What would Jesus have thought of us all hiding away like this?

[letsgomaths]

I think it's an interesting question, the way we were forced to stay apart because of the virus, and not take part in collective worship, with the total endorsement of the Church of England. In a way, it doesn't feel like a very "Christian" thing to do, hiding away, instead of spreading the word. Would Jesus have taught us to "stay safe" in this way, by avoiding our neighbour? He certainly would not have advocated "distrust and report thy neighbour". There is also a certain irony to churches literally flying the flag "Thank you NHS", like a new religion. Yes, I know the Church of England has to go with the general message of the country, whatever that might be. Should the CofE be fighting the government's "singing is forbidden" rule?

I know that things are different now in that we're able to have some form of worship online, which was not possible not that long ago, so we're not totally separated, but I have sometimes thought that if this pandemic had happened at a time when going to church was more widespread, people might have resisted lockdown more, perhaps with slogans such as "if we die in worship, it's the will of God".

(Please no replies about fairy tales, Christians being deluded, and "imaginary friends" - that's been done to death on Mumsnet; although I do realise that some might say "why didn't God destroy the virus?".)

And my church ran a programme that actively encouraged helping out your neighbour during this time.

I don't think Jesus cares much about how many hymns we're singing or how many people turn up to hear the sermon on the second Sunday after Pentecost. I think he does care about helping our neighbours, volunteering our time to the community, and taking care of each other. Showing his love by practical example rather than preaching from a pulpit. His church is very much present and alive in this pandemic. Maybe it's the singing and the services which cause Christians to be locked away (in a church building, with each other) and this lockdown has been an opportunity like no other for Christians to make contact with other religions and non-religions and actively support the wider community of humans. I'm sure Jesus would only see that as a good thing.

Unfortunately my priest and the sister who is very active in our parish have taken the attitude of “if you get it, you get it” and have flouted all the rules given by the bishop (singing, not social distancing, holding services and mixing households whilst we were in Lockdown). They are putting massive pressure on people to get back, criticising anyone who doesn’t feel safe...there’s this horrible undercurrent of “where is your faith?”. I see this all as very UN-Christian.

Jesus, I feel, would want us to love our neighbour by not infecting them. Help the poor by donating money, food etc. Check in on the vulnerable. Wear our masks, social distance, stay home if ill...do everything we morally can to halt the spread.

The more a priest does to stick to the guidelines and create a safely reopened church, the more Christ like I view them as.

One of our local priests is meticulous about sticking to the guidelines. He has done everything to keep Services and parish events online and to help those suffering the most by coordinating volunteer efforts. He gentle reminds parishioners that as Christians we have a duty to love our neighbour by being conscious to stay away from church if showing symptoms, by maintaining social distance, by sanitising our hands and by wearing masks if we can. He reminds us that there is no rush to attend in person if we are not comfortable with the risk and still puts effort into wonderful online services for those who can’t attend.

His parish is growing. I’ve attend his services in person despite being Shielded because he’s done everything to make it safe. His whole attitude is “Love” and I see him as very Christ like.

I can’t attend my home parish right now and many of us are talking about never going back there. Our priest and the sister have created an unsafe, judgemental, unequal (if you aren’t a healthy person) environment. There is categorically NO way Jesus would put hymns before lives. The wrong attitude in this will make people leave the church or give them a poor view of Christians. Jesus hates the Pharisees and told us to pay our taxes. I think he’d want us to stick to the rules and not spread a virus and use him as justification for doing so.

What popped into my mind reading the OP's question is 'render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's'. I've always found that to be about quite a pragmatic approach and that's the case now too. 'Caesar' (the world, society) needs us to do our bit in whatever way, by keeping away from others or by working with them under hygiene guidelines. Within and alongside that, it is still entirely possible to give God what is God's, by distanced/online services, doing what we can to help in our communities, etc.

I also think the PP may be onto something in that what this pandemic has disrupted, inter alia, is the church-as-social-club model. Having to find new ways of doing stuff can never hurt.

Jesus wouldn't have wanted any of us to put our or anyone else's health at risk.

Christians have often been quite isolated for all sorts of reasons. We're all capable of worshipping alone or with a couple of others. It's a good time for private contemplation too.

Churches are opening up now though with social distancing and no singing.

Thanks for your sensible replies; perhaps I had too many prejudices of my own, such as imagining that lots of people who go to church would want to stick to the "old" ways, i.e. meeting no matter what, shunning all things technological, and so on. My church is indeed doing everything online, although we have resumed services now that it is allowed, and will be observing the new (still very limited) permissions about singing.