Reinventing church in two weeks or less

The coronavirus arrives in Stoddard County

Two weeks ago the first social distancing restrictions were announced in Missouri. In that period of time, local schools have been canceled. Businesses are closed. Downtown Dexter has only a fraction of the activity it normally experiences. Triage tents have been set up in front of Southeast Hospital. The first two cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Stoddard County.

Likewise, our congregation has had to make monumental changes over a short period of time. We have moved all activities online. Worship services are streamed on Facebook Live. Meetings now take place over Zoom. We have had to learn new ways of being church. The fact of the matter is that this has been the busiest period of ministry I have ever experienced, including my deployment with the Air Force. Quite simply it feels as if a year has transpired in less than half a month.

Fortunately, I am blessed with an amazing congregation who has continued to love each other through all the situations we have faced. This church continues to offer God’s love to the community of Dexter and shows grace to each other each and every day. I so much wish that the past few weeks had not happened, but I trust in God’s presence and pray that we will be able to grow from the experience.

Remembering to pause and pray

One of the things that I have had to relearn is that unless I deliberately take time to connect with God and to get the rest I need I am not able to do my best for others. The last few weeks have truly forced me to find time to shift down and spend serious time in prayer. While it is always possible to fake things for a couple of days, those efforts simply cannot last. Ministering out of my own strength is never going to be sustainable. 

The same thing is true for every single individual Christian. This crisis is causing so many of us to stop and reevaluate. We need God’s help to get through the challenges and worries that this crisis is going to bring. Of course, we fail more often than we would like to admit, but when we get it right, it is a beautiful thing. The body of Christ has been at work in so many ways over the past few days: feeding children, making masks for health care workers, checking in on the homebound, and gathering (virtually) together in prayer and supplication.

We are not perfect in our response, but the good news is that God really does not expect us to be perfect. That is where Christ’s forgiveness comes into play. We are able to love because we have first been loved. We can forgive others because we have first been forgiven.

This is why I am trying to look at this past couple of weeks differently. It did not go the way that we had expected it to go. It did not go the way that we wanted it to go. There are many things that I would like to be able to change about the way our country responded to this crisis, but the fact is that I cannot change them. I cannot fix the past. I can only deal with the present as it is.

“Do not be afraid.” Easier said than done

This is why Paul tells us to forget what is passed and press on towards the goal. We are called to hold our world losely. We are called to recognize that everything we have is temporary. We are simply to live in the present that God has given us. This is why Jesus spends so much time telling his disciples to not worry. This is why the angels always begin their conversations with, “do not be afraid.” 

When I am honest with myself, I have often been afraid over the past few weeks. I have been worried. This is not what I need to be doing, but it is where doubt and fear take me. It is my prayer that Christ teaches me once more how to live into the present and continue to do the work of ministry in our current reality. One of the things that is strange about the reality of this week is that everything is improvisational. I have never encountered the handbook for disaster ministry. 

In so many ways I am grateful for the way the military trains us to operate in a crisis. We are taught to stabilize our situation, establish a chain command, communicate, evaluate our options, and then press forward. This is what we are attempting to do in Dexter and we are making progress for the most part. It is my prayer that we will be able to accomplish good things through this situation and that we will come out the other side stronger than we were before the epidemic.

This is not to say that these things are easy. The fact of the matter is that I have had a seemingly unbroken series of long days and fitful nights of sleep. Anxiety creeps in more often that I would like to admit. I can only imagine how much harder things are for those people on the front lines of the epidemic. Health care workers, first responders, our leaders, and those people working in essential industries to make sure our country stays fed have my undying respect and admiration.

By the end of this week I was struggling, but on Friday was finally able to get one of the best night’s sleep I have had since the epidemic began. Part of it was that exhaustion had finally kicked in. Additionally, the new systems we have established in the church for communication and pastoral care are starting to take effect. Several days of phone calls have allowed me to reconnect with congregants I have not had the chance to see face to face in far too long. 

Freed by recognizing our limitations

Most importantly, I am beginning to come to terms with my limitations. While there are so many parts of this epidemic I wish that I could fix, the truth of the matter is that I cannot fix any of them. This situation is simply so much bigger than my small church, rural pastor brain is capable of comprehending.

All that I have to offer at this time is a reminder that we are not doing this on our own. As a pastor, this is really all I have to offer anyone. Jesus Christ is Lord. I am not. My calling is to point others toward him. At this moment I am not required to come up with any answers. He is the source of wisdom that we need to get through this situation. 

What is true for me is true for the church as a whole. We are not required to be any smarter than we already are. We do not have to do this on our own. The Holy Spirit will guide us through the situation in which we find ourselves. This is where we find our strength. This is the grace we are called to share with others. The gift of God’s son Jesus was proof that God is not done with us. 

Christ is here in Dexter at this very moment. The amazing gifts I have seen at work in our congregation, and in the community as a whole, are proof of this to me. As I walk through this challenging time, I am grateful for all the ways that I have seen this truth at work first hand. The church is busy being the church, and they have managed to rebuild my faith more than they will ever know.