Category Archives: Grace

It is a strange morning. Unlike any Sunday morning in my life. This is the first Sunday of our COVID-19 closure. I am at church expecting no one to come. No classrooms will be filled, the sanctuary will remain silent. I am missing the happy greetings of friends arriving at church together, the purposeful scurry of leaders doing the jobs they have committed to accomplish, and my anticipation that soon I will be preaching to a people who have graciously come to listen.

I know there are many pastors who are having the same experience today. Like me, they have spent the week carefully listening to government proclamations, contacting health agencies, finding the best medical advice, talking to other clergy and church leaders, considering options, and most of all, praying in order to make the difficult decision to suspend services.

It is not an easy decision to ask the church not to gather as the Body of Christ on our chosen day to study, worship, pray, and share the love we have for God and for each other. Coming together is so central to being the church that we cannot imagine not spending the first day of each week with fellow believers. So why take such a dramatic action?

I understand the epidemiological and medical reasons for the large-scale cancellations we are seeing. We are at a critical juncture when this virus becomes a community-spread germ instead of an infection traceable to specific encounters. Public health agencies are asking for social distancing at this point to prevent an explosion of cases severely impacting medical facilities as seen elsewhere in our world.

But there is another layer of consideration that is more significant to our core values as a community of faith. We are cancelling services as an act of love. First, it is a loving act for our fellow believers in our community of faith. We can say, “Don’t come if you feel ill, are over 65, are in a high-risk group, or have been around sick people.” But the desire to see friends, fulfill obligations, a sense it can’t happen to me, or just plain good habits often overrule thoughtful decision making. Sometimes collective wisdom in more important that individual choice. We are loving one another by not exposing vulnerable individuals to the possibility of infection. Our care for sisters and brothers in Christ necessitates that we sacrifice in this significant way.

Secondly, canceling services is an act of love for our world. “Love your neighbor,” we are commanded by Jesus. As governments and medical institutions struggle to deal with the threat of this pandemic virus it is our ministry of loving our neighbors that leads us to step forward and set an example. We are making necessary sacrifices to follow government agency guidelines in slowing the spread of COVID-19 because we love our neighbors, our community, our world.

I don’t know how many Sunday mornings I will spend alone at church, I don’t know the impact this pandemic will have on our community. I don’t know when “normal” will become normal again. But I do know this. There is no greater force at work in our world than the love of God. And we, at First Baptist Church, are going to do everything we can to be a part of expressing that love in our church and to our world.