So who will be around to reject Christ on Good Friday? I've received quite a lot of push-back from people - apologists, laity, and clergy - for my observation that our actions during the Covid-19 outbreak are going to hurt the Faith's witness in the long run.
I've never said we should do nothing. In fact, as a family, we were among the first I know to shut down and quarantine. We did this because of my Mom living with us. Though healthy for her age, she's still her age. An abundance of caution seemed appropriate.
Nor have I said we shouldn't have taken action as the Church. Regulating the services, adjusting, finding creative ways to administer the Sacraments or have services would have been fine. It would have been acceptable to cancel services temporarily in order to find creative ways to accommodate the cautionary practices while still holding to the more important things.
Instead, we said church is like a bowling alley or a museum: Non-essential. Christians rush to Facebook to say churches are just buildings and don't mean anything. Sacraments are denied and dismissed as optional. A secular church for a secular age led by secular Christians.
So no need to worry for the Savior this year. There will be no crowds yelling Crucify Him! They have more important things to worry about now.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10.28, from the Gospel as traditionally understood
We live in a material world in a material universe with material solutions to material problems, and value those who serve those very things. And then God when all else fails. The Gospel of Today.
In the online meeting our church was reading a passage from Hebrews. Although it wasn't the focus, the bit about "conquering death" stuck in my brain. Like here is Death, right now, in our midst. Do we treat him like a conquered foe? Or the true master of the world?
ReplyDeleteI think this has also proven that charity is Christianity's greatest weakness. Notice when people are complaining about folks attending services, they always coach it in the language of "you are putting other people at risk." What reply can we give? If we love our neighbor, what do we do when worshiping God puts our neighbor at risk?
We'll probably see greater attacks on the Faith from that angle in the future - where whatever they want Christians to stop doing will be painted as hurting your neighbor. (Just look how effective homosexuality was with that trick.)
That's true. I think of homosexuality and suicide. Why is suicide so high in the gay community? Because people don't accept it. If you say homosexuality is wrong, you might as well just kill them because you're why they commit suicide. It's an excellent way to shut down dissension. Not that I think we should do nothing. But clearly we've crossed a line.
DeleteSomething I've learned about life: the tests are never obvious until you look backwards. In the moment, there's always a very good, very logical reason to cave, to give in.
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