- 3 weeks ago
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00The importance of spiritual wellness in the war against COVID-19 and healthcare inequities
00:10cannot be underestimated. Here at the Essence Wellness House, we are thrilled to welcome into
00:15our home the Senior Pastor of First Corinthians Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, Pastor Michael
00:20A. Waldron, Jr., who is here with a message of faith and hope and a special prayer for our COVID-19
00:27heroes and the marginalized.
00:57Good morning, and thank you, Nancy, for that introduction. And it is a true joy and pleasure
01:12to be here at the Essence Wellness House. I'm grateful for this invitation, and I'm grateful
01:17for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you during this season. We are in unprecedented
01:24times, and the truth is that that word has been used often, and it probably hasn't been
01:30used often enough. We have never been here before. When we look at the data, 1.2 million
01:39plus people in the United States have been infected with the COVID-19 virus, 76,000 plus deaths.
01:48In New York alone, where I reside, there are over 320,000 people who have been infected, and over
01:5520,000 people have died in the midst of this pandemic. We have never been here before.
02:02And part of our challenge in this moment is that, one, we were not prepared, and two, it was completely
02:09unexpected. Along our journeys, we've often been blindsided by many realities, but in this season,
02:16we've been blindsided by grief, and blindsided by misery, and blindsided by pain, and blindsided by
02:24agony, and blindsided by woundedness. And it leaves us in a space where we often feel powerless. And if
02:33we're honest with ourselves, what really confounds us, and what alarms us, and what raises anxiety in us,
02:41is that so much about this season, this virus, this moment, is just unknown. It is not knowing
02:48that causes us to be fearful. It is not knowing that causes us to fall back into spaces shaped by
02:54our anxiety. It is not knowing that causes us to become afraid to face the next day. I read somewhere
03:02that our anxiety is not because we don't know the future, but our anxiety rises because we can't
03:08control it. We can't control this moment. We can't control this season. And it feels as if, while
03:15everything is happening around us and to us, that we may feel a little powerless. I have to admit that
03:23when this pandemic began, and when it really impacted New York, and the restrictions kicked in, and
03:29lockdown started back in early March, I was filled with anxiety, in part because I suffer from a rare disease.
03:37It's called common variable immunodeficiency, which in a word means that I was born with very few
03:43antibodies, which at 49, I'll be 49 this month. Many of the doctors and my specialists are amazed I'm
03:50still alive because I've lived for so long with no antibodies, almost no building block for an immune
03:57system that requires me every four weeks to get an infusion of antibodies. So you can imagine when the
04:04coronavirus hit, and you started hearing reports that the elderly and those who were vulnerable,
04:10those who had pre-existing conditions, and I began to think about the fact that my pre-existing condition
04:16left me among the vulnerable of the vulnerable, because I did not have a strong, healthy working
04:23immune system. And that anxiety rose in a major way over my life. I've been hospitalized so many times,
04:30sick so many times. And in those moments, something always happened. When I found myself laying in a bed
04:37where doctors were not sure whether I would survive, whether I would make it, something unique happened
04:43every time. It is as if those experiences introduced me to parts of myself that I did not know existed
04:50until I was in that space. It was a time where the doctors did not think I would survive. I had sepsis,
04:56and they told me my chances of living were 50-50. And in that moment, I was introduced to strength
05:02within myself that I did not know I had. It is amazing how these moments that raise fear and anxiety
05:09and panic also have a way of introducing us to parts of ourselves that we did not know even existed.
05:16How strong did you know you were until strength was all you had left? How courageous did you know you
05:24could be until courage was the necessary character trait? How powerful did you realize you were
05:32until your power became necessary for your living? But in the midst of all that, there are some harsh
05:38realities. Yes, people have died and will die. People have been hospitalized and will continue to be
05:45hospitalized. People have been intubated on ventilators, and that will continue. And because of
05:52that, we will always almost daily find ourselves facing this crisis, facing this moment, wondering,
05:59will it be I? I think that's part of the anxiety we feel in this season. We're wondering in the midst
06:04of our taking precautions and trying to be cautious, will it happen to me? Will I contract this virus?
