No, What a Church Should Not Be...

Wow! What a week this has been. Are we in the UK beginning to see a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel? Or is the light ahead shining from another train some distance in front of us? And so, the headline of a newspaper blazes out that the rate on Covid-19 is falling, especially now that the vaccine roll-out is approaching 20,000,000 - around 27% of the UK's population of 66 million. On the same page, another article reads that the rate is actually rising again, hence popping the optimistic balloon of hope.

And so, I shared my concerns with the weekday Zoom prayer meeting. The response I received was that they were not pushing fake optimism, but rather seeing the numbers decline. This is encouraging to them and fan the flames of hope. Then another at the meeting reassured me that when, say, a move forward by three or four steps, one periodic step back is quite normal and to be expected. 

As far as I'm aware, the overall national infection rate is continuing to fall. However, the turnaround towards the wrong, upward direction looks to be mainly in the Midlands, such as Rutland, a landlocked county between Leicester and Peterborough, along with Bradley, Rochdale, Hartlepool, Leeds, Sheffield, Lincolnshire, and the South Coast port of Southampton.

Southampton.

However, with hospital rates continuing to fall across the nation and the corresponding fall of the death rate, especially among the elderly, this does indicate that the vaccine roll-out is beginning to take effect. Therefore, I may be not too surprised if the news carries a detail that, after more research, the rising rate of infections is more likely to be confined to people under 40 years of age, who are still waiting for their turn to be inoculated.

With glorious, spring-like wall-to-wall sunshine, caused by a wide circle of high pressure sitting over the UK, already, by mid-afternoon, the online papers are ablaze with the headlines that a large percentage of people, taking advantage of the good weather, are ignoring lockdown rules as they stream into parks and beaches. Not that I blame them at all. After all, if weeks of restrictions, cool and wet winter weather, many shops, pubs, coffee bars and restaurants closed, little wonder that "lockdown fatigue" has taken a hold on the majority of us, except for the few Covid Karens and Covid Kevins dotted around here and there - who are just too keen to pick up the phone to snitch on their neighbours enjoying a bit of fun outside.

Let's face it. Although the Police has warned of weekend patrolling of these outdoor venues to hand out fines to "the Covidiots" and disperse the crowds, nothing could be better for the immune system than to expose some flesh to direct sunlight, at least for thirty minutes, but here in the UK at this time of the year when the sun is not very strong, 45-60 minutes may suffice. As with me, before starting on this blog, I sat topless in our back yard under the warm sunshine for about thirty-forty minutes, reading the morning paper.

Yes, topless. Indeed, I may no longer resemble the Greek god Apollo (as I might have back in 1985-1990!) - this paunchy physique had benefitted without the casual tee-shirt I always wear, hence adding the sun's effort in producing Vitamin D to the other two sources: adequate diet and supplements, therefore, in addition to the first dose of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine, a suitable resistance (I hope) against the virus is built. 

This brings to mind the prudish attitude of Victorian England, where baring of the flesh was discouraged for the sake of decency. Little wonder that rickets was on the rampage, especially among children. This weakness of the bones resulting in bow-legs was caused by Vitamin D deficiency. Not to mention cardiovascular disease, cancer, asthma among children, and cognitive impairment, or dementia, among older adults.

During that time, those dark city winters with thick, coal-fuelled industrial and domestic fires emitting black smoke which hung in the air on a calm day, smog clouding out much of the sunlight during those cold and often damp mornings, together with the daily must-cover-up dress code, the Victorians made no connection between their meteorological and cultural environment - and the frequent rise of such illnesses. Who would have ever thought that such vitamin deficiency would bring such distress? Not to mention scurvy as well, caused by a lack of Vitamin C.

The dress code was founded on religion, mainly Christendom. Interesting for me it would be if all the medics under Queen Victoria's early part of her reign were to have discovered and agreed among themselves, that most, if not all of the illnesses rampaging through the city were caused by Vitamin deficiency, and particularly by the lack of the sunshine vitamin. And their remedial advice was to dress lightly during the summer, exposing areas of flesh to sunlight. Indeed, how would the population of the day react? Interesting indeed.

Would the authority of the Church have been questioned? Who knows. Would there have been a rise in atheism? Quite a point, that. Only last night I watched a YouTube documentary focused on the Bible Belt of the American Deep South, particularly in the States of Georgia and Texas. And to come clean here, I do not want to live in such an environment! Everything in life is centred around the local church. This includes the heavy stance against pre-marital sex, homosexuality, elective abortions, and evolution. Stern rules stand against non-Christian or secular music, and at school, each class begins with prayer. 

