There seems to be a deeper problem at work in all American industries, incl. sports and church:

We are incapable of embracing and grieving loss. Instead, unwilling to radically accept reality, we scramble to maintain consumer norms at the expense of the provider’s health.

I can understand this happening in sports and the marketplace, but the church should know better.

The church is not a provider of goods and services. We operate from a kingdom economic. Only churches given to Christian Nationalism put this pressure on themselves.

Consumerism is an American value, not a Christian one. Self-sacrificial love is our foundational value, exemplified in Christ’s death and kingdom economic. Much of the struggle to re-open churches would not be a struggle at all if we understood and embodied this.

In a kingdom economy our highest priority is to ensure the health and safety of the most vulnerable among us. Our actions just so happen to align with gov’t restrictions at this time, but we’re doing it out of obedience to Christ, not to the gov’t.

Also, if worship ceases in your church when you are unable to maintain your regular Sunday gathering, there is something wrong with your church, not the gov’t. It is our duty as church leaders to adapt our methods, not to try to maintain the norm.

Re-gathering for normal Sunday worship will largely benefit the strong and healthy among us, not the weak. We spend so much time fretting about re-opening. “How long, O Lord?” we cry in anger and disappointment as our plans continue to fail. Is this lament or selfishness?

The cry of the weak, lonely, and mentally ill, “How long?” is a desperate cry for healing and presence. While the strong are bitching and moaning (and in some cases defying Christ and gathering anyway), the weak are suffering and longing for us to come to them.

I am guilty.