There are lots of things I could complain about this year.
I lost almost a quarter of my income in the first few weeks of first lockdown. I live on my own, which means that I went over 70 days without touching another human being before we were allowed to ‘bubble’ and hugs could be reintroduced to my life. When the coronavirus pandemic forced us all to stay at home, I was worried about my finances, my mental health, and even how I would feed myself.
Inconvenience for me…
That last part sounds like a joke, but it isn’t. Last year I managed to go 46 days without cooking for myself, thanks to very kind friends who never say no when I invite myself to dinner. It is no exaggeration to say that, prior to this year’s lockdowns, I would eat with friends typically about five or six times a week. That has reversed now, and has truthfully been one of the biggest challenges of the pandemic for me so far.
But the fact that I can say this has been one of the toughest things for me has helped me to arrive at the important realisation that, while I had many reasons to be concerned about this season, coronavirus has mostly been just a disruption to my comfort. It has been an inconvenience, but not a disaster.
…disaster for many
That is not the case for thousands of others. Redundancies are at a record high – 314,000 in the three months up to September 2020, and very likely to rise much further. Shops have closed, not just for lockdown, but in many cases permanently. Where I live, in Hastings, many jobs are seasonal. It is a coastal town where a multitude of small, independent businesses rely on busy sunny summers to get them through the quiet dark winters. Well, this summer was sunny here, but that only added to the misery of leisure and tourism outlet owners who knew they could have been enjoying a booming summer, but instead were enduring the limitations of social distancing.
My local foodbank would have been overwhelmed during the pandemic, but for the generosity of the community around us. When food donations became sparse due to empty supermarket shelves and restrictions on the number of packets of pasta per person, a steady stream of financial donations came in. When volunteers had to reluctantly step down to shield, dozens of residents asked if they could step in to help while they were furloughed from their jobs.
All across the country, while churches have had to close their doors to their own congregations, they have been able to open them (sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally) to those in need in their communities. My church building closed for Sunday services, but was taken over by our frontline projects as the need for them rose sharply.
A call to poverty-busting lifestyles
In A Call to Act, my book co-authored with Martin Charlesworth that came out during the pandemic (published by David C Cook in September 2020), we urge Christians to move beyond social action projects in our churches – as vitally important as they are – to build poverty-busting lifestyles. It is the third time Martin and I have written together about a Christian response to poverty in the UK, but when we were writing this manuscript in 2019 it already felt like a timely book.
Little did we know then just how timely it would be, because if ever there was a time for followers of Jesus to step up it is now. Many in our communities are suffering. Some were just-about-managing, but have been plunged into poverty by the pandemic. Others are utterly shell-shocked to find themselves in need, as they have never experienced hardship before and wouldn’t have imagined it could happen to them. Still others were already trapped in poverty and are now struggling to such an extent that it’s hard to have hope that there is any way out.
There are lots of things we don’t know about the future. When life will return to pre-Covid normality is uncertain. Maybe it never will. But poverty increasing in our nation is highly likely. There are currently thousands of people in our communities who are worried about losing their jobs, feeding their families, paying their rent, and getting into debt.
God’s mercy, kindness and love
In this pandemic that has affected every nation, taking us by surprise and causing inconvenience to all and disaster to many, there is one thing that is unchanging, and that is the character of God. He is still merciful. He is still kind. He is still compassionate, tender-hearted, and loving, offering hope to the hurting and good news to those in poverty.
During the last recession, which followed the global financial crash of 2008, charitable giving fell by 11%. When times are tough, we tend to shrink back, to bunker down. We become more inward looking, more self-focused than other-focused. For most people, that is our human instinct – to protect ourselves and those in our immediate circle.
Pressing into greater generosity
But for Christians, Jesus calls us to something altogether more radical than that. He invites us to go against the grain, to be counter-cultural, to be kingdom-minded. This means we can, by faith, act in the opposite spirit. When those around us withdraw because of uncertainty, chaos and fear, we can press into greater kindness and generosity.
Soon after I lost a chunk of my income at the beginning of lockdown, I felt the gentle but firm nudge of the Holy Spirit encouraging me to be more generous, not less. ‘I can’t,’ I insisted, my mind full of ‘What if this?’ and ‘What if that?’ But I felt provoked that this is what potentially makes Christians distinctive at this time, what sets us apart.
Not long after my salary reduced, I began to notice how much I was saving. By not going out and not going to my office very often, I was saving money that I would have spent on petrol, lunch, and other general day-to-day expenditures. Though my first thought might have been to save as much as possible during this season, I started to prayerfully consider what else I might do with the money. As well as needs of friends, particularly in my church family, and donations to our own projects, I also looked to charities such as Acts 435 to find ways to be generous to people facing hardship.
However, it has been not just about money, though financial generosity is important. When panic-buying takes place, reflecting the love and kindness of Jesus to those around us might look like giving our last bag of pasta to a neighbour, or even parting with a precious roll of toilet paper.
Wesley’s example
I have often felt challenged by the way John Wesley handled his money. Each time he earned more, he didn’t see it as an opportunity to adapt his lifestyle, but instead gave more and more away. One year his salary was £30. He calculated that he needed £28 to live on, so he gave away £2 to those in poverty. His earnings rose and rose, but still he only kept what he actually needed. His highest annual income was £1,400. That year he kept just £30 for his living costs, and gave the rest away.
Essentials and luxuries
That is hugely challenging to the way we live in our culture today. First of all, even deciding what we actually need to live on might cause some debate. After the initial disruption coronavirus caused to my comfort, I realised that the pandemic had provided me with a chance to do exactly what Martin writes about in his chapter on simplicity in A Call to Act. Namely, to take stock of what in my life is essential, and what is luxury. It is easy to confuse the two, especially in Western society. But the pandemic has stripped away our luxuries, and in doing so has simplified most of our lives.
We have an opportunity to invite some lasting changes into our lives during this season. We can cultivate a generosity that is more radical than before. We can simplify our lives, living more realistically with what we actually need, so that we can bless those who have less than us. We can take this opportunity to lean hard into ever-increasing mercy in our attitudes and kindness in our actions to those trapped in poverty.
Many of the social action projects we are running are brilliant. Churches across the UK have supported tens of thousands of people during Covid-19. When we couldn’t gather on Sundays, we continued to reach out every day of the week to those in need around us. When our buildings were closed for church members, our projects have been open to support those facing hardship. But the challenge in the coming months will be how to increase our care for those in poverty when resources are limited, because now is the time for the church to step up, not shrink back. Now is the time for us Christians to, in the words of Wesley: ‘Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, in all the times you can, to all the peoples you can, as long as ever you can.’
When we do, Jesus tells us that those around us ‘may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven’ (Matt. 5:16).