Divine Creationism is taught, but any evolutionary concepts are kept away from the students. And just as important as the rest, the moderate dress mode is mandatory. At first, all these issues look good, Biblical, and spiritually sound. But while I was watching the ad-free 40-minute video, I became aware of one underlining thought-stream - the feeling of insecurity, as if the whole system has to guard their participants against any form of threat, and that includes falling away, along with any teachings on evolution.

It's a kind of environment where, if a teenage offspring decides this lifestyle is not for them, then such a son or daughter would be disenfranchised from the rest of the family, particularly from the parents, and he would end up in Hell. As one chubby ten-year-old boy answered after he was questioned by the filming crew:

I'm afraid of Hell. If I were to leave my faith, yes, I'll end up in Hell.

I am a Creationist. But I also know a bit about evolution. In fact, as a teenager, I was a fan of the subject and I was free to study it. When I was converted to Creationism back in 1973, it was out of free choice and not by compulsion - the kind of choice which God always allows.

And talking about the moderate or smart dress, during my early years, I always had to dress in my Sunday best whenever my parents took me to church - and that was on special occasions, as they were nominal Catholics. Sunday Best consisted of a suit, a white shirt and tie. As I thought and felt, there was something seemingly unnatural about religion as a whole, although, just by itself, the smart dress would not have led to atheism as a mere single factor. Rather it was this, combined with the ongoing burden of earning my salvation by faith and works which, having proven unsuccessful, led towards my teenage hatred of God.

I have also noticed in the video, the men tend to be rather coarse in appearance, the Trump-voting, gun-toting, working-class male who would stop at nothing to condemn a gay man to perdition, and keep his own family under a strict regime, with an impression of his daughter discouraged, if not forbidden, to court a boy unless he first receives her father's approval. Then again, living in a warm part of the world, I have wondered whether this emphasis on dressing in moderation has led to lower Vitamin D levels, especially among the children. Furthermore and to my amazement, nearly all the men and many of the women shown on the video were also chubby, and not in the best of athletic fitness.

Why wouldn't I want to live in such an environment? Nor bring up my own children there?

Because, in the video, I saw little of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ in practice, despite much emphasis on this grace through faith. Rather, what I watched was salvation by works, with the promise of eternal loss if not remaining in line and staying true to the faith. What I also missed was love, the agape love which God has for us and we can have through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. That was absent in the video.

Yet, I have always had a deep respect for America as a country as a whole. Although the only time I passed through Georgia was in 1978 while on a Greyhound bus from Miami to New York in readiness to board my flight home. But earlier on that same trip, I remember the extremely flat and apparently barren landscape of Texas. The Greyhound bus I was in travelled through until it stopped at Amarillo, where I alighted to spend a day there. 

But it was on my 1995 backpacking trip when I passed through Amarillo to alight at the next stop, which was at Albuquerque in New Mexico - which happened to be on a Sunday. After alighting at the bus terminal, I spotted a church, just as people were filing in. It turned out to be a large Methodist church. Although the sermon was rather vague, it was afterwards when I was noticed by a group of students. When I told them where I was from, and travelling alone across the continent, they were impressed. Then one of them bought me an after-service lunch, a full meal with which I sat at one of the tables with three of them. It was a gesture of hospitality I had never forgotten - proper agape love.

Methodist Church, Albuquerque. Visited 1995.

But the 1995 Albuquerque church visit was not the first experience I had with American churches. Rather it was in 1978 when I arrived at Portland in Oregon, after an overnight journey from San Francisco. After finding a hotel room and settling in, the next day being Sunday, I found a church - the First Baptist Church. After the service, a couple greeted me and, like the students seventeen years later, was impressed with my travels, and offered me a lift to their home for dinner. I spent the rest of the day with them before dropping me off at my hotel.

There are good churches, those who welcome a passing stranger and offered hospitality, and there are pushy churches that condemn gays, block students from learning anything about evolution, and liable to create a generation of atheists.

As for me, who am I to judge gays or evolutionists? To both, I would much rather pour out agape love and win them to faith in Jesus Christ. That's who they need - God's love and faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and such love expressed to them through us.