I am grateful for how Springfield’s religious leaders are responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.
To paraphrase Jesus’ agricultural parable of the wheat and weeds in Matthew 13: 24-30, they are sowing good seeds—of love.
During July and August, as the Delta variant infected hundreds of our citizens, filled our hospital ICUs with children and adults and led to further deaths, local pastors of several Christian denominations and leaders from other faith traditions loved their neighbors as themselves, and they called upon others to do the same.
These leaders maintained Covid-fighting protocols, including masks for all, so their congregations could continue to worship and participate in other activities safely. Clergy were vaccinated and were masked in public settings, including while leading services and visiting members.
And they urged their members and the public to get vaccinated. Significantly, pastors of some large evangelical congregations in the area publicly supported vaccinations, a development that was covered extensively by local media.
This summer, more than 200 clerics in Missouri signed a statement communicating the facts about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines and promoting them as a way of keeping people safe and healthy and slowing the spread of the virus. (According to the latest study, the unvaccinated face a risk of infection 11 times greater than that of the vaccinated.)
In response, more people were vaccinated, increasing the number of the fully vaccinated locally. We are now close to 50 percent of the population as we advance toward the goal of mass immunity, estimated at 70 percent.
Aiding the effort, congregations hosted vaccination clinics, Christ Episcopal Church was one of them. Working with the Springfield Greene County Health Department, the church made vaccinations available at its quarterly community dinner. About a dozen people received shots, a small number but still a success.
While many people sowed good seeds, sadly, a minority of others sowed evil ones. Influenced and manipulated by politicians, media personalities and charlatans, and often driven by a distorted sense of personal freedom and disregard for the vulnerability of others, they spread lies, disinformation and conspiracy theories. They threatened local hospital personnel. They disrupted City Council and School Board meetings. Wearing Stars of David, they desecrated the memory of the real Holocaust.
Meanwhile, businesses lost customers and revenue; teachers and students feared infection in classrooms, disrupting education; ICU beds filled with unvaccinated patients. And people died.
The sowers of evil seed must be challenged with the truth— not in a spirit of anger and hatred, but in one of divine compassion, for only good overcomes evil. So confronted, in love, perhaps they will recognize the harm they are doing to this community; will understand that with their freedom comes responsibility for the welfare of all others; and will choose to work for the good of Springfrield and its citizens.
At the same time, people of faith and goodwill must continue to urge others to get vaccinated, to wear masks and to comply with all health and safety protocols as expressions of the love of neighbors that Jesus taught and lived.
And as we sow seeds of love, we will produce a harvest of good. Our city and county will become a community where students can learn safely, where businesses can function fully, where houses of worship can thrive, where hospitals can treat more than unvaccinated patients and where life flourishes.
The Rev. Kenneth L. Chumbley, retired September 1 after serving nearly 26 years as Rector of Christ Episcopal Church. He was one of the signers of the clergy statement urging vaccinations.
