One of the more questionable pleasures of being human, is the trouble and pain our bodies can cause us at times. We all know what it’s like to be ill, and probably to suffer an injury of some kind too, so we know how very unpleasant those things can be. And, as we get older, the simple wear and tear of life, the toll the years take on our bodies, can cause them to give us trouble and pain. Today, of course, we’re much more fortunate than people in bygone ages, in that, the wonders of modern medicine can help to alleviate the pain and suffering caused by illness, injury, and age. Modern medicine can also cure many diseases that, in those bygone days, might have been fatal. But, having said that, everything comes at a cost, and modern medicine is not without its risks. We know that any drugs we take can have very harmful side effects. Many cures and treatments for illnesses can, in themselves, make us ill and cause us pain. In fact, as a doctor once said to me, with any medicine there’s a risk; it’s a balance between the potential benefit it gives us, and the risk of harm it might do us. What we have to do is weigh the benefit against the risk, and decide whether the benefits of the treatment, outweigh the risks of the treatment.
As we all know, in recent months, we’ve seen this medical balancing act writ large across our society with the lockdown imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the absence of any vaccine, cure, or even reliable treatment for coronavirus, the lockdown has, in a sense, been the medicine, the preventative measure that’s been taken to prevent the spread of the virus, and so, to save lives. And whilst this medicine has been effective, as with any medicine, it’s had side-effects, and it’s come with a risk. The side-effect of taking our dose of lockdown has been the very great disruption to our normal lives, and the risk has been to the health, especially the mental health, of individuals, and to the economic well-being of individuals, businesses, the nation, and the world at large. And, as we all know, the Church has not been exempted from any this. The Church has had to take her dose of lockdown medicine too and that’s meant we’ve had to close our churches. It’s meant that we’ve not been able to gather together for worship or fellowship and, although we’ve been able to continue to be a worshipping community through that other somewhat double-edged modern wonder of social media, it has not been the same as being able to gather together in church for worship and fellowship. It’s also meant that weddings and baptisms have had to be postponed and funerals have had to place at crematoria chapels, rather than in church. So, for all these reasons, the Church’s dose of lockdown medicine has been a bitter pill to swallow.
We are now though, beginning to perhaps see at least some light at the end of the tunnel. I’m sure that you’ll all know by now that as from tomorrow (Monday 15th June), the churches are allowed to open again, if only in a limited way. From tomorrow, churches can be opened, but only for private prayer, not for services of public worship. What this means is simply that, from tomorrow, instead of praying at home, alone or with other members of their household, people are allowed to pray in church, but again, only alone or with other members of their household. But the important thing to note in this is that the advice we’ve been given is that the churches CAN open for private prayer, not that they MUST open. The decision has been left to individual PCCs. And that has meant that PCCs up and down the country have had to perform this balancing act between benefit and risk. We all want to go back to church but, is now the right time to do that, especially if we can only go back in a limited way?
PCCs have had to weigh whether the benefit of continuing with lockdown, the benefit of continuing the course of treatment if you like, outweighs the risk to people’s health if we open our churches again. They’ve had to weigh whether a little more pain and discomfort caused by the medicine we’re taking now, will mean that a fuller cure, the full, and safe, reopening of our churches, will come more quickly.
Since the announcement was made that our churches could reopen, I’ve been in contact with all the members of the PCCs at St Mark’s and St Gabriel’s to ask their views on this. It’s not been an easy decision for them, some of them have been, and still are, uncertain about what to do for the best. Some have changed their minds during the course of the last week, and both PCCs have been divided on the issue. In the end they have decided what to do, and you’ll find their decision here.
But, whatever your own wishes about this are, there should be no criticism of either PCC if their decision is not what your own would have been. This is a difficult decision to make because, whilst not wishing to be too melodramatic about it, it really could be a matter of life and death for some people.
But then, this is the kind of decision that lies at the heart of our faith. The cure for our sinfulness, was the Passion and Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That was the bitter cup of medicine that had to be taken to effect our cure, and it was Jesus’ decision whether to drink it or not: and he agonised about that decision in Gethsemane. It was a bitter cup that, in turn, all the Apostles would have to take and drink for the sake of the Gospel too, as have many other Christians in the centuries since. It was a cup of bitter medicine that many, perhaps most, could all have decided to pass up, but they weighed things in the balance and decided that for themselves, for others, and no doubt for the world, that it was better to take the bitter cup of medicine now for the sake of the good and the glory that would come from drinking it. And in lesser ways, this is a cup that we’re all offered at some time in our lives. We’re offered this cup each and every time we have to make a choice between doing what is right and in keeping with our faith, and doing what is contrary to our faith, but is easier and less painful for us to endure.
These decisions are never easy but when we’re faced with them, as long as we remain faithful, pray about them, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, we should be able to make the right one. Our readings today speak to us about how much God loves us and, if we can have that joyful trust in him that St Paul speaks about in our reading from his Letter to the Romans, we will turn to him for our answers when we’re faced with difficult choices. And if we do turn to God in trust, is it likely that Jesus, who drank that cup of bitter medicine to heal us, who, as St Paul puts it, “died to make us righteous” will fail to help us make the right decisions now?
Amen.
You will find the Propers for the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Trinity 1) here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 