06:13Will I survive it? And it becomes even real and more real when you've experienced loss of family and loss of
06:22friends and loss of loved ones or heard of the stories of persons who did not survive this moment? People
06:28who you may actually intimately know, and they are no longer here. And then the anxiety level rises,
06:37the fear rises. And in some ways, our reaction to the possibility of what might happen is what causes us
06:46to become even more anxious. Think about that. Our anxiety caused by the possibility of what might
06:53happen causes us to become even more anxious. How do you handle when anxiety and fear and panic
07:04and trepidation abounds in your spirit? How do you handle it when you find yourself terrified and
07:13paralyzed by thoughts of sickness and death? How do you face each day when you are bombarded by
07:22the news and the media that reinforces the death count daily? There are ways you can counter this.
07:31But I want to share something before I share some of those ways to counter it. I want to share something
07:36that I learned about COVID-19. Just one aspect. As I said before, I suffer from a rare disease in which my
07:43immune system is severely compromised. I really have no antibodies in many ways to fight so that even
07:49if they tried to see if I could build up immunity, I don't have the capacity to build up immunity to
07:55COVID-19. But when I was studying about this disease, and I shared this with the congregation that I served
08:02a few weeks ago, when I was studying COVID-19, I realized that the virus itself was actually triggering a
08:10reaction from the immune system. That when I studied as many cases, about 80% of the cases,
08:15it said that the COVID-19 virus triggered what they call a cytokine storm. Cytokines are proteins that
08:23your immune system uses to send to areas to help. And what is happening is that the virus is spreading
08:29so rapidly and attacks the system so acutely that your immune system actually is overreacting
08:35to the virus. And so your immune system floods certain heavy tissue areas like your lungs with
08:42proteins. And in the process, it actually turns on the body and harms the body. Now,
08:47I want you to get this, that your immune system in reacting to heal overreacts and begins to hurt.
08:55Think about that. Your immune system in its attempts to heal actually overreacts and harms the body.
09:02And in some cases, it has proved to be fatal. I thought about that reaction of the immune system,
09:11the cytokine storm, that a storm is reacting to the storm of COVID-19. And so when I read some of
09:20these reports, it said that in many ways, in order to treat the virus, doctors have had to learn how to
09:26still the storm in order to treat the virus. I hope you caught that. Doctors said you have to still
09:33the cytokine storm in order to treat the virus. And I began to think about that in so many ways,
09:42how that impacts us. And there is a scene in scripture that often moved me when I thought
09:48about that. It is found in the gospels. It's a story that many are familiar with, whether you are
09:52one who reads scripture or not, we've heard about it. It's a scene where Jesus and his disciples are
09:57in a boat and a storm arises. I want you to catch this. The storm arises and the disciples are afraid,
10:06terrified, and Jesus is sleeping. In the Greek, it says that it was a great storm, magos, a great storm.
10:14And when the great storm rose, Jesus was asleep, but the disciples were terrified, panicky,
10:20and they woke him up and asked him, do you even care that we might die? Think about it. When the storm
10:29rose, they reacted to the storm with panic, with fear, with terror, and wondered if he even cared.
10:38I'll say it again. When the storm rose, when the storm rose, when the virus rose, when COVID-19 became
10:46real, they reacted. We reacted with fear and panic and terror, just like those disciples on the boat
10:53that they thought they were doomed. We have met this moment with the same panic and fear and anxiety.
10:59And when they woke Jesus up, he said words that have stayed with me most of my life. I've said them over
11:04and over again, but did not realize until a few weeks ago how powerful those words really were.
11:11Jesus rose from his place of rest. He rebuked the wind and the sea, and he said, peace be still.
11:22It said immediately the wind ceased and the sea was calm. It says it was a great calm. In other words,
11:28the great storm was met with a great calm. Peace be still. Just like the cytokine storm reacted and reacts
11:41to COVID-19, sometimes we overreact and react to the possibilities, to the unknown, to those things that
11:49spark terror in us like this virus. And we react and we meet the storm of this moment with our fear,
11:56with our anxiety, with our panic, with our trepidation, with our trauma, with our insecurities,
12:01with our self-doubt. You can name the list and it goes on and on. All the things that this season,
12:07this pandemic have triggered in your spirit, in your mind, in your body.
