Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Weekday Devotion With Pastor Chris

The other day, my brother Brewster tested positive for Covid 19.  He is still at home, and his symptoms haven’t been too bad so far.  But we are all aware of how quickly that can change.  My brother is one of those who is especially vulnerable: he turns seventy later this month; his immune system is suppressed as a result of a twenty year battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; and he suffered two bouts of pneumonia just this last year.

     Brewster’s family realized early on that he was very much at risk and took steps to protect him.  His wife is a nurse (no longer practicing) and imposed a strict quarantine.  Over the last two months he has had contact with only five other people: his wife; and then very minimally with his daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.  That’s it.  He hasn’t been out at all.  So with all the precautions they’ve taken, they can’t figure out how he came down with the virus.
*******

     It probably won’t surprise you that we’ve gotten some flak for keeping the church closed during this time.  Most of our members have been supportive and understanding, but there are some who think that we should be open now, or that we should open very soon.

     One of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness was to leap from the pinnacle of the Temple, and claim the promise of Psalm 91 that the angels would bear him up.  Jesus’ response, “Don’t put the Lord your God to the test” (Mt. 4:7).   A number of years ago we woke up to black ice one Sunday morning.  This was an incredibly dangerous situation, so we split up the directory among our elders, and proceeded to contact every member letting them know that church was cancelled.

     We didn’t put the Lord to the test then.  We don’t put him to the test now by stepping in front of a moving vehicle, and we aren’t going to put him to the test by opening the church in the midst of a terrible pandemic.

     Our members have a right to expect that if the church is open then we believe it is safe.  Right now we can’t offer that assurance.  We can’t promise that everyone would wear their mask.  We can’t promise that everyone would maintain their social distance.  We can’t promise that children running around wouldn’t touch a shared surface.  Even with everyone taking every possible precaution (like my brother), opening the church to a large group right now is simply too risky – there are too many ways in which the virus could still spread.  

     Just consider how incredibly contagious this virus is: from January 21 through February 23, there were only 14 cases of Corona-virus in six states here.  That was just ten weeks ago!  Today, there are 1.19 million cases and over 68,500 have died.

     Even if you disagree, I hope you can at least understand our thinking.  Please be safe, and please keep my brother and his wife (also a cancer survivor) in your thoughts and prayers.

“Now as an elder myself and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among to tend the flock of God that is in your charge…” (1 Peter 5:1-2)



No comments:

Post a Comment