The Church is Open!
My heart dropped, my stomach churned, and I was filled with deep sadness last Wednesday when I heard that the Roman Catholic Church of Minnesota and the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod had decided to defy Governor Walz’s order and reopen their church buildings this weekend. I was further saddened on Friday with President Trump declaring that “The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now, this weekend.” Then stating, “If they don’t do it, I will override the governors.”
Eric Rassbach, an attorney for the firm representing the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Church, said of the Governor’s order, “If it’s illegal, you don’t have a duty to follow it.” My question is whether this is the standard of the Church? Is this the measure of our witness to Christ? My answer is a resounding, “No!”
First of all - let me be clear - the Church is not closed, nor has it ever been closed. The Church is always open and nothing the government might do or say can change that fact. The buildings in which the Church gathers for large group gatherings are closed.
We may not be meeting in those buildings, but the Church is open. We are blessed to have technology that allows us to stay as connected with one another. We offer a live worship service on our YouTube channel each Sunday and people come together in community to worship. Our children and youth ministry programs are active online throughout the week, both of which host live events for people to participate in. Pastoral care continues through phone calls, letters, and personal conversations where we stay six feet apart. We continue to represent Jesus in our community and our world, supporting both our local and international mission partners. We are the Church and we are open.
The Church is and always has been “essential.” The Church exists as a demonstration of God’s kingdom in the world. The Church is essential because it calls people to a new way of living and being in the world. The Church is essential because it challenges the systems of this world on issues of justice, hospitality, compassion, and love. The Church is essential because it offers the world a glimpse of what it means to be fully human. The Church is not given this “essential” status by any nation or culture, rather it is God who declares the Church essential. Even in cultures in which the Church is rejected and suffers persecution it is still essential.
One of the most misguided statements I have heard for opening church buildings is that it is our right to do so. While the constitution of the United States does provide the right to freely practice your religion this is not a valid reason to open church buildings in order to hold large group gatherings.
For the church to claim its “rights” in the midst of a global pandemic is a sign of an institution clinging to the last remnants of Christendom, desperately hoping it can continue to claim a privileged position in society.
The very idea that it is our right to worship seems to fly in the face of what worship is in the first place - an opportunity to move beyond self and declare the glory of God. As Rick Warren states in the opening sentence of The Purpose Driven Life, “It’s not about you.” For those who bemoan a loss of their rights when it comes to church buildings being closed I think the words of Amos are very apropos to this situation,
I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want. (Amos 5:21-24 The Message)
Other people try to make a theological and pastoral argument for reopening. If there is a reason for reopening buildings at this time then this would be it. People want to receive the sacrament of The Lord’s Supper and that’s very understandable. It needs to be noted that not every denomination is sacramental and many of the evangelical leaders in America demanding that church buildings open do not come from sacramental traditions. Yes, the sacraments matter in the life of the church, but we are not dependent on them, not even the Roman Catholic church. I have visited remote, rural, African villages in which a priest comes only once every few months to conduct mass and the Church does just fine.
We do have to ask what our theology says about our responsibility for the people in our society? Does Scripture have anything to say about the responsibility of the Church to the sick, the weak, the poor, to those most likely to have complications from COVID-19? The answer is a resounding, “Yes!” We could look to Jesus teaching in Matthew 25 and how we will be judged on the way we treat the least in society; we could look to the parable of the Good Samaritan; we could look to the numerous Old Testament texts that speak of our responsibility to the poor and vulnerable.
Let me be clear, I am biased. I am not neutral and I don’t claim to be. As fallible as I am, I lean heavily towards accepting the words of Isaiah 58 as God’s word to us,
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people - law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side. But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’
“Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. (Isaiah 58:2-8 The Message)
We are keeping the doors of the building closed out of love, not fear.
Our congregation’s leadership will continue to listen to the advice of Governor Walz and the state's epidemiologists as they seek to reopen Minnesota while minimizing the risk of overwhelming the health care facilities. We are committed to doing our part to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, it is a sign of our strength.
We long for the day when we can come together again in the building. That day will come but until then the Church will be open.
