers (Lk 17: 11-19). The Hebrew expression »×¦×¨×¢×ª (tzara ath)« was a collective term for various skin diseases, including the infectious leprosy, which leads to mutilation. It could also infest buildings - the book of Deuteronomy contains detailed instructions for decontaminating moldy houses (Lev 14: 33-57).

One response to contagious diseases is containment through quarantine - isolation for forty days (in Italian »quaranta giorni«). Since the outbreak of Covid, we can roughly imagine what that means. In ancient Israel, the book of Leviticus stipulated: »He shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be« (Lev 13: 46). »He« meant a leper. As if the illness weren t bad enough, lepers were excluded from the community - they were separated. Lepers had to languish on the outskirts of town and in many cases were only waiting for one thing: their death. Recovery was very uncommon. Leprosy was considered God s punishment for slander, pride, bloodshed, false oaths, or sexual immorality. Lepers not only had to isolate themselves outside the camp because of the risk of infection, but their quarantine also protected the »holiness« of the entire population.6 To this day we tend to »explain away« suffering. Once the question of guilt has been resolved, we feel reassured that such a fate could never ever happen to usâ¦

Jesus did not participate in such ultimately pointless finger-pointing. Without fear of contact, he approached the »unclean« and thus ended their isolation. He made it possible for those who had been excluded to return to the community. »Go, show yourselves unto the...

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Autor

Oliver Meidl, MBA MAS, ist internationaler IT-Projekt- und Programmleiter und engagiert sich als ehrenamtlicher Diakon. Er ist Autor von Fachliteratur zu globalem Webdesign, der Reiseanekdotensammlung »¿¿ Bu Dong« und von »Mutmachertexten für Veränderungsunwillige«. Sein neustes Buch ist der stärkenden Kraft des Glaubens in Krisenzeiten gewidmet. Oliver Meidl, MBA MAS, is an international IT project and program manager and serves as an honorary deacon. He has authored reference literature about global web design, a collection of travel anecdotes titled »¿¿ Bu Dong,« as well as »Encouraging Messages for Change Sceptics.« His latest book explores the strengthening power of faith in times of crisis.