Love (and Toilet Paper) in the Time of Corona

The news changes, becomes more dire day by day. We’re all feeling stressed out. We’re all losing parts of our lives in various ways. In the midst of this, I want to remind us of who we are, of who Christians have been for many centuries.

But this post didn’t start out this way. A few days ago, I wrote about the toilet paper hoarding. It felt crazy. And in some ways it is and was. When Australia had just 100 cases of Co-Vid-19, with a death rate of 2, people cleaned out the stores of toilet paper. And so it has gone around the world.

Before things heated up, already this was happening: Last week, Anna Sequoia, 74, of Glen Cove, New York went to her local Costco and was overwhelmed by the flood of people. "There was an air of aggressive competition even before we got into the store. People were pushing carts into each other. Almost no courtesy. Virtually every cart on the way out had Clorox wipes in it. The carts were LOADED."

Justin Wolfers, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, said in a series of tweets that “even if you’re not freaked out about a pandemic, you worry that everyone else is & they’ll stockpile … & you don’t want to be the left paperless.”

“Fear of a run on toilet paper — like a run on banks — is enough to create an actual run. And when the runs start we need help. All of this says that what we need right now is a government-backed Strategic Toilet Paper Reserve,” Wolfers added.

Yes, this is our (human) nature, and we never know what we’ll fixate on and panic-buy into real shortages. We worry that others will have more than us. We’re all subject to FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out. And, even more primally, we’re all afraid of dying.

But Christians have done incredible things during global health crises. I want us all to be reminded of our spiritual DNA.

*During The Antonine Plague, 165 – 180 A.D. as many as 5 million died in the Roman Empire. Christians stayed and cared for their neighbors while leaders and even physicians fled the city. The same happened again in a plague between 250 and 270 A.D, thought now to be measles or smallpox. 5,000 people died every day in Rome alone. Christians were blamed for the plague but they were dying just like everyone else. But many cared for their stricken neighbors.

On Easter Sunday in 260 AD, Bishop Dionysius of Corinth praised the efforts of the Christians, many of whom had died while caring for others. He said:

Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves, and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.

Christian health organizations regularly “run toward the plague,” including the Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2014.

And now, in Wuhan, Christians who have been persecuted and reviled have become bold in their love and help, handing out masks, protective gear when it was still available, sharing their hope and faith in Christ.

HeartCry Missionary Society wrote this:

“Money is useless [in Wuhan] because you can’t find a store that sells the masks. People are in a desperate situation. In response, our brothers and sisters preach the gospel and give out tracts and free masks. They are sharing the word of hope and comfort from God. They have become more and more favored in the city, even in the authorities’ eyes.” 

A Chinese pastor in the midst of the crisis writes,

“Christ has already given us His peace, but His peace is not to remove us from disaster and death, but rather to have peace in the midst of disaster and death . . .

“Wuhan’s pestilence cannot separate us from the love of Christ . . . for we have already become one body with Christ,” he wrote. “… Therefore, Christ is with us as we face the pestilence in this city; the pestilence cannot harm us. If we die in the pestilence, it is an opportunity to witness to Christ, and even more to enter into his glory.”



Maybe we need to adjust our vision. If Jesus dared to touch and heal the lepers, the diseased and unclean of his day, I think he’d care for the sick now. At the least, I think he’d share his stash of toilet paper, masks, hand sanitizer, whatever he had, much or little.

I hope we’ll get to do the same.

Friends, how are you living out your faith in this crazy time?