Faith leader says pandemic has been an '~eye-opener'
QUINCY, Ill. (AP) - The Rev. Bruce Rice does not pretend to be any sort of fortune teller.
Rice, however, is confident of what he feels the future will hold once the pandemic surrounding the coronavirus has run its course.
'œWe're already becoming more of a community,'ť says Rice, the executive director of contemporary Christian radio station WGCA-FM.
Rice, 74, has also served as a local pastor and long been one of the region's (western Illinois) top spokesmen on faith-related matters. And he was not using the term 'œcommunity'ť in any frivolous sort of fashion.
Despite being separated - for the most part - from one another for about a month due to the pandemic-related lockdown, Rice feels a number of eye-opening lessons have already been felt.
'œThis (period) has been teaching us a whole new way of life, and I think we have more of an appreciation of one another,'ť he said. 'œThis has been an eye-opener. This virus may have awakened a sleeping giant.'ť
Rice said he is certain when restrictions are lifted there will be an outpouring of responses 'œlike we've never seen before,'ť especially in the area of community assistance.
Rice has been involved with ministry for 57 years. Admittedly, he's seen and done a lot in that time frame. Right now, though, is completely new territory, even for Rice.
'œNothing has been this devastating, especially for such an extended time - nothing,'ť he said. 'œI've never seen anything like it. Never. Everything has been affected.'ť
But he sees the proverbial silver lining.
'œWe're going to come out of this stronger than we went in,'ť he said. 'œI have no doubt.'ť
Rice said what he has seen in the way churches have adapted as the pandemic crawls forward will manifest itself in the days, months and years to come.
'œWe are seeing a paradigm shift,'ť he said.
Rice believes there has been an added importance to finding ways to help those in need of food, shelter or other forms of assistance.
'œIt's been tougher, but churches are still helping people,'ť he said. 'œThere's an excitement that is building about getting back together. There will be an explosion within the church when this is all over.'ť
Even meeting as a church has been difficult, Rice said, because of the lockdown. But through inventive social media platforms, congregations have held together. From Bible study groups to full-fledged Sunday morning services, Rice said many churches have adapted.
'œIt's been amazing to see all of that, how we have changed and responded,'ť he said. 'œIt's hard, but people are rising up to the challenge.'ť
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Source: The Quincy Herald-Whig, https://bit.ly/2wTfaS8