On Developing a Model Announcement for Churches in This COVID Era

Perhaps you are a follower of Jesus who attended church in person or on-line these days. Perhaps you, like me, have been perplexed at churches who make little to no mention of the congregation’s stance on COVID, safety, and fellowship in the Lord. 

So, with that in mind, I offer my own Model Announcement.

 “For some time now, the leaders of this church, its women and men who care about this body of believers, have been studying the encroachment of the COVID-19 virus around us. We know that many of you are doing the same, and that you are taking precautions to ensure your health and those of your family and friends.

For us as a body of believers, it is important to orient ourselves toward the sacred texts for work and worship. We do so now, and in a few short words, our task is to love one another for love is of God for God is love. By this the world will know that we are disciples because we love one another.

We live in a specific state, county, and community. If someone is watching on-line this morning, the numbers will perhaps vary with where you are.

While there are a number of reputable web sites to go to for information, we encourage you to go to the Center for Disease Control’s web page: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/?utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily#datatracker-home.

In this web page, you can discover national trends and data as well as on down to your county.

Here where we live, once you get to the link above, type in your state, and ours is ________.  Next, type in your county. Our county is _____________.

The percentage of citizens 12 years of age and up who have received at least one shot is _____ and the percentage of those who have received both shots is ___________.

There you will see that our county transmission rate is ____________.

Over the last seven days, we have seen an increase of ___________. The current number of infected persons is _____________.

Our positivity rate is _____________ and that is an increase/decrease of ____________.

Our new hospitalization rate is _________ and that is an increase/decrease of ________.

The number of beds used for COVID in our hospitals is __________ and is an increase/decrease of _______________.

More information is found there.

What do all of those numbers mean? The short verse is that things are getting worse, things will not get any better soon, and that we can mitigate these matters by doing the basics that show that we love one another. We are not as a leadership body choosing politics over people. We are choosing people and doing our best to discern what is good for this group of people and our community. 

While we know there are a number of perspectives and opinions on these complicated matters, our collective wisdom, as we live before the Lord Almighty, the Holy One of Israel, is the following: 1) get the vaccine as soon as possible, and if you have had the first two shots, please anticipate getting the booster shot as soon as you can; 2) wear your mask, especially in enclosed spaces like our sanctuary, classrooms, and the gymnasium here on the church property, and do the same in other locales where you find yourself, even if you are vaccinated; 3) practice social distancing; 4) avoid crowded spaces as often as possible; 5) congregate as you wish if you are vaccinated, but we encourage your own wisdom in being with people who have not been similarly vaccinated; and 6) wash your hands often and keep any frequently used surfaces clean.

Here in the United States we prize our individual rights. As a citizen of the Kingdom, we place community rights and obligations alongside those.

We honor and respect those with whom we are in community, the community of faith and the community of all of us as citizens of this country and the world.

With the beauty of citizenship also come the responsibilities to take care of one another. The life you may save may be your own, or it may be someone you love.

Here at this church, we are concerned about your soul. We are also concerned about the physical body within which your soul exists."

 

Let Justice Ring: Let Us Pray and Think About Our Prayer

I wrote this poem in the early morning hours back in January.  Its irreverence and pleas for something different fit this day and this time, at least in my opinion. Please let me know what you think.

Let Us Pray and Think About Our Prayers
Waymon Hinson
January 31, 2017

Dear Gawd, Jehsuuus, Dad, Holy One of Israel, lots of salutations we say
To plead for His hearing when we pray.

Some are contrite, others demand
Get it together, you foolish man.

Some demean, others quiet
Looking blankly toward the blinding light.

With heads bowed low we generously pray
Who is to confess the meanings of what we say.

Some are prayers of the right
Preaching righteousness and vengeance with might.

Some are prayers of the left
We all are a mess, left bereft.

Prayers from the middle, let us pray
Words of conciliation, we hope, we say.

Civility is now here in this sanctuary, this room,
Waiting, waiting, waiting, our return to the tomb.

Some are prayers of hope
Com’on, man, don’t mope!

Longing for the day.
We have all gone astray.

Some are prayers beseeching those who’ve gone before
Kindly leave your offering at the door.

Let us pray, let us demand
Expect of God His slight of hand.

We are so feeble, so frail and so fickle
I think I’ll go buy a burger with my last nickel.

Amen, and yeah verily I say, “Amen!”

Where Do You Sit or Stand Between the Cross and the Lynching Tree

This was a slightly different post I added over at www.letjusticeroll.blogspot.com back a few months ago.  It describes a conversation I had with one of my grandsons and then a situation that happened to me back in my adolescence.

I had a conversation with one of my grandsons after breakfast today.  That is not unusual except for two things.  One, he lives across the street, so we rarely have breakfast together. Second, we talked about a book I was reading by James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree. I was not much older than him when the story I tell below happened. It was one of those times in which the cross and the lynching tree collided, not literally but symbolically and historically. The fact that my friends had to sit apart was an artifact of those horrific times. I was more naïve then. He is more informed now. He cares deeply about these sorts of things.

For several years, I have been noting on Sunday mornings exactly where members of my family sit in church. I sketch out the pews on a piece of paper and note who sits where. Sometimes we sit on two rows.  Sometimes we take up almost the entire length of one row.  One of my grandsons asked why I did that.  My response to him was that I just wanted to remember.  These days we sit with different family members as our church residence has changed. I remember those days and times by simply looking at the dates and who sat where. An odd ritual for sure.

Sometimes the grandsons sit between their mema and me.  Sometimes they sit to the left and to the right of us. One Sunday it will be one grandson to the left or the right and on another Sunday, it will be another grandson.  Always the same people, but we often sit in different locations. There seems to be no rhyme or reason, just the will of folks at the moment.

I remember from days gone by a rather curious and demeaning decision about where people were to sit.  It made an impression on me, or in some ways it may have scarred me or spurred me on.

The small town church I attended was having a "gospel meeting."  The meeting started on a Sunday and ended on a Wednesday night. In my zeal to invite people to attend the gospel meeting, I invited members of the black church of Christ in town  to attend. I was in my mid-teen years and worked at a grocery store, probably the point of contact with African American brothers and sisters.  So, on a given evening, five or six of our brothers and sisters showed up for church. It caused quite a stir. We greeted them, shook hands, and nervously invited them in to sit.  I was actually glad to see them. Others were noticeably distressed.

At first, my black brothers and sisters sat on the very back row in the small church building on the right side of the auditorium.  Then, with a burst of energy, some of the men of the church went into the back classroom and brought out two old pews from days gone by.  These pews were placed to the front and left of the pulpit from which the preacher would be preaching.  There the pews were placed and there our African American brothers and sisters were invited, or rather told, to sit.

It was an embarrassing occasion. It was the mid-60s. Brothers and sisters in Christ were troubled by the social rules of the day. Lost are lost. Black is black. White is white. Invite, maybe. Sit together, no.

This act of segregation and separation actually caused more of a distinction than would have happened if they had been allowed to sit on the back row.

I felt guilty about that then and I bear some of the scars now.  Through my naive and well intentioned actions, some of my people embarrassed some of my people.  Some of my people were embarrassed by my people. What was perhaps usual and customary for them at the time was new and novel for me. That scene is still emblazoned in my memory.

I was not a political man, or even a political kid.  I just was on fire for God. Just trying to do right in the world.

Those were the times.

I was just a kid.

On those days when I note who sits where in church, I remember.