A letter from the pastor...

 ‘It Takes a Village to Fight against COVID-19.’

Of course, this is an adaptation from the famous African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ Wikipedia explains it as follows: ‘It means that an entire community of people must interact with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.’

Its key notion is ‘interaction by an entire community.’ I think it is the word of wisdom which we need to take heed to more than ever amid the Coronavirus pandemic. We get alarmed day by day by the rapidly increasing number of the COVID-19 patients and the death toll, as well, in U.S. and around the world. Numerous people are suffering in its midst. Many families are grieving for the loss of their loved ones. Patients are suffering under the deficiency of medical facilities. Medical crew, care givers, and all the civic officers are fighting against the virus on the front line. They are the people who need to be prayed for, comforted and encouraged.

A week ago, I saw a woman on YouTube who is a nurse in England. She went to a Super Market to buy some necessities after caring for the Corona patients for 48 hours at her hospital. Unfortunately, she could find neither bread nor toilet paper on the shelves. Those sections were all empty! This is not a punctual quoting, but she cried out saying like, ‘Folks, I am one of those people who’d care for you when you get sick and hospitalized. Please don’t hoard the necessities more than you really need.’ I felt badly at her plight because I could’ve been one of the shoppers myself. The shoppers whom she was referring to should feel responsible for her agony, too.

The British nurse has made a huge statement amid the Coronavirus pandemic. The current crisis cannot be overcome by the authorities and the medical crew alone. It takes an entire village! It takes voluntary social distancing, caring for all the patients efficiently, outreaching the people in vulnerable condition and encouraging all those people who are fighting against the virus on the frontline.

I believe nowadays God is teaching us all anew the African proverb ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ The difference lies in the scope of the village in this current crisis. What it takes is not merely a village but the whole community, the whole state, the whole country and the whole world to win the fight against the virus. The entire world is on board the same boat regardless of races and social classes. I hope this crisis would bring a great awakening to the whole world and illumine the solidarity of humanity in the minds of all. May God surround your family in His great mercy!

In peace.... Pastor Steven Kim

Prayerfully,

Pastor Steven Kim