Making Sense out of Nonsense - The Church and COVID-19
By Richard G. Varnell, E.A., D.Min
August 4, 2020
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gen. 1:1). “ So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him"” (Gen. 1:27. “The LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’” (Gen. 2:16-17).” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” Gen. 3:6). '“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return’” (Gen. 3:17-19).” We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom.8:22).
The Nicene Creed, along with all other church creeds talks about the need for forgiveness of our sins. The Bible indicates to us that because of sin in the Garden of Eden, all of God’s creation changed. Death and what brings death become normal. Also, the whole physical creation suffers from disharmony. Disease and storms permeate our everyday lives. While Scripture assures us that one day God will end this turmoil, between now and then Christians must learn how to function best in a world of upheaval.
Sin or not obeying God’s commands is the culprit. Evil in the universe was already in the Garden of Eden when on the sixth day humankind began. God warned Adam and Eve not to eat fruit from the tree with the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. The Serpent soon tempted them to eat the forbidden fruit, and thus, began the downward spiral of separation of God and humankind. Sin originally seems to appear at some time in the ages past when Satan was given a choice of whether or not to obey God. It appears that Satan and one-third of the angels were separated from fellowship with God at that time. Evil has existed from then until now and it seems will continue forever.
The history of infectious diseases in our world has been long. In the Bible it appears that leprosy and other infectious diseases were common in the days of Moses. The Law demanded quarantine until the symptoms of the disease where no longer visible. Before the Flood the average age of death was more than 900 years of age. After the Flood, by the time of Joseph, people were living a little past the age of 100. By David’s time people were dying at around the age of 70.
In the United State as late as 1880 the average life span was less than 40, and the most common cause of death was infectious disease. Today the average age of death is almost 80 years of age. Scientists first introduced vaccines to the United States’ population in 1796. Vaccines seem to be largely responsible for people living longer lives. The worst world pandemic was the Bubonic Plague in 1350 when one-third of the world population died. This was followed by the Spanish Flu in 1918 when 50,000,000 people died globally. In the United States there were 675,000 deaths, which was about the number of people who died in the civil war, and more than the combined deaths in the US during both World I and World War II. The 1918 Spanish Flu finally stopped when about 30% (500,000,000) of the world’s population became infected. It appears that without a vaccine some infectious diseases will continue until a certain percentage of the population is infected. Our current COVID-19 seems to be of that nature. The best that we can hope for is to slow down the rate of infections until there is a vaccine or a medication that cures COVID-19. And there is no guarantee that another infectious disease may present itself in the near future. The Church should lead the way. Of course, there is debate on the best way to slow the disease down. Complete isolation, which can create other problems; social distancing; wearing a face covering; are the most popular ways. The Church has an opportunity to set the highest survival rate.
Here are some suggestions.
- Look for alternate ways to engage with each person who attends your church to minister to them.
- Have an interactive website that easily guides people to the services you provide.
- Broadcast all your services.
- Use a FM transmitter (about $300) to broadcast your service to people parked in the church parking lot.
- Churches that are allowed to meet outside, can design their outside area to include seating with social distancing. Fans and shade coverings make people comfortable in warmer weather.
- Use Zoom for small groups to meet at least weekly.
- Provide face coverings to all who come to your church.
- Develop small groups to engage people with a variety of interests. In addition to Bible studies with many different subjects, provide a Zoom “choir,” an exercise group, a nutrition group. Develop a book club, a movie club, or a club for any other interest that even a small group of people may be interested in.
- Develop a variety of courses that many can take through a church certificate program.
- Call each person and record their prayer requests and help with any mentioned needs.
- Develop “prayer groups” that focus on both our COVID-19 environment and other ministries that have significant needs.
- Present projects for people to give to. For the church it may be your next building. It may be helping a mission’s project reach their goal. Many people may want to give to the needy in your area—provide a way for them to do so.
- Give hope. Talk about what the future will look like when COVID-19 is over. Weeping is only for a season. Sunshine is coming!