Deepthi 2022

innocent life? As children of God, we believe that
this pandemic occurred out of the knowledge of
God. His mercy shall transform this bitter into a
sweeter situation and it is for edification. In this
situation, it is appropriate for us to accept whatever
happens without thinking about its outcome.
In the situation, it is appropriate for us to accept
whatever happens without thinking about its outcome.
In the Epistle to Philippians, Paul wrote,
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say Rejoice!”
This famous statement from Paul emerged
amid trials and tribulations.
This prompts us not to be too concerned with
these events in a negative way that causes anxiety,
in individuals, families, church or society as a
whole. Rather, we should hold on to God by praying
for the sick, confident that all things lead to
the benefit of humanity. We truly mourn with
those who suffer and we share their feelings without
falling into anxiety or despair, but rather asking
God’s support. The Holy Bible assures hope
amid a pandemic like this. For example, when
Jesus healed the blind man Jesus pointed the finger
at “the works of God should be made manifest
in him.” The cultural inclination of His disciples
was very obvious in their question - “who
did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind?” N. T. Wright calls our attention to see
“what is God now going to do?”
God always tells people to work together to
strengthen the world; not to ask what has gone
wrong, but to seek ways to make sure that doesn’t
happen again. It simply means to learn a lesson
from a life-threatening issue to construct a theology
for edifying the coming generation. The
present generation has already been confronted
with the suffering of the pandemic. How can it be
a theological hermeneutical tool for a generation
that is to come? When we look back through
church history, there have been many epidemics,
pandemics, plagues etc. The church leaders attempt
to strengthen the church members in faith,
those things were chosen as hermeneutical tools
to demonstrate how the church was vibrant in
front of those sufferings. An effort to see God as a
“loving God” instead of the “malevolent angry old
gods,” has been remaining as a challenging call to
the public. The core element of the mystery of
the Incarnation of God the Son is none other than
divine word became a human word that human
word has become capax Dei, that is, capable of
speaking about the unbounded love of God.
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Experiencing Divine Economy with the Sufferings
of the People of God: A New Hermeneutics
The Bible and history give us examples, whether
of holy or wicked people who fell into many hardships
and sufferings. Some walked as befitting of
them as the people of God and God was glorified
in them, and they won the crowns of victory, while
others have gone astray and because of temptations,
returned to the living faith and gained salvation.
We cannot also forget those who even amid
their sufferings, complained about God and considered
Him to be cruel instead of repenting and
returning to God. These people could not benefit
from the tribulations, despite God’s long patience
for them.
Here the words of N. T. Wright deserve special
attention. When something bad happens, people
started saying “it’s because God has got it in for
us, or God wants us to repent or something like
that.” This is not justifiable to the Bible and the
response of the early church as well during a pandemic.
Amid Covid-19 Pandemic we all need to be
more practical. N. T. Wright finds out the inspiration
of the early church to intend in that way.
Since Gospel is all about “new creation” they see
this approach as not an adjunct to the Gospel, but
as part of the Gospel itself. According to him “new
creation” is not just something you sit back and
let happen to you. Then what it is? He elaborates,
“It’s something that by the Holy Spirit because
we are caught up in the movement of the love of
God you get on and do what you can.”
Today’s Participation in Divine Economy by
Serving a Wounded World
Here the term “Wounded World” typifies
“Wounded Christ” on the cross. In Him, we see
the entire humanity. He was completely isolated
from society even His relatives and disciples keep
themselves afar.
One of the most recent responses was a document
published by the World Council of Churches
(WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue (PCID). Serving a Wounded World
in Interreligious Solidarity describes itself as a response
to the question “What does it mean for
Christians to love and serve our fellow human
beings in a world in which the Covid-19 pandemic
has inflicted widespread suffering?”