Sunday, May 10, 2020
Most churches have done what ours
has done during the Coronavirus global pandemic, and moved to conducting
meetings through Zoom calls and worship through streaming platforms. But not all. Most churches, like us, have closed down the
facilities except for essential functions, in our case the food pantry, But not all.
Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of The
River at Tampa Bay Church[i]
and Pastor Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge were arrested
for holding in-person worship services after the governors in Florida and
Louisiana respectively had put in place stay-at-home orders. Along with churches in Ohio, Arkansas, and
other parts of Florida, these churches have held in-person meetings.
Why are these congregations ignoring
the science about the Coronavirus, and defying the government guidelines, and
in some case government orders?
Pastor Lawrence Bishop of the Solid
Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio said paraphrasing Psalm 91, “No plague would come
nigh our dwelling if we dwell under the shadow of the Almighty.”[ii]
Is he more confident in God’s protection than those of us who have temporarily closed
our church doors? Pastor Bishop added, “The Devil don’t like us to assemble
together because he is afraid of the vibration of our praise.” Are the churches that refuse to comply with
the Center for Disease Control’s preventive measures standing as a bulwark
against the onslaught of Satan?
What’s actually happening here? What is the best course of action for a
follower of Jesus?
Because of COVID-19 people are
getting sick, and dying. New York hospitals
were so overwhelmed by the number of critical patients, Samaritans’ Purse had
to set up emergency field hospitals in Central Park to help meet the caseload. Because COVID-19 is highly contagious and can
be spread by people who have it but do not have symptoms everyone is a possible
carrier and spreader. Because COVID-19 is
new, we don’t yet fully know how to treat it or inoculate against it.
Thus, the country has shut down. This shutdown has sparked a national debate. What’s worse, Coronavirus-related deaths or unemployment
and the dramatic downturn of the economy?
Christians set their faith in Jesus aside and then take sides, either
maximum caution, or reopen immediately. Distressed
as we are, how do we follow Jesus in this troubling time? How do we embody faith?
My high school football coach wanted
us to play defense with reckless abandon.
Run to the ballcarrier at full speed.
Run through blocks. When you get
to the runner, tackle him hard. Drive
him to the ground. Reckless
abandon. It’s wonderful in
football. Can other things be done with
reckless abandon?
Baton
Rouge police chief Roger Corcoran called Pastor Spell’s decision to keep Life
Tabernacle open when the rest of us are staying home “Reckless and
irresponsible.”[iii] Hillsborough County sheriff Chad Chronister,
in Florida, said of Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne who kept The River Church open,
“His reckless disregard for human life put hundreds of people from his
congregation at risk and thousands of residents who may interact with them this
week.”[iv]
Reckless. Are pastors Spell and Howard-Browne leading their
churches with the kind of determination my coach wanted to see on his defense? Should other pastors follow their bold
example? Reckless.
In
the Bible, Acts chapter 6, the first deacons are commissioned to oversee, of
all things, a food distribution. The first
church had conflict based on the perception of favoritism. Greek-speaking widows complained that the Hebrew-speaking
widows were being fed, but the Greek-speakers, Hellenists, were not. The apostles didn’t want to sacrifice
preaching and praying time to deal with this complaint, so they commissioned
deacons to handle it. One of those first
deacons, Stephen, was also an amazing preacher and defender of the faith.
He
was so good, synagogue leaders in Jerusalem felt threatened, and as they did
with Jesus previously, trumped up false charges and brought him before the
Sanhedrin. Stephen’s defense, the text
of Acts chapter 7, infuriates his accusers.
At the end of it, they, like 5-year-olds, cover their ears, and say
“Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! Not
listening!” They drag him outside and
stone him to death. As he is dying,
Stephen has a vision of the resurrected Jesus.
To Jesus he says, “Lord, do not hold not hold their sin against them”
(Acts 7:60). They’re killing him and
he’s asking God to pardon them!
How? One commentator I read
writes, “Stephen is able to love so recklessly because he has entrusted himself
to Jesus.”[v]
Again
that word; Reckless. Is it
possible to show the Jesus-love we see in the Bible with the vigor of a
determined linebacker bearing down on a quarterback? I’ll love you as hard a Luke Kuechly tackled
running backs. What does this mean? Reckless
love. Reckless leadership. Reckless abandon.
Trying
to serve God during a global pandemic is hard.
Stephen faced hardship. He was
tried for insisting that Jesus is Lord and we all need the salvation only Jesus
gives. What if we hold up Stephen’s
witness alongside the actions of American churches and church leaders who have
defied CDC quarantine guidelines?
The
first line of comparison is suffering and loss.
American churches today face the loss of the freedom to gather. Whether you think it is the disease, or
overreactive government guidelines, either way, we’re not gathered in
church. You’re at home watching
this. Leaders, like Pastors Bishop,
Howard-Browne, and Spell declare their independence as they invite their
members to assemble even though, in the name of public safety, the governor has
said to not do that. Coupled with
protestors storming different state capitals, we hear a collective clamoring to
open up.
Stephen’s
circumstance was different. He felt
compelled by God to declare that Jesus is Lord.