12:14And you find yourself overwhelmed by the storm. Just as Jesus spoke those words, Jesus gives us a
12:23glimpse and a possibility into human capacity. I often tell the congregation at FCBC, First
12:28Corinthian, that we are the embodiment of infinite possibilities. That if we get a glimpse in our
12:33possibility by looking at the mission and ministry and work and words of Jesus the Carpenter, it gives
12:40us a glimpse into our own possibilities. So what does that mean? No, we cannot control COVID-19. And no,
12:46we cannot come up ourselves necessarily with a cure for the virus, but we are not powerless in this
12:52moment. This is a moment where we have to begin to speak to the storms, not the coronavirus, but to the
12:59storms that are brewing in our lives connected to our own anxiety, to our own fear, to our own agony,
13:05to our own anguish, to our own trepidation. And maybe this is the moment where you must become what I call
13:13a storm stiller. Still the storms in your spirit. You may not be able to end this pandemic, but you can
13:20end the storm that is rising in your spirit by declaring your words of power. Encourage yourself,
13:27empower yourself, push yourself. Peace, be still. Peace, be still. Maybe it means that you do have a
13:38choice. That every day you rise, you make a choice how you will face each day. And I know the pandemic
13:46again is real and the death toll is rising. You make a choice every day how you will face the day.
13:55Face it by reclaiming your power in this moment, by declaring words that can shift and shape the
14:02universe your environment. Peace be still. I am a storm stiller. I can still the storms that rise in my
14:15spirit. I can still the storms that rise in my mind. I have the power to speak over myself, to speak life
14:24or even death over myself. I am a storm stiller. You are a storm stiller. You have that power.
14:35You are not powerless in this season. And I know it has caused many of us to shrink back,
14:41to crawl back into spaces that we have come out of in the past. It has triggered trauma and anxiety.
14:47I know this is real because the truth is the virus is one thing, but the reactions to the virus,
14:52the trauma that will be exposed, the depression that will be created, the anxiety that will rise,
14:58the panic attacks that will increase, we can speak to those things. Encourage ourselves and declare,
15:06I am a storm stiller. You are a storm stiller. You have that power.
15:17So again, what is essential in this season that we face COVID-19? Well, one, remember two things. One,
15:26I've said, and I'll say again, remember two things. One, remember this, you have a great gift. And that
15:33gift is your gift of memory. Chrissy Finney once said that our memories are gifts that show us life,
15:40that life even in the toughest of times is worth living. I'll say that again. Our memories are gifts
15:47that show us that life even in the toughest of times is worth living. You and I have memories.
15:55Memories of what? We have memories of moments in our lives where we were afraid. We have memories of
16:02moments in our lives where we were terrified. We have memories of moments in our lives where the anxiety
16:07was high, the depression creeped in. Even sometimes those suicidal thoughts came to mind. I can testify
16:13to that in my own life. We have memories of all those experiences that we've experienced in our
16:18lives that we have had to confront, had to face. But guess what? Here's something I read the other day.
16:24You and I have survived 100% of our worst days already. Think about that. All the things you went
16:32through, all the times you thought you couldn't make it, all the times you were ready to give up,
16:36all the times you felt like the moment life was overwhelming and you wanted to sigh and surrender.
16:42You have already in your life survived a hundred percent of your worst days. You are here. Running
16:50through you is survivor DNA. You are here. You did not expect this moment, but you were made for this
16:58moment. You did not see this coming, but you were built for this season. You are a survivor. And don't
17:05forget that you have already survived a hundred percent of your worst days. And you will survive.
