Sunday, March 22, 2020

Teach us to number our days

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?
12 So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!
(Ps 90)

Not surprisingly, politicians and the secular media have been obsessed with preparations to survive the coronavirus. And we should make reasonable preparations, although there are many conflicting projections and policies about how to contain it. 

What's more striking is the reaction for the church. For instance, the entire Anglican Communion has folded like a bad hand of cards in the face of the pandemic:


Likewise, flagship evangelical churches hav suspended public worship. For instance:


A question this raises is what message we're sending to believers and unbelievers alike. One message is that there's no overriding good in attending church at this time. Church is a hazard to be avoided.

Then there's the message we're not sending. While the world is making desperate preparations to survive, the church should be preparing believers and unbelievers alike on how to die. Not because death from the pandemic is inevitable or even likely for most folks. But sooner or later, death comes to one and all, young or old. 

Is that the message we're sending? Are we preparing people for death? Are we preparing believers to face death? Are we preparing unbelievers to face death, and make necessary changes before it's too late for them?

Where's the Christian witness of the church in this time of crisis? The world retreats behind locked doors and the church retreats behind locked doors. Who can tell the difference? 

My late Aunt Grace was a missionary in Kenya for 13 years One time her husband shot a black mamba on the front porch. Not only did he have to mop the porch after that, but he had to get down on his hands and knees to scrub it so that natives wouldn't be envenomated by residual poison seeping into cuts in their bare feet.

Theirs wasn't a ministry for the risk-averse. Theirs wasn't a ministry for Christians who play it safe. 

17 comments:

  1. > A question this raises is what message we're sending to believers and unbelievers alike. One message is that there's no overriding good in attending church at this time. Church is a hazard to be avoided.

    The message that is being received for the non-Xtns in my life is that we are exercising common sense and also love towards our neighbor. They are thankful.

    My church has cancelled services for two weeks. In my church, one person is awaiting test results. If it turns out that he is positive then had we not cancelled services, then we would have been floored with the virus. The message we would have sent to the world then would have been nothing but negative.

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    1. Perhaps one could take an approach like the following. If a church is in an area in a city or town without any evidence of coronavirus, then they stay open.

      If there's evidence of coronavirus, then they could still stay open, but have people sit 6 feet away from one another if their building is large enough. Say they sit in alternate pews. Something like that.

      Of course, churches could titrate for (say) mild, moderate, or severe spread of coronavirus in a community.

      However, even with severe spread, as in present Seattle or NY, churches could consider leaving the doors open and available at all times for solace seekers. At least on Sundays. No members need attend. Nevertheless the pastor could still preach a sermon at the church every week, even if no one else attends. Be a physical presence like a captain who will be the last off the ship and who will even go down with the ship if need be. In short, the pastor is ever holding forth the word of life to a dying world, come hell or high water.

      If the pastor is sick with coronavirus, then another elder or faithful member who is not could pulpit fill.

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    2. rgbrao

      i) Whatever the merits of that message, it doesn't prepare believers or unbelievers for death.

      ii) Unbelievers like the message of churches shutting down because they don't think Christianity is true anyway; they regard churches as at best a nuisance to be tolerated, but nothing supernatural happens in connection with church–so the moment a natural risk factor intrudes, churches are positively dangerous.

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  2. My church was planning to stay open (while offering online stuff), until the higher ups of the distinct (Church of the Nazarene) insisted otherwise.

    Likewise, a friend of mine, an Anglican priest (ANCA), was planning to meet until their bishops cancelled all services nationwide.

    It seems if we can shop or work or live with family members safely, the small portion of time spent at church could be done safely for those wishing to go.

    Whether the world would mistake that for recklessness, it would be a testament that we value divine worship more than what is, in fact, a low chance of death.

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    1. I appreciate your perspective. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be very representative.

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  3. Well, I think that ALL Churches should repent of their Idolatrous ways, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ so that they may be saved.

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    1. "Well, I think that ALL Churches should repent of their Idolatrous ways, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ so that they may be saved"

      Wow. "ALL Churches"! I guess that includes your church too (assuming you attend a church)?

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    2. Yes, you heard correctly, ALL Churches !
      If I would have a Church, then that Church would also need to repent.
      Tell me, from what do you need to repent ?

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    3. Paul G

      "If I would have a Church, then that Church would also need to repent."

      This is unintentionally funny. Like a Chuck Norris joke. You're so holy even churches need to repent when you walk in! You don't need churches, but churches need you! When people try to touch you, power comes out from you and heals them all (Lk 6:19)! :)

      "Tell me, from what do you need to repent?"

      Since repent could be defined as "turning away from", then I guess it'd be you.

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  4. Steve I have been reading your posts regarding churches not meeting. I am an Elder in my church and am deeply pained over churches not gathering.

    Do you have any texts you would point to connecting the role of the church and teaching people how to die well and be preparing for death?

    This is a new point (or perhaps stated most clarity thus far) which you have made, perhaps your strongest so far. I hear you saying that the overriding good is a unique opportunity to prepare believers and unbelievers for death with the gospel of Christ. I hear you saying this message is a primary message of the church. If we stop meeting we abandon our primary mission and opportunities to send this message. Preparing for this is the most important message The church can send, more important than the message to love your neighbor ,which is also important. In time of Crisis when having to choose between the two, which message do we ultimately want to be sending, love your neighbor or death is defeated in Christ?

    But I suppose the other position might say we don't have to choose between the two messages. We can temporarily stream that message and Love our neighbors.


    What passages would you point to, to flesh this out? Connecting it to the church and the gathering.

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    1. It's a combination of two things:

      i) Passages that describe the teaching role of the church/pastors/elders, viz. Acts 14:23; Rom 12:7; Eph 4:11; 1 Tim 3:2; 4:11-16; 5:17; 2 Tim 2:2; 24; 4:2.

      ii) Passages that describe the need to prepare for the prospect of death, viz. Lk 12:13-21; 16:19-31; 2 Cor 5:1-10; Jas 4:13-14; 1 Thes 4:13-14.

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    2. I don't object to livestreaming services. The more ways to get the message out the better. I do object to that as a substitute for physical fellowship. Livestreaming is supplementary. It shouldn't supplant public worship. We are embodied agents and social creatures. OT worship and NT worship have always treated corporate worship as a fixture of worship, which involves meeting together for worship, prayer, and fellowship.

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  5. When you say "Then there's the message we're not sending."

    How is livestreaming The service failing to
    Send this 'overriding' message of preparation for death? How is this compromising the gospel and mission of the church by not physically gathering?

    Also, how would you understand passages like:

    how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
    Acts 20:20‭-‬21 ESV

    Would you say that Paul publicly proclaiming in his Day, was more dangerous than today meeting in This crisis? That publicly gathering with Paul put you in far greater danger and your family than today's crisis? Yet Paul still continued. How would this passage apply to our context?



    ReplyDelete
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    1. It's a question of mixed signals. A livestreamed sermon can take about the need to prepare for death, yet in the context of suspending public worship, that sends of a different message: the necessity of social distancing, even at the expense of church fellowship, to minimize risk of infection. That's not mentally preparing for death, but preparing to avoid contact with believers and unbelievers like, because it's perceived to be too life-threatening.

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  6. Would acts 20:20-21 apply in this situation?

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    1. "Would you say that Paul publicly proclaiming in his Day, was more dangerous than today meeting in This crisis? That publicly gathering with Paul put you in far greater danger and your family than today's crisis? Yet Paul still continued. How would this passage apply to our context?"

      I think you answered your own question (in the affirmative)

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