Not too long ago I went into the church building where I currently serve as pastor in order to retrieve something from my office. As I entered the foyer, I was saddened to see the monthly calendar of events for March 2020 on a table. Not too far from it was the Sunday bulletin for March 17 – the last public worship service held at the church.
For the last 7 weeks I have been conducting worship, and preaching sermons from my home, seated in front of either a telephone or now a computer. I am able to speak to everyone who wants to participate at the same time, and I could hear, and now even see them. Of course, it is not the same as having them sitting in front of me, but it is better than no contact at all. During these online services, we pray, read Scripture, make announcements, greet one another, and preach and listen to sermons. Many churches all over the world are doing the same thing. My heart almost skipped a beat when I saw one of my former students in Kenya preaching on FACEBOOK LIVE.
Here in Ontario Canada, much of life the way we know it has ground to a halt. Borders are closed to international travel. Restaurants, stores, and businesses are closed. Except for those who are considered “essential services” – grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and believe it or not, liquor stores are considered an essential service. But not churches or other places of worship.
Amazingly, churches, synagogues, and mosques have cooperated almost across the board with the government order that forbids the gathering of groups larger than 5, or larger than 10 for funerals, this despite the fact that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all had holy days in the month of April. Why? For a variety of reasons. Christians believe that God has ordained civil governments for the preservation of order, and that obedience of such authorities is mandated in Holy Scripture. (Romans 13:1-6). Also, the more we learn about COVID-19, the more most people are convinced that it is the safe and right thing to do. In fact it may also be the loving thing to do – to be protective not only of ourselves, but of others too. Since it is possible to have the corona virus and not even know it or have symptoms, and yet still able to spread the virus, I am quite willing to do what it takes, including staying home from church, to prevent infecting someone else. (I’m not particularly eager to catch it myself).
But as in most things religious, not everyone agrees. Churches have conducted “drive in services” – at first illegally, and lately with permission from the Premier – and the media of course was right there to tell us all about it.
Some of the dissenters have suggested that they must defy the government orders because they answer to a higher power, and others have suggested that church is an “essential service”.
But is it really? You can look at that in two ways, and from two different perspectives. Some would argue that corporate worship – in person – is essential to carrying out the Christian faith. In other words, if we can’t gather in groups in person, we are not able to worship God, and unable to experience the teaching, and the encouragement from other believers that is essential to our faith.
Perhaps a look into the history of Christianity is helpful here. The church has not always met publicly, nor in large groups. One example of this is the persecution that arose in the very early days of Christianity. In those early days Christians had no church buildings as we know them. The churches met in private homes, or in public places for larger gatherings. But when that became too dangerous because of the arrest and persecution of Christians, the church literally went underground. They met in subterranean burial places called “catacombs”. Many of these still exist today, and visitors can see the religious graffiti and inscriptions there. Persecution under various regimes throughout the ages has often caused the church to meet in secret. While one could argue, “at least they were able to meet”, these meetings can hardly be compared to what we would call church services today. They met in the only way possible for them, since the technology that we now have did not exist. It is interesting to note that all over the world today, Christian churches are “making do” despite their buildings being closed. The survival of the church does not depend on whether the buildings are open or closed. Is this situation ideal? Of course not. Would we like to be back where we were? Certainly. But those are not sufficient reasons for civil disobedience in my mind. Neither do the current emergency measures violate any “charter rights” in my opinion.
Is church essential? Another way of looking at this involves not the needs of the church, but the needs of society. Jesus said that His followers are “the light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:12-13). In other words, the church is essential for the well-being of society, and its message of hope and salvation is indispensable. Anyone who has a knowledge of history will know that our world, with some of its educational and health-care institutions would be a very different place were it not for the church. Or to put it another way, it is essential that the church engages with society again, and that is why we do hope and pray for the day when our churches will re-open.
What is not widely reported in the media is the fact that some 401 pastors and churches in Ontario have written to the Premier of Ontario, respectfully asking for permission to gradually re-open churches in early June. The letter contains a very safe and responsible plan that will involve some careful protocols and guidelines that we will need to observe. The Premier has not yet responded to the letter, but I expect there will be some sort of announcement soon. Until then, we will keep on being the church the best way that we can. Church is not cancelled.