Desperate to ease the financial pressures of lock-down, the country is beginning disparate re-opening phases. Although the White House issued criteria, many states are ignoring those guidelines. The most significant benchmark calls for a two-week decline in documented cases. In Indiana, from April 27th through May 3rd, they documented an average of 700 additional cases per day on the ISDH website, with no decline in sight. My own rural county has 883 documented cases and 46 deaths. Yet, Indiana is re-opening.
While most businesses will be held to stringent occupancy percentages, Governor Holcomb has given a green light to churches to re-open with no attendance cap. His words, as he described his reasoning, brought to mind the canaries miners often used to alert them to dangerous gases. Holcomb explained, "What we're going to do is learn from these steps that we're taking.... We just thought a good place to start or have a control group, would be places of worship." Control group ... canary ... call it what you will. It appears church-goers will reveal the ramifications of re-opening.
Of course, Governor Holcomb encouraged pastors to follow social distancing guidelines and take adequate cleaning measures. But it raises many questions I fear churches will not take sufficient time to consider and address. Ken Braddy, of Lifeway Christian Resources, attempted to pose many of these questions in his blog article, "Twenty Questions Your Church Should Answer Before People Return." As comments poured in, the twenty questions proved insufficient. He re-titled that blog post and wrote another, "Twenty-Four More Questions the Church Should Ask Before People Return." He mentions many concerns I expected: communion, offering, and especially, enforcing social distancing and cleaning. Will the church turn people away? Will believers eager to see their brothers and sisters in Christ maintain the recommended distance and fight the urge to greet and converse in the hallways? Not to mention the many differing perspectives on the threat. Whose perspective is right?
Is it best to wear a mask and reduce transmission, or is it best to shun masks and increase your body's immune defenses? Will all people eventually encounter this virus or are we actually flattening the curve by sheltering-in-place? Things get even murkier when you address the spiritual dimension. Some assert their faith is proved in their eagerness to resume regular worship (can we truly go back to normal?). Fight fear with faith. Others argue that, while we shouldn't give way to fear (God is the source of our ultimate satisfaction in life or in death), we should also practice the discretion and wisdom He's given to avoid danger. It's like the story of the drowning man who ignores three heavenly-orchestrated opportunities for rescue while praying and asserting his faith in God.
The church we currently attend, in normal circumstances, has barely an open seat for a newcomer. With Governor Holcomb's blessing, they are resuming with a Mother's Day service. Most years, on Mother's Day, it is my greatest desire to worship with my husband and children beside me. This year, I'm conflicted. Indeed, they intend to resume our small group Bible study, held in someone's home. I'm not on board for that either. I don't wish to play the role of canary.
In some ways, this pandemic has encouraged the church to go out into the highways and byways with the gospel. I have invited non-believing friends to watch uplifting and encouraging worship services. David Jeremiah aired an outstanding sermon addressing the corona-virus. On-line viewing eliminates the awkward threat of entering an unfamiliar sanctuary. At other times, I've shared a multitude of virtual worship experiences (I just found this excellent one for "Be Thou My Vision" and one from my friend, Randy Bonifield, "Christ Be All Around Me"). The Salvation Army seldom holds open-air services as they used to, but one Chicago corps took small ensembles out into the communities to share hymns. They reasoned if the people can't go to the church, bring the church to the people. It no doubt blessed those neighbors as they stood at safe distances listening to hymns of the faith.
I'd be the first to declare how much I love singing praise and worship to God among friends and fellow believers. I know how important it is to break the bread of His Word together. Yet, while I understand the intense blessing of corporate worship, I worry we are rushing back into the sanctuary out of eagerness to return to normalcy. And if we let our guard down, telling ourselves the danger is behind us (ignoring the continuing escalation of numbers), will we live to regret it? Or rather, will we die as we regret it? Will our control group experiment prove to Indiana that it is unsafe to return to the mine, singing blithely "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's back to church we go?"
NOTE: While I oppose the idea of "no attendance caps" and using the church as "a control group," I am not wishing to express any criticism of others who feel safe and comfortable returning to their places of worship. My husband will attend our church's socially-distanced service, where I will not. Each individual must do as his conscience and soul directs. I bristle at the expression of worshipers as an expendable commodity to practice on and glean information from as a result of their open attendance together in worship. My heartfelt plea is for caution. Churches must carefully think through each aspect of their worship together. I pray readers will not take offense, but will take every precaution to stay safe.
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