His trial came when leaders in Jerusalem felt threatened by his
message. While his preaching defied a
government order, when he was arrested, he did not protest. Instead, he spoke directly to his
persecutors. He leaned into the
situation. When stoned, he prayed for
his executioners. As a follower of
Jesus, his concern was for the Kingdom of God.
To share Jesus with his persecutors, he gladly forfeited his rights. Christians in today’s America demand their
rights. Quarantine resistors bristle,
where Stephen leaned in and shared Jesus.
A
second line of comparison is wisdom and knowledge. Did you see evangelist Kenneth Copeland
vigorously blow into a microphone declaring, “COVID-19, I blow the wind of God
on you?” Why didn’t Stephen do
that? Stephen preached. It’s the longest sermon recorded in any of Luke’s
writings, even longer than Luke’s record of Jesus’ lengthiest sermons. Stephen
preached and prayed.
Today
our knowledge of the physical world comes from wisdom accumulated through generations
of observation, study, repeated research, and peer-reviewed findings. Science is a gift God has given, a way for
women and men to expand their obedience to Jesus’ command that we love the Lord
our God with our heart, soul, strength, and mind (Luke 10:27). Best practices by scientists who love the
Lord is obedience to this command. But
some high-profile Christians downplay the voice of scientists and even accuse
the scientific community of conspiring against the Bible and against God. Even when devout Jesus followers are the very
scientists sharing the newest information, others in the church resist this
knowledge and instead blow into microphones.
I don’t remember Jesus doing that.
The Holy Spirit is God, and is not tossed around by any evangelist or
anyone.
Stephen
appealed to the shared values and knowledge of his community. To understand the world, first century AD
Israelites relied on scripture, which told the stories of creation, the Exodus,
the monarchy, and the witness of the prophets.
Stephen situates his message in this shared story. In the final note he likens those who oppose
Jesus to the wicked monarchs who opposed God’s prophets (7:51-53).
Today’s
Christians face a loss of the right to assemble and resist that loss by
opposing the government and demanding our rights. Stephen faced a loss of life and leaned into
the situation in order to talk about Jesus to his persecutors. Some of today’s Christians, not all, not even
most, but some ignore our shared frame of knowledge and wisdom by actively resisting
the recommendations gleaned from scientific research. Instead they oppose the Coronavirus by
resorting to comical theatrics and unbiblical postures. Stephen presented the gospel of Jesus within
the framework of the wisdom of his day, the story of Israel.
A
third line of comparison is the stance. When churches decide to gather and risk
spreading the Coronavirus, what do they think they are standing for? As a body of people joined together in
Christ, what do we stand for?
Is
it “us,” God’s people, against “them,” the government? Are “they” out to get us? After he was arrested and released, Rodney
Howard-Browne went straight back to defiance, back to his congregation whom he
told, “They’re trying to beat me up, you know, having the church operational,
but we are not a nonessential service.”
He continued, “My encouragement to you is not to talk to these people
because they’re not looking for truth.
They’re just trying to find an angle to shut the church down.”[vi] He specifically told his church to not talk
to governing officials or reporters.
Understand, God doesn’t need The River Church in Tampa to be open for
God to be God.
Our
spiritual need to be with each other. Worshiping
is as real as any need we have. But for
the time, we relate at a safe distance, because we care for one another’s
health. God doesn’t need people gathered at Hillside Church in Chapel Hill for
God to be God.
Stephen
understood that God didn’t need him walking the earth in order for God’s truth
to be true. But his executioners did
need God to save them from their sins.
So, he preached a sermon in which he named their sins, described his
vision of Jesus, and asked God to forgive them.
The results of his stand were the gospel was heard. The hearers might repent and turn to
Jesus. Churches that defy stay-at-home
orders jeopardize public safety. Christianity
loses credibility in the public square.
We
are called to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and that all can have salvation in
his name. We must never compromise as we
answer that call. But we must answer it
in a way that is intelligible and has a hearing in the public square. Stephen was stoned because his hearers
understood his message perfectly and felt threatened by it. Churches today that ignore the Coronavirus
threat are not feared and are not stoned,
They are lampooned. They make
Christians look like fools.
We
are called to give a more effective witness.
Like Stephen, we pray. Pray for
the church, for your neighborhood, and for those who govern. Like Stephen we proclaim; have a conversation
with someone about Jesus. Tell someone
what Jesus means in your life.
Do
something reckless. Donate food to our food pantry. Or volunteer.
Pray for someone who cusses you out or cuts you in traffic. Be extra kind to the people in your house,
those cooped up with you as you stay at home.
Pray a little extra for doctors and nurses, for those who have the
disease; pray for those who disagree with you and for those who seem to be
losing it Make sure your recklessness is the
recklessness of love. And when you put
yourself out there to care for others, wear a facemask. God is with us, even when we have to stay
home.
AMEN
[i] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-pastor-arrested-after-holding-church-services-despite-coronavirus-orders-n1172276
[ii] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/us-politics/article-as-some-us-evangelical-churches-defy-stay-at-home-directives-others/
[iii] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-church/louisiana-church-holds-services-defying-coronavirus-stay-at-home-order-idUSKBN21N0UU
