{"id":3434,"date":"2020-05-07T08:30:49","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T16:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/randyalcorn\/?p=3434"},"modified":"2020-05-06T14:46:36","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T22:46:36","slug":"loving-think-differently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/randyalcorn\/2020\/05\/loving-think-differently\/","title":{"rendered":"Loving Your Brothers and Sisters Who Think Differently on the Timing of Reopening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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This video<\/a>, from my son-in-law Dan Franklin, married to my daughter Karina, is terrific. Some believers on both sides of the debate of when we should reopen are dismissive of the specific and very different circumstances that inform people\u2019s viewpoints. For example, there\u2019s the business owner who\u2019s eager to get back to work not only for his sake but also because he wants employees he loves to actually have jobs to come back to. (Self-interest isn\u2019t always the same as greed.)<\/p>\n

And then there are those who are tired of Zoom (I\u2019m one of them) and would be saying yes to some (initially cautious, and socially distanced) get-togethers, but they live with high risk family members. While I would probably do fine personally if I got COVID-19, my taking unnecessary risks would be unloving to my wife who has cancer in her lungs and would be at great risk of getting it from me.<\/p>\n

I have a daughter who is a nurse and would be working in a hospital emergency room if COVID-19 took off here in Oregon. Back when health care workers in New York City were dying, I tried to gently tell someone who had no problem putting himself at unnecessary risk, \u201cI\u2019m fine with you risking your health, but please don\u2019t risk my daughter\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

We all have different but sometimes equally valid reasons for leaning one way or the other in how long to wait. As Dan points out, this calls for grace and kindness. Loving our neighbors as ourselves means extending to them the same courtesy and understanding regarding their circumstances that we wish others would extend to us.<\/p>\n

Thanks for speaking to us with great pastoral insight, Dan. I hope many will share this video!<\/p>\n