STAY AT HOME? WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE ONE?
Allow me to share one pastor’s heart and mind on our communing in an age of communicable disease.
It has never been otherwise. Christians throughout the ages and in many places around the world today have known the wisdom of the Lord’s command to “not forsake gathering together” and the joy of shared loaf and shared cup at a shared table.
They have also known famine, war and plague (not to mention persecution for public assembly), all of which tend to be isolating. And they have known their awesome mandate to be the Lord’s presence in the city, the place where ills most rapidly spread and can be devastating.
The things we do each week and the things we now commit to in this next season are not for us only; they are for the city, too. We will avoid as much as we are able being the place where — or the people who — spread the virus, which — though it might not harm us much — yet harms others.
For their sake, we take precautions. And for their sake, we reconsider how we gather and touch each other and how we may recommit to touch their lives in the savior’s name.
Early Christian writers attract me. I learned Latin and classical Greek in order to read these authors and make them my teachers of the faith for my own faith and ministry. They were brilliant and brave.
Often they are given credit for the conversion of the late Roman Empire from paganism to the faith of the church. They are due credit, but not all of it, not nearly. They were read only by the literate and the elite.
The citizens of the cities were attracted to the faith and converted because of a brave kindness given them daily in ordinary ways and on occasion in extraordinary ways by the followers of Jesus.
When plague came to the city, the population in panic rushed out of the city. The Christians rushed in. Only the rich would have mountain retreats; the poor suffered and died alone. They were cared for and healed and accompanied by our beautiful ancestors in the church.
Now is our time. We will do the things that lead to health and well-being not just for us but for the whole city. And we will rush in.
How so?
We will call every elderly person we know — family, friends, neighbors, former fellow workers, the stranger on the street, offering to visit, fetch supplies, share a meal when appropriate, and offer prayers which are always appropriate.
We will drop off gifts of comfort and thoughtfulness, and help them to think with due caution and without undue anxiety
about the news and rumors, helping them to distinguish between the two.
Sometimes, with our most precious elderly, it looks like teaching a new technology — Facetime, Zoom. Sometimes it looks like relearning an old technology – handwritten notes until Amazon runs out of stationery.
Sometimes it feels like solidarity at a distance — apart together, together apart. How so?
Rush in toward the homeless.
Our congregation, through its Ladle Fellowship, connects with over 200 homeless neighbors on our campus every week and has done so for over 30 years. We welcome, share a meal and prayers, and offer a
Sabbath in our courtyard on Sunday afternoon. On Wednesday evenings, we share a Bible study and discipleship training with 100 homeless neighbors.
All this has changed. No longer a shared meal and close fellowship, it is a hot boxed lunch with a drink, a short note meant to encourage and inspire, and disinfectant wipes handed out with a smile. There remains a greeting by name and a blessing in Christ’s name. Gone for now are the warm embraces, the hands held in prayer, the sitting together at table.
Medical professionals, under the auspices of the Ladle Fellowship, with homeless guides pointing out the sick and infirm among their friends, still roam the parks and streets nearby offering advice and early care. Now they counsel with their expertise those who have been told to stay at home yet have no home. House calls for the homeless. We love it.
We rush in toward the elderly and the homeless. Who will you rush towards today?
Share, do not hoard. Does that even need to be said?
Pray for the city and her citizens.
Do not fear.
Wash your hands.
Wear your mask.
Rush in.