2020 has been a difficult year for me. Not just because of the historic events that
all of us have been living through, from the impeachment and political divide
in the U.S. to the pandemic and the unprecedented natural disasters that have
swept the globe, but because of the response of the church and Christians to
these events.
I guess I could be described as somewhat of a chimera. Not only am I a pastor, but I am also a
scientist. A wildlife biologist, by
training, having received my Master’s degree in the field of zoonotic diseases. In other words, I have experience and
training related to situations exactly like the one we are facing with the zoonotic
pandemic that is COVID-19.
And I guess it is that training and experience that has
caused me discomfort as I have watched the scientific reality of a global
pandemic dismissed as either a contrived political maneuver to wrest the
presidency from Donald Trump or a fantasy that has been conceived of by the
left in an effort to attack our Christian faith and the act of worship in the
U.S.
I have tried unsuccessfully through social media, in my
sermon messages, and in conversations with coworkers and friends to explain the
reality of the virus from a scientific point-of-view. But to no avail.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we were told that
wearing masks would not provide the best protection against the coronavirus. Later, this advice changed, as the U.S.
Government’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute for
Health (NIH) suggested that wearing a mask was now recommended, not necessarily
to prevent the wearer from becoming infected, but to minimize potential
exposure to others, especially among asymptomatic people with COVID. Where I see science at work, testing
hypotheses and changing protective recommendations and trying new treatments
based on the results of trials and new information, others see a conspiracy or
the changing of recommendations simply to fit the left’s agenda.
When we were told to quarantine and to socially isolate
in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus, I understood this as an appropriate
measure in the absence of a vaccine. If
you are not around someone that is infected, you cannot be infected. If you are infected, symptomatic or not, if
you are not around someone else, then you can’t spread the virus to
others. It is a time-proven method of
containing infectious diseases, especially when there is no other way to combat
it (i.e. a vaccine). However, others
assumed this was a malicious act from the Government, which then morphed into a
malicious act from the left (i.e. liberals) to control our actions and to take
away our rights. I was left dumbfounded
by the lack of understanding of the reason, even in the face of the scientific reality
of people getting infected with COVID and with the more vulnerable populations
succumbing to the disease.
But I was especially taken aback by the actions of the
church and of many Christians during this pandemic. When the Government required social
distancing and quarantine and the necessary suspension of in-person worship
services, some in the church refused to comply and said this was an
unconstitutional act in violation of the First Amendment. Granted, in some cases, in some states or
localities, the rules against gathering for worship appeared to be more
restrictive than those for shopping or eating out. But if you consider the difference between
causal associations in public to buy groceries versus the amount of time in
close proximity to others during worship, it makes sense. I understood it. I immediately complied with our church and
with our Bible study.
But some in the church would not back down. Rather than complying for the good of all or
seeing this as a temporary sacrifice until the end of the pandemic, court cases
appeared throughout the country. Most recently,
a case brought by the Catholic diocese in New York made its way to the Supreme
Court this past week, where the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, agreed with the
church that the pandemic restrictions employed by the state of New York were
more restrictive and unconstitutional. They
won the case, but they missed the point.
In better circumstances, would we like to be meeting
together face-to-face for worship, as we have always done? Certainly.
But as churches and as Christians, we have a biblical mandate to protect
the most vulnerable. Throughout
scripture, we are told to look out for the poor and the widow and the
orphans. We see the example of the early
church in Acts taking care of the widows and making sure they had food and resources. It is from Scripture that our concept of the
Sanctity of Life is derived.
But while some associate the term, sanctity of life, only
with the protection of the unborn, this term encompasses all who are vulnerable
and in need of protection, from the unborn to the elderly to the widow to the orphan
to the foreigners and strangers at our door.
Which begs the question:
How should the church have responded to this pandemic?
For some churches, the answer was to go to court and
fight for their constitutional rights to gather, regardless of the impact that
could have on their congregations, especially the most vulnerable within those
congregations, or society as a whole.
For others, the answer was to respond in what I contend
is the more biblical path -- to willingly make sacrifices in order to serve and
protect the sheep in our care and those around us. In other words, to look at the government-mandated
order to socially isolate and not gather together in worship as normal not as a
malicious attempt to take away a constitutional right, but to look at it as an
opportunity to help the greater good. To
do what we could to stop the pandemic from spreading, both within our congregations
and in the communities in which we live.
As opportunities to reach outside the walls of our sanctuaries and into
the lives of those around us, making sure their needs were met during this time
and making sure they were safe and secure from possible infection. In some cases, that might mean that Christians
even sacrificed their own health and their own safety, not to come together in
worship, but to minister to those who needed it during this time: the sick, the
elderly, the vulnerable.
This is the pattern that we see throughout the history of
the church. When previous pandemics and
sicknesses affected communities, the church wasn’t fighting for their right to
gather in worship. No, the church was in
the world, taking care of the sick and ministering to others in the name of
Jesus.
I think Martin Luther’s words from the 16th century
plague that hit Europe are instructive:
“It would be well, where there is an efficient government
in cities and states, to maintain municipal homes and hospitals staffed with
people to take care of the sick so that patients from private homes can be sent
there. . . . That would indeed be a fine, commendable, and Christian
arrangement to which everyone should offer generous help and contributions,
particularly the government. Where there are no such institutions—and they
exist only in a few places—we must give hospital care and be nurses for one
another in any extremity or risk the loss of salvation and the grace of God.
“Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and
reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death
and the plague. They disdain the use of medicines; they do not avoid places and
persons infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to
prove how independent they are. They say that it is God’s punishment; if he
wants to protect them he can do so without medicines or our carefulness. That
is not trusting God but tempting him. . . .
“No, my dear friends, that is no good. Use medicine;
take potions which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons
and places where your neighbor does not need your presence or has recovered,
and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is
the epidemic but a fire which instead of consuming wood and straw devours life
and body? You ought to think this way: “Very well, by God’s decree the enemy
has sent us poison and deadly offal. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to
protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine,
and take it. I shall avoid persons and places where my presence is not
needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and
pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God
should wish to take me, he will surely find me, and I have done what he has
expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death
of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person
but will go freely, as stated above. See, this is such a God-fearing faith
because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.” [Emphasis
added]
Let me sum up my thoughts on this:
This pandemic is not a conspiracy. It is not a fantasy. It is not the conception of the mainstream
media or the Democrats or the Republicans.
It is a reality. It is the result
of living in a fallen world that has been corrupted from the original creation
of God.
The Government is not trying to take away our rights to gather
to worship. The Government is not trying
to erase the first amendment by limiting our ability to worship as normal
during this pandemic. The Government is
stepping in and trying to impose restrictions on gathering that the church
should have self-imposed long before, similar to how Luther recommended the
same to the protestants in Europe during the plague of 1527.
As Christians, we should be the leaders in the protection
of those around us. We should be the
hands and feet of Jesus at this time, reaching out to the community and
protecting the most vulnerable. We
should not be fighting to huddle inside our sanctuaries while all around us
people are getting infected and dying. For the most part, we have failed to be the
church Christ called us to be.
But it’s not too late to make a difference. We have the opportunity to show Christ to our
congregations and our communities and our country by how we respond to this pandemic. We don’t have to make it about self. We can choose to make self-sacrifices in order
to minister to others and protect the sanctity of life.
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