Anxiety: A Pressing Danger As We Emerge from the Pandemic

As we begin a return to normalcy after the last 14 months of COVID, we should be aware of various challenges that we face. Some of those may be out there in the world, such as the differing expectations of different locations on opening up. But the more relevant challenges for us will be internal, in our heart and in the church. One particular challenge is the way that COVID and the global reaction to it has effected our orientation to the world, in particular, our anxieties and fears.

This isn’t a comment about the actual deadlines of COVID; millions of people have died, especially in vulnerable populations. Nor is it a comment about the wisdom of the various measures that were taken to mitigate the spread; there can be reasonable discussions and debates about those topics.

At this moment, I’m simply dealing with two facts: 1) COVID was and is a reality, and 2) the world, by and large, took extraordinary measures to address it. Here is one potential effect of those facts: those of us who are prone to anxiety have had the fear and worry center of our minds and bodies on overdrive for 14 months. For 14 months, almost everywhere we went, our sense of danger and anxiety was reinforced by the extraordinary measures instituted in our society. Masks, social distancing, capacity limits on buildings, constant news stories showcasing charts of number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths—all of these said to us in subtle and not-so-subtle ways—“DANGER, DANGER, DANGER. EVERYWHERE!” That can’t help but affect us.

To use the metaphor of the rider and the elephant from a few weeks ago—for many of us, the elephant is incredibly anxious. For months, the elephant’s anxiety was stoked and reinforced, and as anyone who struggles with anxiety knows: Anxiety doesn’t stay put. It grows. It spreads. It gets into everything.

And so these facts create an opportunity for us to grow in faith in Christ. For some of us, faith will take the form of courage to overcome our fears. This doesn’t mean being reckless, but it does mean recognizing the sea of anxiety that we may have been swimming in. It means being mindful of the voices we listen to, the fear that grips us, the mood that clouds our perception of the world, and learning how to tell our anxieties to simmer down. Faith in Jesus includes a deep confidence that he will keep us through whatever trials and tribulations the future holds and refusing to be held captive by fear.

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins, so let’s seek the Lord together now.