Unless you are living under a rock somewhere you cannot have helped but see the world wide closing of Churches in an effort stem the tide of the Chinese Virus.
The litany of reasons for these actions is endless, ranging from "our governments have forced us to do this to, we are doing this to protect the health of our congregations".
Every fiber in my being screams out about how wrong these actions are! We, who proclaim to trust our very lives to a God of all creation, with providence and dominion over all earthly things and who proclaim the grave no longer has the last word, cower in our safe spaces because of a germ.
The Church of medieval times which contended with the plague would laugh at us. In more recent times dealing with AIDS, SARS, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, and H1N1 Fllu, did we see the wholesale shutdown of churches? No. I personally celebrated Masses during all those epidemics and visited the sick in the hospitals.
So, why are we responding like this now? Why are we so quick to forsake [part] of our faith in the name of safety and security? I am baffled, I have no answer.
Last night I was reading a monthly report that catalogs incidents of Christians being persecuted and martyred for their faith. From Nigeria [ beheading], to India, to China, to Pakistan, to Syria, real Christians who stood firm in their faith paid a dear price for their stand. Other than forsaking their faith, they had no safe space to run to.
I think this will forever be viewed as a sad day in Church History. I think we have a lot to repent of here. I think we damn well better get on our knees and pray that almighty God not only forgive us but also help us to amend our lives so that we don't flee so quickly and foolishly when evil comes to confront us.
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