Virus effects on church, society
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3:15
This new century has seen three events that changed everything for Americans almost overnight. The first, of course, was the attack on our country from Islamic jihadis on Sept. 11, 2001. The second was the financial collapse in 2008, which changed the relationship with government, banks, corporations and markets. Now we are in completely uncharted territory with a pandemic shutdown. Besides the threats to our health we have an oil price collapse, 26 million unemployed in a matter of weeks and perhaps the beginning of a societal collapse.
All of these affect every part of our lives including who we are spiritually and morally. What does seem striking over the last 20 years since 9/11 is the deepening divide in our country. After 9/11 the churches were open, there were prayer services and all of Congress were on the steps of the Capitol to express a solidarity of purpose. Even the financial collapse in 2008 seemed to have a more bipartisan appearance although not as unified as 2001.
This time with the threat of a pandemic, the partisan attacks seem more strident. But look at the changes in our society over the last 20 years. In 2008 Barack Obama campaigned on a platform that said marriage was just between “one man and one woman.” That statement is verboten on the campaign trail today. Today when Idaho says that males cannot identify as females and compete in sanctioned sporting events in the schools and you cannot change the sex on your birth certificate, the state is immediately sued. Our society has changed.
America is the largest producer of pornography, by far, and the income from pornography is greater than the income generated by all professional sports in our country combined! Pornhub, one of the largest providers of porn on the internet said its traffic was up 18% during the lockdown.
U.S. sales of alcohol, according to Nielsen data, have risen 55% and hard alcohol, such as gin, tequila and premixed cocktails at the top of the list. Of course liquor stores in Idaho are “essential.”
In Oregon, marijuana sales in March went from $61.2 million last year to $84.5 million this year. On the positive side, the YouVersion Bible App broke its own record on Easter Sunday after more than 40 million logged into the app. That number is up 54% from last year.
An additional 14.1 million people shared verses during Holy Week, up 30% from last year. Favorite verses were Mark 16:6, Psalm 30:5, Luke 22:20 and Psalm 24:10. We are a country of diverse beliefs and behaviors. We are people with a free will and we make our choices of belief and behavior.
The lesson for the churches is that things are not the same — every church small or big can have a smart app and live broadcast. The gospel can go out in new ways that we never imagined, however, we can not ignore the fact that we are a body and knit together that cares for one another on a personal basis. That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
“And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” (I Corinthians 12:25-26) There may well be some who were going to church but not coming back and thinking, “I wasn’t missed and I missed no one!”
John Stonestreet wrote a column recently entitled “The Non-Essential Church?” and here is his summary that I believe brings together the challenges the church today faces.
“Long gone are the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ days, where churches were central to life in American communities, when school, community meetings, festivals, and local governments all happened at the church; where sermons were printed in newspapers and pastors were community leaders.
“How churches became non-essential in our cultural imagination is quite a long story, but the primary fault is our own. If we think and talk of our faith as if its grounded in personal experience only instead of universal truths about the world, if Christianity is described within our own walls as an alternative self-help therapy, then we haven’t done such a great job catechizing our own people as to why Church is ‘essential.’
“C.S. Lewis pointed out that people shouldn’t become Christians to be happy, since a good bottle of port can do that. In the same way, Christians shouldn’t go to church if there’s nothing there that they can’t get online, or in a fun reading club, or on a TED Talk, or at an AA meeting. In other words, if the Church is already non-essential to Christians, a pandemic is more than enough to make it official.”
I started off this column about the divide in America. When I started writing this column about two years ago, I mentioned to the editor Mike Patrick that by highlighting Christian ministries as a positive in the community it would help unite us. I am not sure if that has made any progress but it is disheartening to see the lack of concern about churches not only closed but dismissed without regard to the 1st or 14th amendment to the Constitution.
Fortunately we have seen a balance from Attorney General Barr and federal judges trying to balance faith and the state. Acknowledging that God and providence has been a common theme throughout our nation’s history. Unfortunately, now it is more common for officials to just ignore God and any role He might play in our world. When Gov. Cuomo of New York reacted to events by saying, “don’t offer us prayers and thoughts, just do something,” there was no objection from the media or public. This secularism seems now firmly established in our culture.
Will the people turn to the church or the state for security? The scholar Richard Weaver made this challenging comment: “The past shows unvaryingly that when a people’s freedom disappears, it goes not with a bang, but in silence amid the comfort of being cared for.”
May 3 is being called “ReOpen Church Sunday” and based on the guidance from Gov. Little, all churches can be open that day. See you at church!
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Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
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Bob Shillingstad’s religion columns appear Saturdays in The Press. Email Bob: bjshill@mac.com
