The cardinal virtues in 2020

We have endured pandemics and plagues throughout history. We have never had the scientific ability to address them as we do now.

However, we’ve never been as acculturated to expect immediate results as we are today. Patience is not our virtue.

Viruses are ignorant of cultural expectations, and pandemics are not brief house guests. They overstay their welcome.

The 1918 influenza (e.g. Spanish flu, which actually began in Kansas) lasted for 15 months. That is the short end of most pandemics.

We have unprecedented science and knowledge to address Covid-19. We have historically unmatched financial resources, albeit unequally distributed.

Do we have the will? Plato (and the Bible) stated the case still relevant today: can we appeal to the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance and fortitude for such a time as this?

The Bible recasts those virtues as faith, hope and love. The greatest of these ...

I miss worshiping with my congregation. But ...

Thankfully, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declined the request Sunday (April 5) of Republican legislators who called for the resumption of in-person services for Easter and Passover.

But to the hubris of the suggestion in the first place: No. No on so many levels. Not the least of which is that the first rule of our faith is to do no harm. Do we miss worshiping together? Emphatically yes. This social distancing is a devastating blow to our expression of Christian community.

Is the church essential? We certainly believe so. But it is idol worship to assert that our desire to be together trumps the necessary precautions asked of schools and other entities to protect our public health. A loving God would not wish us to flaunt our faith in arrogant disregard for the vulnerability of our communities.

These lawmakers' ill-advised statements leave those of us seeking to responsibly minister to our faith communities having to reiterate again and again the need to listen to public health officials and stay home. "Do no harm."

The request of these lawmakers also is disturbingly on trend with the false narrative spun in the halls of government: That one party represents God's interests, and that the other is antagonistic to faith.

That Republicans would feign to speak for people of faith at such a precarious time is only the latest calculation designed to appease right-leaning voters in the name of religious values.

That Democrats disengaged from the conversation decades ago leaves them maddeningly ineffectual if not sadly silent in such public dialogues.

None of this should be surprising, any more than the president's disingenuous pining for the churches to be "packed" on Easter as a way to disguise with a religious cloak his contempt for science and knowledge.

We are, after all, entering Holy Week. When the Galilean sage Jesus so challenged the self-interested motives of government that it led to his death. Every time we worship the government, especially when it claims to speak for God, we unwittingly join the angry mob in rooting for the wrong savior.

We will, with deep sadness, not worship together this Easter Sunday. Not because we don't believe God will protect us. But so that God will save us for all the good that needs to be done during and after this time of pandemic.

Rev. Steve Scott, Milton United Methodist Church, Special to the Journal Sentinel, Published 9:09 p.m. CT April 5, 2020