Alberni Covid-19 Community Response Update:
Here in Port Alberni since March 17th we have provided for people in need more than 43 500 times. We have provided:
· Food, hygiene kits, water,
· Deliveries to people’s homes (up to 700 a day)
· Hot meals off the mobile kitchen (up to 175 a day)
· Items from the store in (12 to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday)
· Emotional and spiritual care
· Many other supports
Many people praise the Lord for the work He has done with and through us. And many people have come to appreciate the work of the Army so that the Lord is able to use us to do even more for people in need.
One new thing that we have today is that ‘church’ – Sunday Meeting -has resumed.
Hebrews 10:24-25
I have heard that a lot of preachers have been speaking on Hebrews 10:24-25 in the last while:
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The trouble of not meeting together is, like everything else, you get out of the habit. You get out of the habit of getting up at a certain time in the morning, you get out of the habit of getting ready for church, you get out of the habit of making sure you have your cartridge (offering), you get out of the habit of worshiping with your friends, you get out the habit of signing, you may get out of the habit of reading your Bible. You get out of the habit of encouraging one another in the Faith. You get out of the habit of… I know I have gotten out of the habit of preaching and preparing a sermon. It is like a muscle that has not been in use. All of this is why we are encouraged to not stop meeting together.
Many of you have not stopped during this time. Some of the things that many of you have been faithfully been doing have been:
· Calling one other
· Encouraging one another
· Praying for each other
· Meeting together at an appropriate social distance
· Connecting over Zoom, Skype or facebook
· Helping out at the Army
· Making and serving food for people during Covid-19
· Watching church on-line
· Reading your Bible and studying
· Connecting through prayer lists and mail-outs
About on-line and other forms worship, some of you have told me that you have never done so much church before as you are now during covid. And that is good. For those of us who have maybe gotten out of the habit of meeting together on-line, by phone, or now in person I encourage you to get back into the routine. It is like a muscle. It gets easy to use the more you use it. For those of us who are involved in worship more than ever I encourage us to keep it up. You are doing great!
Romans 14:1-15:7 speaks about a few controversial issues:
Romans 14:1-15:7, which we read from earlier today, addresses some controversial issues. Some people were eating meat and some ‘weak people’ it says were eating only vegetables (Romans 14:2). Now, of course we know that there were a few famous vegetarians in the Bible too who God used to do many amazing things, notably Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Some people held that one day, Sunday or Saturday, was a special day to be held as holy. (Remember we used to have the Lord’s Day legislation in this country. Saskatchewan, Ontario, and some of the eastern Maritime Provinces had this legislation in effect a lot longer than we did out here too.) Other people argued that ALL DAYS are supposed to be holy.
In the Bible the Hebrews historically held the Sabbath as a special day. Later they and other Christians would hold the Lord’s Day as a special day to do nothing but meet together. In the first century Jewish Christians would often meet together in ‘synagogue’ on Saturday and in ‘church’ on Sunday. The Ten Commandments themselves speak about the importance of one holy day. In the New Testament it points out that that is a good place to start but in reality EVERY DAY should be set aside as holy unto the Lord. This was – and still can be – a significant controversial issue.
A third point of controversy: Some people would eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols and others wouldn’t want to risk eating meat that might be sacrificed to idols.
In Bible times there weren’t secular, non-religious, or areligious butcher shops for you to just pick up your meat from. There weren’t Safeways, Save Ons, or Buy Lows. Your butchers who cut up your meat for you were often priests or religious officiants of some kind. When they butchered your animal for you they would often sacrifice some of it or dedicate it to a deity or an idol. If you went to eat at someone’s house you might not even know if the meat had been sacrificed to an idol or not. This was a significant thing for many people and as such some people wouldn’t eat the meat that may or may not have been sacrificed to an idol- they didn’t want to risk it – and others would argue that it really didn’t matter.
Both sides of all of these arguments had some very good points – but Paul here is pretty clear that he has an opinion on which side of every argument is right in his eyes BUT he says the most important thing for him is this:
14:19-20: Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.
14:13: Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
15:1-2: We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.
15:7: Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Here and Now
I think this is a very important message for us today during the pandemic. We have a very real pandemic around us. We know that the only way it travels is through contact with infected people. We know how to stop it. The only way to stop it is to stop having contact with infected people. If the Island here is clean then – Like New Zealand - we don’t let anyone else come to the Island unless the place they come from is clean. If the province is clean then we can allow people from the rest of BC (if they also don’t allow people to come there); if then Washington or Alberta or clean then we can expand our ‘bubble’ to include them…however, for whatever reason, the powers that be aren’t willing to do this (and I assume they have good reason and certainly know more than I do about it) so we are left with other precautions:
· Masks (important even though the experts originally advised us against wearing them and even now apparently some people can’t wear them)
· Social distancing (even though there is no covid-19 in our community)
· Ceasing meeting together for certain activities under certain circumstance.
This is all important but also important is that we need to stop putting stumbling blocks in people’s ways and we need to support other people rather than pleasing ourselves. We ought to bear the concerns of others rather than act to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. Do not judge someone who isn’t wearing a mask! Put on a mask if you can - even if there is no illness in your community - if it makes someone else feel safe. Don’t judge people who come to permitted activities like ‘church’ and other things and don’t judge people who stay home. The Kingdom of God is more than a mask or attending approved gatherings.
So today, everyone, let us bear one another’s burdens and live to please God and others rather than ourselves. Let us accept one another, just as Christ has accepted us in order to bring praise to God. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of masks and gatherings but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God.
Further reading on this matter:
Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans. Interpretation: (Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1985)
W.E Vines, “Week in Faith”, in Vine's Word Studies of New Testament Vol. III. (Nashville, Tennessee: Royal Publishers Inc., 1939), p. 166.
N.T. Wright, The Letter to the Romans (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995) and Part 2: Ch 9-16 (Louisville, US: WKJ, 2004)
N.T. Wright, '1 Corinthians' in Paul for Everyone, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004)
Michael Ramsay, 1 Corinthians 6-10: In Tents Storm of Life: Everything is Permissible but Not Everything is Beneficial. (Swift Current The Salvation Army: Sheepspeak, 01 June 2014) On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/05/1-corinthians-6-10-in-tents-storm-of.html
William Hendricksen, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, NTC (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic: 1981), 458.
The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 2919: ‘Krino’, (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), 51.
Alan Le Grys, The Expository Times 122 (11). ‘11th September: Proper 19: Vision and Reality’.(August 2011), 549
John Stott, Romans, (Downers Grove, Ill., IVP, 1994), 369.
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