Illinois Governor Pritzker shut down the church in this pandemic--a man who promoted the removal of all legal rights for the unborn (SB 25). This ungodly governor has no concept of the meaning and value of the church of Jesus Christ. The church=large meeting= "non-essential". However, he does have an ear to the medical and economic professionals of his state. I don't doubt he has the latest info/facts to inform his decision making. He understands that a pandemic requires a slowdown to prevent lack-of-ventilator death. He knows that small groups, masks and social distancing cause slowdown. I believe there are wisdom in the facts and the advice of the virologists. Yet, they lack spiritual wisdom and can not instruct the church on its purpose or how it fulfills its mission.
Churches need to be courageous to act according to their calling and the needs of their people. What is "essential" about the church of Jesus Christ?
Its essential for believers to provide significant spiritual support. Broadcasting worship and a sermon provides some nourishment for the believer, but "don't give up meeting together" means more than this. It means life on life connection and we need to make this happen.
Taking communion for one. No matter where you are on the communion spectrum, I believe taking it together is one reason the church comes together. Remember Acts 2 and the early believers activity? Breaking of Bread--they did it in homes, but they did it together. They did it corporately. How can we say we are doing that in this pandemic if we only take it with our families? Is there something more to remembering Christ that we are missing by not observing this command corporately? Is it OK to throw it out the window "till this is over"? Are we not going to take communion corporately all year?
The church gathers for communion and also for fellowship--to provide refuge for the seeker. Though some seekers will find us online, others from the older generation and often the less technologically advanced, will not. Not only that, especially in our neighborhood churches, we have elderly weak folk who are technologically unable to find Facebook live or join a zoom meeting. That means these important people are left out of fellowship. Yet, those that I have talked to may be the only christian attending church in their household. Often, they are the kind of people who have lived a rough life and at the end of it realize that Jesus is the hope for their families and they are seeking God not only for themselves but for their unbelieving struggling families--the kind of broken dysfunctional families that have suicidal members. Supporting an older person who is the spiritual rock of their family, yet may be physically weak or lacking resources to participate in online zoom meetings is "essential". The role of the church may be misunderstood or unappreciated by the governor, but insiders know how we hold each other together.
We also have mentally slow folks in the church who need our love and support. Who will help them join a meeting? How can they? I have heard Christians say, "let their families help them" but again, often people don't have believing family members to help. If we are only meeting online, we are not reaching OUR MOST VULNERABLE MEMBERS. Believers need to get out and help these people connect by educating them technologically, by praying for them from the sidewalk, by talking to them on the phone. They are a big reason why churches need to open in some kind of way.
As much as I love me some family worship, and can utilize any means for that purpose, be it Youtube, an old guitar, or a zoom worship session, family worship falls short of the power of corporate worship with other believers. No matter where I have traveled worldwide, corporate worship even in a foreign language is a powerful experience--faith building, faith strengthening. An individual can not participate fully in corporate worship by watching. The Holy Spirit may move in your heart as you watch your screen and do a great work, yet you experience it alone. Singing corporately has been proven to relieve people's pain of not belonging. This is part of what happens as the church gathers--the people of God realizing who they are, as significant parts of God's Great Family. As that family turns its heart full force to the Creator of the Universe in worship, an awesome experience of unity, purpose, and security is unleashed. The experience of the Holy Spirit filling the body, strengthening it, and empowering it is lost with the gathering of a small handful of numbers. Though God can and will show up for the christian locked in solitary confinement, we should fight to maintain our rights to gather safely in numbers for the preservation of our souls and the growth of the church. Did you hear me say, "Safely"? Because somehow its safe to go to the barber but not to church. There's something wrong with that.
Churches around the globe are beginning to stand up and say what is essential for their people.
If a gym in New Jersey and a city in California can stand up and say, "No, were not going to do it like that" than the church of the living God should have the courage, as well. Let the people chose their own safety and go at the risk level they are comfortable with, but keep the the church open whether that's "open door" or "open air" for communion, fellowship and corporate worship along with the Word. The church can follow the same safety procedures of Walmart. And for whatever risk the Aldi cashier takes, I want to hear church leaders say, "We are willing to risk our health for your spiritual benefit and the benefit of your children and grandchildren. For your sake, we'll wear a mask. You decide member, what you will do."
Note Illinois priorities in this plan: barbers over priests and pastors in Phase 3? "All four regions of Illinois are currently in phase two of the plan, on track to enter phase three on May 29, based on data like positivity rate of coronavirus tests, hospital admissions, ICU capacity and more. Once in phase three, the soonest any region in the state could enter the next phase would after another 28 days without an increase in hospital admissions, or June 26 at the absolute earliest."
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| Should include churches with "capacity and other limits and safety precautions" |
We have to be on guard for leaders who do not value our religious freedoms and who would stomp them out if they could. The church has enemies. This is not hype. See here the U. S. Department of Justice warning California's gov:
Executive Order N-33-20, which was issued in March, restricted in-person worship gatherings while allowing for an “expansive” list of nonreligious gatherings to continue.
“California has not shown why interactions in offices and studios of the entertainment industry … are included on the list of being allowed with social distancing where telework is not practical, while gatherings with social distancing for purposes of religious worship are forbidden, regardless of whether remote worship is practical or not,” continued the letter.
The DOJ added that executive order N-60-20, issued in May and centered on reopening the state, shows “more pronounced unequal treatment of faith communities." Under California's plan, in-person worship will not be allowed until stage three, while schools, restaurants, factories, and other secular gatherings will be allowed to reopen in stage two.
“Whichever level of restrictions you adopt, these civil rights protections mandate equal treatment of persons and activities of a secular and religious nature,” the DOJ said.
The governor may not be our enemy, maybe he just sees the church as irrelevant. At any rate, its this kind of biased influencing that concerns me. The church can not be naive. Safety is important, and we have the facts like everyone else. But let us not be unjustly restricted nor overly parental.
If we assert our rights and open regardless of pushback, what if there is an outbreak? If the church somehow "opens" so that people can share life on masked life, and then there is an outbreak, the people could individually decide not to go. They could come and go at will. When things get better they may choose to risk attending; if worse, they may stay home. Why is the church "closing"? It a message to people that they can not choose wisely. I don't think its the role of the executive branch to dictate on health concerns to the US as a whole, nor the role of local magistrates or religious leaders to dictate on health concerns to the people; rather, I believe leaderships' role is to be informative, educating the public, modelling and influencing wise choices in this pandemic environment and letting the people choose.
