Five years ago in late February, I wrote in the Free Press about a mysterious new virus that was ravaging China. (I was ahead of the curve for once!)
“God full of compassion and mercy, we lay prostrate before you,” I quoted a pastor in that country as saying.
“Wuhan and the surrounding cities have now been closed, and the spread of the virus has exceeded our capacity. The city is surrounded by the shadow of death. We, the covenant people who have received great grace, cry out to You.”
Back then, it all felt so far away and remote, a problem for people in another country.
But before long we were all living in that reality as Canada, along with most of the rest of the world, shut down due to the pandemic a month later.
In spring 2021, at the height of the pandemic, I reached out to scholars of religion asking them what they thought religion might look like in Canada when the emergency was over. They talked about how things like how attendance would fall and online would grow.
Last month I went back to them to see if they still stood by what they said. Spoiler alert: They did.
Click here to read my column.
