Written by: Ann Rhomberg

Finding space for joy and for lamentation

Throughout my many years at Solidarity Bridge, I’ve been so enriched by innumerable cross-cultural exchanges and mission activities. I feel unspeakable joy when I take stock of this beautiful mission that has grown out of the support of our community here and the unparalleled commitment of our partners in Bolivia and Paraguay. My daily work largely brings me joy, too, as I work alongside our talented, diverse and fun staff. So why, on the brink of a long holiday weekend, does my heart feel so heavy? As those around me are increasingly vaccinated, many of us are back to gathering and celebrating life with family and friends. And yet my heart breaks open again as I make room for another update about the COVID-19 devastation peaking in Paraguay while continuing to ravage most of South America and much of our world.

“The country with the world’s highest daily death rate is now landlocked Paraguay, with 19 times as many deaths than the U.S. per capita. The aftershocks of the pandemic in South America are likely to reverberate for years to come. It has pushed millions back into poverty, hobbled economies and deprived some of the most needy children of schooling for more than a year. Some overwhelmed hospitals have had to put on hold preventive care for conditions such as cancer, setting the region up for an explosion of other health problems in the coming years.

Several factors explain why: a slow rate of vaccination, the spread of new Covid-19 variants, crowded cities, weak healthcare systems, far higher rates of obesity than in Africa and Asia, and some governments that largely gave up trying to control the virus.” 1

News updates like this are catastrophic, yet are becoming routine. I have personally felt bewildered, stunned and besieged with sorrow as I hear our colleagues in Bolivia and Paraguay describe their local communities week after week. When I try to make sense of this stark contrast to our USA reality, my heartache only grows. Embracing solidarity assumes the truth well-expressed by Fr. Greg Boyle: “The measure of our compassion lies not in our service of those on the margins, but in our willingness to see ourselves in kinship with them, in mutuality.” Out of both necessity and desire, I’m learning to make a permanent place in my heart for the ills of our world while making sure I have additional room for life’s joys.

The Solidarity Bridge team recently made time for the Lamentation Reflection shared below, which helped us express our feelings of sadness and loss. Perhaps this will give you space for your own reflection, sorrow and prayer

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LAMENTATION REFLECTION

We’ve lived through 16 months of the COVID pandemic. Millions are still dying at alarming rates and all structures as we’ve known seem fragile. People of all ages are still isolated and lonely. Millions are unemployed and many businesses will never open again. This is a great death.

It is not like the feeling that comes when one dies after one’s life is complete, and fulfilled. This is a different dying and death. It is death of a world suffering from gut-wrenching loss.

The COVID sickness has attacked the most vulnerable. It comes like a tsunami that washes away the pretense. It uncovers the things we have neglected. It reveals the pain, the suffering, the sorrow and the innocence of all who have pain. It causes even more pain for those already so very fragile. We make time to feel sorrow. To lament and to pray for all in our human family near and far.

We remain in solidarity with our colleagues and friends in Bolivia, Paraguay and around the world.
We remember all who are without health care.
We remember communities of color most ravaged.
We remember all who live in poverty.
We remember those in assisted living or nursing homes.
We remember those in prisons.
We remember those suffering at the borders.

We remember our dead, 3.9 million people in our world, who have passed away due to COVID, and of course many, many more who remain unreported. 2

God of all seasons, hear our prayer.

1 Wallstreet Journal/wsj.com https://apple.news/ABI0TJn_sS7SlDLwSIqLOhA

2 umcjustice.org https://www.umcjustice.org/news-and-stories/lamentation-in-a-pandemic-1045

Hearts broken open