{"id":7092,"date":"2020-03-13T06:37:10","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T12:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=7092"},"modified":"2020-03-13T06:37:10","modified_gmt":"2020-03-13T12:37:10","slug":"how-to-be-a-christian-during-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2020\/03\/how-to-be-a-christian-during-a-pandemic.html","title":{"rendered":"How to be a Christian During a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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This a letter I wrote to my church, to help us frame what\u2019s coming our way\u2026\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Hello RC Family,<\/span><\/h3>\n

In light of all that is happening with the COVID-19 situation, I\u2019m writing to loop everyone into what Redemption Church is doing to adjust. It\u2019s a strange reality to acknowledge, but it seems likely the coming days will involve difficulty and challenge for our society and church. Our strength will be tested, but I have every confidence in the goodness of our ragamuffin church. We are going to stick together and look out for each other. We are also going to do everything we can do to care for our friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. As I try to anticipate what\u2019s headed our way I find that I am, as ever, overwhelmed with gratitude to be connected to such a deep source of friendship and support as Redemption Church. I love you guys, and I am so grateful to get to be your pastor. We can do this.<\/span><\/p>\n

First and foremost, let us be reminded that neighboring is an essential aspect of the gospel. Part of what it means to be a Christian is to be a people who love our neighbors as ourselves. During this season we all need to be looking for ways to leverage our own strengths to help those around us who might be in need. Now is the time to be creative with our friendships. You might want to reach out to your neighbors. Maybe you could create a group text with folks on your block or apartment building, so you can stay in touch, communicate needs, and just encourage each other. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also, you\u2019re going to need your sense of humor. Don\u2019t forget to feed joy and hope and laughter, and refuse to feed anxiety and fear and frustration. As Christians, we have access to a peace that defies circumstance, and its our gift to be able to share that with the world. I cannot imagine gearing up to go through this without Redemption Church. It has to be so scary to feel alone at a time like this. We all need to be looking for ways to extend our peace to others, and humor is a powerful way to to that. So, dust off your funniest memes, your encouraging words, your dad jokes, and and get ready to make people smile through the difficulties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, good neighboring means we want to find a way to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. At the same time, we want to balance this commitment to neighboring with our deep reverence for God, and for the centrality of the rhythms of Christian worship and mission. So, as long as health officials are not asking us to refrain, we still plan to gather for worship, to be reminded that life is more powerful than death, that love casts out fear, and that God will never leave us or forsake us. We hope to continue to engage with the marginalized in our community through our regular acts of mercy and justice. We want to balance our personal responsibility and neighboring, with our disciplines of weekly worship and mission. It is possible that we will have to suspend at some point, but for now we are going to keep meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Toward that goal RC put a response plan in place a few weeks ago (read it here<\/span><\/a>). We\u2019ve been making adjustments as the situation develops, but for now our plan involves 3 levels of increasing concern, and our response to each eventuality. The first level has been triggered in the past 24 hours, as more cases have been reported in JoCo, and as public health officials are asking us to make concrete adjustments to the way we meet, in order to help combat the spread of the virus. The practical steps we all need to take will involve 1) taking personal responsibility for ourselves and 2) making important adjustments to our social practices when we gather. Relevant details include:<\/span><\/p>\n

Personal Responsibility<\/span><\/h3>\n

Public health officials are asking us to do some intentional social distancing, which is a way of \u201cgood neighboring\u201d during a viral epidemic. The CDC website<\/span><\/a> has good information about the virus, how it spreads, and what we can do to be responsible. They recommend:<\/span><\/p>\n