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Last Monday, I had talked about the expansive demand among churches to require vaccine proof before parishioners walk into their building to worship. Some inquired if this even existed. No one inquires now. I argued that these pastors need to be defrocked and that there was a legitimate rationale to leave these churches in good standing. I and many other pastors would demand a letter of transfer and take you in as a refugee.
I am certain that a majority of us would never have fathomed at the beginning of this brouhaha that there would be church officers demanding proof of a vaccine at the entrance door before worship. The reality is creeping in like a leviathan. Its movements are heavy and felt everywhere. It is not a 1/1 correspondence, but you can easily see that the majority of these same congregations produce woke waters among them and show incredible fondness for leftist politics/causes. The rule of thumb is, “If Al Sharpton likes it, then run for the hills.” If that seems a little too far off of an example, try this one: “If Russell Moore speaks positively of it on Morning Joe, go the other direction.” Again, the numbers are not exact, but it is significant to make a pattern and from that pattern, you can draw ducks, and if it quacks like a duck, it’s a leftist leaning church.
Now, if these conclusions seem too absurd to you, then you and I are drinking very different whiskey or sweet tea. There is a high likelihood that you are perceiving these movements as absolutely neutral and that such decisions have no impact on theological discourse. Well, I have been alive long enough to know that when Herodias puts on a party, she’s got some nefarious intent in mind.
I am old enough to remember when REVOICE was only an attempt at celibate Christianity, but now it’s become the lingua franca among too many once faithful churches. Who knew that to be gay and Christian could be uttered in the same sentence in the local Presbyterian church?
There is a 100% chance that these same churches, once bastions of Reformed orthodoxy, are also the ones compelling people to show them the proof before you come in to sit in those pews. I am not a gambling man, but that has never prevented me from putting some money on a monopoly game. These are the same churches advocating for racial reconciliation on the basis of the “Woke Church” textbook during Sunday School. They are the same guys endorsing White Fragility events.
And now you may wonder: will restaurants and rotary clubs do the same? You betcha and they already are. As churches go, so go Walmarts. They will do it with utter ease, and many will gladly go along with it. In case you are wondering, “What would I do in such situations?” Thanks for asking. Well, whether vaccinated or not, I would stay away from any restaurant or church that requires vaccination proof. They will not get a cent of my devotion or dinero. It’s a principle. I am not boycotting, for boycotting would mean I don’t like the moral direction of an institution, but what I am saying is that I don’t like an institution requiring me to put something inside my body unless it is the food they offer. Here, ethics has become existential and applicable. Boycotting is too nice to describe what I am proposing.
What is my best-case scenario from this turmoil?
That institutions will grasp ever more significantly that an inch thou givest a mile they takest.
That institutions will be re-invigorated to think more carefully about governmental overreach.
That new institutions will be formed from this and that they will have the backbone layered with courage.
That institutions will know henceforth that little acts based on compassion do not produce truthful institutions, but perhaps undiscerning bodies.
In some ways, we live in a day where there is competition among platforms of good works. Everyone states that what they are doing stems from a heart of goodness towards their neighbor. But the end result has been catastrophic. Not all good works are made equal; some are made out of naivete. That nice guy you let into your house to rest his body from a long journey took all your belongings during the night. But you could have seen it if you had just asked him a few questions the night before, but you preferred to love thy neighbor like a cheesy Hallmark card.