17:14And what is today? Today is another day. And tomorrow it will be relegated to memory and there will be one
17:21more day you've survived. And if this day is a day filled with that same anxiety, fear, anguish,
17:27trepidation, and you make it through this night and you rise tomorrow to see another day, you will have
17:32survived another worse day. Yes. Let your memories flourish. Let your memories shine. Let your memories
17:40show off a little bit. Let your memories cause you to remember all the times that you thought you were
17:46not going to make it. And yet you show up today, still here, still around, still living, still breathing,
17:54still moving. You have survived a hundred percent of your worst days. And then remember that you are
18:04not powerless in this moment. Just as Jesus shows us the model of how to face storms, that great storms
18:12ought to be faced with great calm. Declare those words over your life. I am a storm stiller. Speak
18:19peace to your life. Speak joy to your soul. Speak celebration in your mind. Speak happiness in your
18:25spirit. Use those words. We know that we are well equipped to often be our worst enemies. We have been
18:33great saboteurs of our own possibilities. We would want to blame people, but oftentimes we talk ourselves of
18:39our greatest possibilities. We talk ourselves out of our greatest moments. So if you already
18:44have the capacity to be negative and talk yourself out of your greatest possibilities, reverse that
18:50moment and now talk yourself into your greatest moment. Speak those words of peace. You have power
18:56in this moment. Choose how you will face each day. Choose how you will face each moment
19:02and capture the power in this moment. You are not helpless. Yes, the pandemic has happened to us,
19:15but here's the question. How will you happen to it? What will you do? What will you say? What will you
19:23speak? How will you approach it? How will you engage this season? You are not helpless.
19:29You are stronger than you could have ever imagined. You are more powerful than you could have ever
19:36conceived. Your strength has been laying in the reservoir of possibilities. And this is your time
19:46to shine. Let your words shift the atmosphere. Let your words shift your environment. Speak life.
19:56Speak peace. Be a storm stiller. And feel the strength and the power that comes in the moment
20:11when you encounter your strength, your passion, and your power anew. That is the word for this morning. You
20:23are a storm stiller. Remember your memories of survival. And remember that you are not powerless. Face this moment
20:34with all the fortitude and strength that you've earned over the years. You earned your strength. You earned
20:45your power. You earned your voice. You've earned your resolve. Speak over yourself. Speak to the storm. Speak
20:57to the fear. Speak to the anxiety. Speak to the damaged places. Speak to the wounded spaces.
21:05Because I'm convinced, beloved, we can all be stronger in the broken places. I want to pray now for many of our
21:18frontline workers. There was a time early in this pandemic that we thought of frontline workers or
21:24essential workers as just doctors or nurses or healthcare professionals. But we've come to realize that people who
21:31work at meat processing plants, the cashier at our local grocery store, the delivery man, the postman,
21:38the postman, those who put their lives on the line so that you and I are able to sustain our lives.
21:45Isn't it amazing that in this season, so many persons who have been overlooked in their profession
21:51have now become essential. It is as if before the pandemic, they were disposable. People we didn't pay
21:57attention to, again, the person who worked in that meat processing plant, some of the farmers, the
22:02persons who work at the Costco's and the Walmart's and the grocery stores. You didn't always think
22:08about them as being essential to our well-being. But in this pandemic, we found out how essential they
22:12really, really are. And it has been an inverse of status where the disposable have become in some ways,
22:20the people who others thought were disposable have nearly become essential. I want to pray for all of
22:26them this morning. Let's pray. God, we thank you and we honor you in this season. We lift before you,
22:34oh God, not just our essential workers today from various walks of life and from various professions,
22:40but God, we lift up those who get overlooked and undercounted in our society every day,
22:47who are being impacted in different ways, the marginalized, those who live on the underside of
22:52our culture, the homeless, those who live in poverty in this season. God, we lift them up before you.
22:58Allow your hand of comfort and strength and encouragement to be with them. We stand with them,
23:04oh God. We stand with them in this season. Bind the emotional wounds, bind the spiritual trauma,
23:14bind the psychological damage and scars. God, heal, strengthen and deliver in this season.
23:25We honor you, God. And for my brothers and sisters around the world who are fighting,
23:30and my brothers and sisters in various faiths around the world who are finding themselves on
23:35the front line, having to give encouragement to their people, strengthen them. For the truth is,
23:41no matter what our faith, no matter what our religion, no matter what our ethnicity,
23:45God, we are all living the same moment right now together. So we come before you as one human
23:51family, not accentuating our division, but accentuating that which binds us. Thank you, God.
24:00And it's in your name, we pray. Amen. Peace and blessings. Essence Wellness House,
24:06thank you for having me. And I thank God for all of you. Remember, you are a storm stiller.
24:12Remember your memories and remember your power. Peace.
Comments