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It was good news to hear our governor announce this week that the number of new COVID cases in Georgia are beginning to decline. We have been praying for this and pray that it continues. It was also good to hear that plans are beginning for the gradual reopening of our communities. This will be a long process and I suspect when we get back to “normal” it will remain a very different normal than what we knew before for quite some while.

Of particular interest to us was the Governor lifting the ban against gatherings of more than 10 people for churches. Churches are among the businesses included in the Phase One reopening plan, though I am not sure how I feel being included with gyms, private clubs, bowling alley’s and tattoo parlors. Never the less it does open the possibility of First Baptist beginning to implement our reopening plans.

The state’s Phase One reopening comes with a lot of regulations including temperature checks, gloves, face shields, masks, 6 foot distancing, and several others. While most of these apply specifically to employees, church attenders will be expected to wear masks and maintain 6 foot distancing from anyone else. There are also requirements for heavy disinfecting routines of all touched surfaces that in a church would include every pew and hymnal along with all doors and restrooms.

There are some other things to keep in mind, as we make our plans. The governor also encouraged all vulnerable populations, which includes all of us over 65, to remain under stay-in-place restriction until at least May 15 even after it expires for the general population at the end of April. He also stressed the need for widespread testing and rapid quarantining to prevent a resurgence of COVID cases. Wide testing, while many are working heroically to make it available, is not yet available at the volume needed to assure protection of the population.

The governor in his deliberation is having to take in a huge range of considerations. He must listen to medical experts and economic advisors. He has to balance pressure from doctors, constituents, businesses, and politicians. It is not a job any of us would want and we need to be praying for our governor constantly.

As your pastor I have to balance a lot of considerations as well, when it comes to church reopening plans. I ache to see the members of First Baptist Church. I so much want to be together with them as we worship, fellowship, and study. But I also cannot tolerate the though that First Baptist Church could be the place where any person contracts a potentially deadly disease. I take very seriously, as well, that most of us as senior adults are not only being asked to continue staying at home, we really should continue doing so at least through May 15. I cannot fathom having a worship service and telling many of you that you should not come.

In light of all this I am putting my hopes in May 17 as the earliest possible day for gathered worship resuming. By waiting until then our government will have time to decide whether it is safe for our seniors to resume public activity and under what regulations. We will have a chance to see if the decline in new cases continues even with the easing of closuer rules. Between now and May 17 we will be able to figure out what restrictions we are going to need to require that worshippers follow when coming to church and clearly communicate them.

Pray with me that this best case scenario becomes a reality and that on May 17 we can celebrate the blessings of worshipping together not only As First Baptist Church, but At First Baptist Church.

Below is a link to our Palm Sunday Service during shelter-in-place times.

https://vimeo.com/404161563

This week our county issued a stay-at-home order. A few days later our Governor made a similar declaration for our state. These restrictions place many constraints on what a pastor and his or her church is able to do to carry out the mission and ministry of the church. I have read the declarations carefully, studied the definitions of “Essential Business,” noted the exceptions, and have made plans for our church during this pandemic crisis. We will be offering online worship and Bible study. Ministers will be doing pastoral care by telephone. The administrative assistant will be in the office only to process bills and do payroll. The food pantry will continue its once a week ministry adapted to curbside pickup and compliant with guidelines as food needs are greatly heightened during this crisis. No one else will be at church building for any other reason.

These are our plans. But I want to explain why we are enacting these limitations and offer a critique of what some others are choosing to do. As a Baptist I treasure our tradition of upholding the separation of church and state. A mandate by the goverment about what a church should do is always to be questioned as a breach of that wall. There are pastors who are pushing back agains imposed restrictions for this reason.

But for me there is a higher consideration that leads me to make the changes we are enacting. I believe that now is a time when the church needs to make very real the willingness we have of making sacrifices out of loving concern for our communities. It is clear to me that staying at home, not gathering in groups, and social distancing saves lives. What more loving thing can a church do during this crisis than fully follow restrictive guidelines in an effort to lessen the impact of the pandemic on our community?

However, too many churches are not using this time to demonstrate sacrificial love. We have all seen news accounts of COVID-denying mega-church pastors giving Christianity a bad name. But browsing online services will also quickly yield evidence of groups of 10+ people recording at churches together. A local musician arrived for a service recording session at a neighboring church to find 40 people involved in the production. I received an invitation to listen in on a conference call with the governor and concerned pastors. The questions they wanted answered all amounted to, “Why do we have to do this? Aren’t we exceptions?”

Now is a time for churches to model a willingness to accept whatever restrictions are needed to slow the spread and lessen the impact of COVID-19. If everyone is an exception then no one need comply and more people will die. We all were aghast to see pictures of crowded beaches during spring break flood news and social media as if it never occurred to us that teenagers do stupid things. There are people drawing similar conclusions about what some churches are doing. As a pastor I am glad I am part of a church willing to use a higher wisdom and demonstrate love to all.