The Church, The Virus, and The Response: An Ethic During Illness
When can we reopen? When will we be able to go eat IN our favorite restaurant? When am I supposed to wear a mask? When…when…when… It sounds a little like the age-old question, “Are we there yet?”
In some form, we are all suffering from COVID fatigue. Because our livelihoods and our health are being simultaneously threatened, we are losing patience. We are faced with restrictions, mandated or urged. And true to human nature, we push back. We want our freedom. We want our lives back.
It’s no surprise then that we’re experiencing conflict. Our rights and freedoms are in opposition to externally mandated restrictions on our freedoms. Two faces of that conflict are wearing masks and the freedom to move about and to gather.
The heritage of our churches has emphasized freedom. Our forebears in the Baptistic tradition lost their livelihoods, their freedom and occasionally their lives because they believed Scripture taught a person needed to make his/her own choice about being a Christ-follower (and therefore a part of the church). Ultimately, our nation adopted that emphasis in the concept of religious liberty and the First Amendment.
It’s also no surprise that we are chafing at government restrictions placed on gatherings for worship. Also not surprisingly, those restrictions leave congregations conflicted. Some of us strongly feel our freedoms are being unjustly curtailed by the government. Others of us feel just as strongly that we must comply. Unfortunately, more tension enters our already stressed lives.
Scripture teaches that there is another vital aspect of our freedom as Christ-followers: responsibility (Gal. 5:13-14). In the same way we are free to choose Christ, we are also responsible for our choices. Our freedom comes from an agape love that Jesus demonstrated in going to the cross. His actions were focused on others.
So while we are free to act, we are called to act for others’ benefit, not only for our own (Phil 2:4).
When it comes to the COVID virus and our response, we should not abandon meeting together (Heb. 11:25). But in deciding about when and how to do that, we have a chance to emphasize the purpose of the church and clarify our motivations. The question becomes, “Who is the church for?” We’ve said over the past years that church is the about God and for others. If that’s true, our motivations for engaging with people needs to come from God’s moving collectively among us, because of others’ needs, and keeping in mind our responsibility to act for others’ benefit. Our personal rights, needs, and freedoms are second.
As you prayerfully deliberate moving back into face to face ministry on all levels, consider these questions together:
What is God calling us to do?
Who is this effort, this event, going to primarily bless?
What is the prayed for, primary outcome for this effort or event?
Taking purposeful steps to re-engage in face-to-face ministry is needed. Let our motivation be God moving among us and putting the needs of others first. In that way, we can demonstrate that the church is about God and God’s sacrificial love for others.