I don't write about my faith often, I try to balance never denying it with not beating people over the head with it. At times I'm a pretty lousy Christian, and in point of fact I only started taking my faith seriously about 13 years ago, around the time I turned forty.
I try not to come across as a self righteous Bible thumper, because I know how annoying that is for some people, it used to annoy me as well.
So what does it mean to be a Christian anyway? After all, there are so many different branches and denominations. Central and in common with almost all avowed Christians I declare Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Saviour. I believe that by His death and resurrection I am saved by God's loving grace and will never taste death. If you think I'm wrong that's okay.
So how are Christians responding to the pandemic? Its a mixed bag really, like most of society.
I'm sure many have seen videos or read news stories about some preachers who've declared that by the power of the Holy Spirit, that they have the power to defeat the virus or something similar. You might have seen Kenneth Copeland blowing the 'wind of god', (small g on purpose) on covid-19.
Here's a music video that satirizes it, some might find it a bit eerie....
I for one do not believe for a second that my faith in Jesus Christ protects me from contracting Covid-19, or any other disease or illness for that matter. For me that is not what faith is about.
This is a broken and depressing world a lot of time, but I believe if one looks one can see God's gracious hand working even when things are bad. Look for it because it's there, see it and you will marvel, and then you can find comfort and peace. Jesus Himself went willingly to the cross, He didn't avoid the pain and humiliation, and because of that He conquered death,. Because of Him I too will conquer death.
Alright, enough sermonizing, I'm not a pastor and have no real theological training, I just know what I believe.
So why am I writing this?
I guess part of the reason is to differentiate myself from those like Copeland who think that Christianity has some magic superpower. In my small Ontario town all the churches are closed including my home church. We have Roman Catholic, Anglican, United, Christian Reformed and Pentecostal churches here, and all conducting worship on-line. There's also a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall, but I don't know what they're doing.
With all that being said, I really miss corporate worship for a lot of reasons. Worshiping on-line is not the same thing for me, and it never will be. My home church already had a YouTube channel, and streamed services for those unable to attend, so the transition did not require as much additional effort as it did for other congregations I imagine.
The Bible teachings that: 'for when two or three gather in My name, there am I with them'.
I know that is true no matter the place, including my living room. In point of fact my faith teaches me that there is not one square inch of creation over which Jesus is not Lord. Still, my living room is not a space dedicated to worship, and even with cell phones turned off, the peace and serenity can be invaded by the dog barking, or a neighbour knocking, all of which have happened. I find myself getting angry and frustrated at a time when I should be finding peace and comfort.
I'll be completely frank, if any of the churches in my town aside from Kingdom Hall were to open up for worship, I'd be there. The first Pandemic Sunday, before rules were firmly put in place banning all gatherings the Pentecostal church was open while my home church chose to close. My schedule precluded me from attending anywhere, but had I been able I would have joined the Pentecostals that Sunday.
I've spoken to the Pastor at my home church about this, and he made the very important point that as Christians we are to witness, and that it wouldn't look good if we were to be gathering and potentially putting people at risk. At the same time he acknowledged that Jesus Himself did not play by the rules, social distancing took place in Biblical times as well with lepers. Lepers were shunned, one was expected to avoid all contact with these highly infectious people. Jesus didn't just get within two metres, He touched them.
I look at all the workers coming in and out of warehouses, meat processing plants, factories....shoppers going in and out of grocery stores and Wal-Marts. Right from the start it was obvious that with so many people deemed essential and so many large retailers open, that viral spread was going to be impossible to stop. Ours is a culture that worships at the holy altar of consumerism, and like most everyone I'm guilty of it as well to a degree. But I'd also like to go to church.
We know who the vulnerable are, that's been clear since lockdown measures were introduced as analysis was coming out of Italy. Overwhelmingly it was (and still is) elderly people and those in poor health, most often both. Here's an article from March 18th that speaks to this fact:
So to my mind the most logical course of action would be to protect the vulnerable, isolate them. Of course I don't know how realistic that would be. In our politically correct world everyone has to be treated the same. Would it be possible to require the vulnerable to isolate? Probably not, the only option would likely be to do what Sweden did, strongly urge those at greatest risk to isolate, but ultimately leave it up to individual choice. This isn't without precedent in our society, after all we still allow people to smoke. We didn't go that route however, we chose to impose more universal isolation measures.
I know that every American church that has continued gathering has brought screams of "SELFISH JERKS" by the angry mob, including admonishing statements from government and health officials. And it bothers me, because I haven't heard anyone screaming and clamoring for Amazon to be closed down despite all the outbreaks at their facilities.
If its safe for all the stores that have had outbreaks to continue operating, then why can't churches gather? Maybe we can do a better job of keeping places safe than meat processing plants and Amazon fulfillment centres.
Just my thoughts.
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