Tue, May 5, 2020
Read in 4 minutes
Ottawa Hub, Canada Originally from Maryland, USA/Gwangju, South Korea
Nearly two months ago, when we realized that coronavirus was no longer just an issue for China, or just for Asia, or even just for Europe, and we told each other, “hey, take your office plant home, we might be home for a month” or “I guess I’ll see you for drinks in a few weeks,” with the blissful ignorance we enjoyed, Before Corona, and we watched our schools and our government buildings and our workplaces and our restaurants and our community centers close, we also watched places of worship close too.
“Obviously,” said most of my friends. “What kind of idiot would bring together a ton of people, singing and hugging and coughing all over each other?”
Gallup says church membership is currently at 50% in the States (down from 68% when I was a kid). Where I grew up, in rural Maryland, church is everything. I can count on one hand the number of my classmates who didn’t go to church on Sunday. For us, church was where you go on Sunday (and Wednesday, some Saturdays, the occasional Thursday). It is where you meet your friends, meet your spouse, meet your babysitters. It’s where your kids play, where you volunteer, where you give back to the community. It’s where you learn, where you go when you’re struggling, where you get married, where you go to funerals, where you celebrate major holidays.
In March, a choir met for practice in Washington State. 60 people attended and there was no physical contact, hand sanitizer was provided. A few weeks later, 45 people had COVID-19 symptoms and two died. “Idiots,” said the internet. “They should have known better!”
President Trump drew vitriol from many, myself included, when he said, “I would love to have the country opened up, and just raring to go by Easter,” at the end of March, with cases in the United States spiking daily. In my hometown in rural Maryland, parishioners asked their pastors to hold services. Luckily, many declined.
If you are questioning why Texas and other States categorized church (religious gatherings) as an essential service, I wonder, are you someone who has felt the presence of God in a church? Are you someone who believes “for where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20)? Are you someone who lives in a rural community, with your church the only place you get to socialize on the weekend? Are you elderly and widowed, with church the one bright spot you have to look forward to in a week full of pain and loneliness? Are you frightened, believing that God will bless you and protect you from COVID-19 only if you can gather in a sacred place and beg for his mercy?
I’m not saying I think that churches should all be designated as an essential service. I’m saying that the situation is more complicated than people (on both sides) think it is. I think we are neglecting to consider the broader implications. It is obvious to many people that workplaces and schools are gathering places and play an instrumental role in our social life. People in my broadly non-religious society in Canada (only 20% attend church regularly) seem very quick to say that church is not one of these important or instrumental gathering places. For many, in an increasingly secular world, it can seem that church is something easily discarded, especially in light of a global pandemic.
But for people like those in the community where I grew up, now is exactly the time to go to church. They trust in God’s protection, they want to ease their fears, and they believe that attending church during COVID-19 is the ultimate test of their faith. Closing church doors indefinitely without explanation and mocking them in the media will only further polarize them - with a presidential election only 6 months away.