What Would Jesus Do?

Apparently I misunderstood a recent communication from our congregation that we were having regular services again.  We apparently still have online services, with no more than 10 people allowed in the sanctuary, using social distancing.  The 10 people are needed because the liturgy involves call by the Pastor and response by the congregation.  For example the Pastor might say "Peace be with you" to which the congregation responds "And also with you" or "And with thy spirit."

Perhaps I had been hoping that the Pastor would buck the trend.  But then, the Pastor is often at the mercy of the elders of the church and the district, who in turn must follow the dictates of the Missouri Synod.  In any case, our Pastor has bowed to the State.  As I say, I can not blame him.

However, as Fay Voshell writes at the American Thinker today, in an article entitled America's New State-Run Church, church leaders need to do some soul searching to figure out exactly who they thing they are working for. Hint: it is not the Governor, or Mayor, or indeed, anybody in aturoity in government.

So it is with some astonishment that the faithful see Governor John Carney of Delaware, along with other state governors such as California's Gavin Newsom, order church leaders and congregants to keep their nonessential heads in the tech cloud. Carney's recommendation? "Do your best to practice your faith virtually."

No matter how virtuous or sentimental their motives, the almost complete capitulation of priests and pastors to banishment by government leaders like Carney has been astonishing. Few have meaningfully protested the exile of the Church into the cloud. In fact, nearly all churches voluntarily have closed their sanctuaries and ascended into cyberspace.

The nearly universal retreat into the cloud meant that the Church accepted social distancing more severe than the six feet enforced by grocery stores. It meant church leaders distanced themselves from their congregations altogether, consigning their flocks to a cyber-environment that is COVID-19 free but certainly not free from the virus of political correctness enforced the church of Big Tech minders.

I would note that one of the reasons that the Federal government was forbidden from establishing a state church was precisely because of the history of such in Europe. Wars had been fought over the issue of Catholic versus Protestant in a number of countries. Indeed, the 30 Years War was fought initially between Catholic and Protestant States i the fragmented Holy Roman Empire and resulted in the deaths of 8 million people. I would note though that few minds were changed as a result. As it turned out, the churches in the United States were stronger than the state run churches in Europe. So it is ironic that SCOTUS has allowed the states to continue discriminating against Christian churches. Voshell wrutes:

The state that dictates when and where and how and to whom the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administered is the state that has taken over the church and substituted its own sacraments. The state that dictates the how, when, and where of the baptism of children is the state that has created its own church. The state that decides when, where, and how many of the faithful can listen to the preaching of the Word or how many can assemble to pray together is the state that also dictates what is to be preached and prayed. The state that insists that worshipers wear and sing through face masks is the state that determines the way virtues of the state churches are signified. The state that ranks the Church of God to be an institution equal to bars, restaurants, and public schools is the state that will disregard the unique status of the Church and its constitutional rights.

As the directives from the state begin to strangle the Church, the latter is faced with a choice it probably should have made at the beginning of the state takeover. Pastors and priests must make the decision to open their churches to worship services and to continue the churches' ministries as they were before the coronavirus coup. They must remember what the Church is and obey God rather than the State.

Because this response by government to the corona virus is essentially a leftist operation, Voshell is right to be concerned. In any case, while the churches themselves have no constitutional rights, individuals do. A point I have made several times during the last two months, is that none of the rights protected by the Constitution are abrogated because of a health crisis.Church leaders no doubt went along with the initial dictates of the governments because of a desire to be good neighbors. But being a good neighbor should never be an excuse to cave unreasonable demands to cease performing the thing that Christ commanded, "Do this in remembrance of me."

Voshell makes the point that under the circumstances, maybe church leaders should do some soul searching, and just maybe grow a spine.  It's and often misused phrase, but one I think appropriate here: What Would Jesus Do?