Ice Cream and the Coronavirus

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Steve Foster

Well, the coronavirus finally hit home.

On Christmas day, no less.

It appears to be the gift of 2020 that keeps on giving.

Our adventure began last Wednesday night. My two sons, my daughter-in-law, and I had a hankering for some ice cream and we decided to visit Creamistry, a new ice cream shop in town.

Creamistry is one of those “experience” ice cream shops where you order your ice cream and then watch them mix it up, stick it in a big metal bowl, and then blast it with -321 degrees F of liquid nitrogen.

Puffs of cold smoke waft through the room and then…viola…some of the creamiest, richest ice cream you have ever tasted is scooped into your cup. It makes Blue Bell taste like ice milk.

The only problem is that it is a little on the pricey side since you are paying for the experience, the big tanks of liquid nitrogen, the puffs of cold smoke, and the hazardous training of the workers…in addition to the cost of your cream and sugar.

Looking at the bright, shiny menu display, I quickly did the math and realized that a large cup at $9 gave you as much ice cream as two small cups at $6 a piece.

Since I was buying, I determined that splitting two large cups would be the better deal…so that is what we did.

My son and daughter-in-law split a Cookie Monster.

And I and my other son split a Sea Salt Caramel Crunch.

Two spoons. One large bowl. And a fight over the last few bites.

The next day (Christmas Eve) my son started feeling bad…headache…fatigue…slight fever.

On Christmas Day, he felt worse.

His symptoms had some of the marks of COVID so I looked up Urgent Cares in the area (who would know that so many of them would be open on Christmas) and made him an appointment. One rapid test later, a nurse with Christmas garb and an Elf shirt confirmed that he had COVID.

It was the strangest Christmas gift that my son ever received.

Immediately I realized that “exposed” was too small a word for my own chances of getting COVID. The taste of cream and caramel were still fresh in my mind and in my mouth. It was hard to doubt that our bowl of creamy caramel crunch probably included another topping I didn’t pay for or particularly want. A heaping helping of spiky coronavirus.

Yesterday that realization was confirmed as I tested positive for COVID as well.

So far I feel okay. Some aches in my joints…slight congestion…a little light-headedness…a bad taste in my mouth…and a general “blah” feeling. To be honest, it is hard to tell what is COVID and what are allergies or simply old age.

No real fever…though I normally read in the 97’s or low 98’s and my latest reading was 98.8.

I am not sure if the worse is yet to come or not.

My son is feeling much better so that at least gives me hope that our particular strain may not be quite as severe.

That is a mere hope not a medical evaluation.

I am loading up on Vitamin C, D, and zinc. Drinking my morning fruit smoothie. Staying isolated as much as possible. And praying that all of this passes soon and doesn’t negatively impact anyone else in my family.

The worst part about it at this point is that our family trip to see my parents and siblings was effectively canceled. Thankfully I didn’t carry COVID to them…but, like many things this year, it is another unwanted interruption that makes you want to wish 2020 away and get back to some sense of normalcy again.

All of this has given me time to reflect again. Think. Write. Process.

2020 has been a stinker of a year in many ways. A pandemic. Shutdowns. Division. Anger. Riots. Political angst. Isolation. Anxiety. Depression. Uncertainty.

But it has also been a year that has clarified some things in my own life.

God is still on His throne and I can trust Him.

My hope is in Jesus Christ and not in this world.

Life is fragile and every moment is precious.

Relationships are vital and have to be maintained in every way possible.

Stress impacts people differently and thus compassion and understanding are musts.

Wisdom requires walking the fine line between fear and recklessness, physical safety and emotional health, socially isolating yourself and living your life in freedom.

Technology is both a gift and a curse.

People are more important than politics.

Love is stronger than anger.

Death is a reality and none of us can avoid it.

Eternal life is the greater reality and all of us can experience it in Jesus Christ.

And COVID can take away a lot of things but it can’t take away the joy of being in Christ, being forgiven, being loved, being secure, and being part of something bigger than myself.

Nothing in life is sweeter.

Not even a large scoop of creamy Caramel Crunch ice cream.

Though next time I will pay the extra $3 for my own bowl.

Posted in Coronavirus/COVID-19 | 8 Comments

Praying for a Fully Satisfied, Abundant Life

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Steve Foster

We all want happiness…joy…satisfaction.

It is craving deep in our soul.

Just about every commercial on TV feeds on our desire for the “good life.”

So how do you get it? How do you experience it? Is it even possible?

I believe Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 is the ultimate prayer for the abundant life.

It is perhaps the ultimate prayer of Scripture…outside of Jesus’ prayer of surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Not my will but Yours be done.” But even the spirit of Jesus’ prayer is encapsulated in Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3.

J. Armitage Robinson said of Paul’s prayer:

No prayer that has ever been framed has uttered a bolder request.  

What is Paul’s bold request?

That we would be filled with all the fullness of God (3:19).

Think about it.

Paul is asking that we would experience all that God is…all the glory manifested in His character…all the joy emanating from the eternal fellowship of the Trinity…coursing through every cell of our bodies.

That every ounce of our being would be filled with all the abundance of God.

Wow.

G. Campbell Morgan said of Paul’s request:

To be “filled unto all the fulness of God” is to find the ultimate experience of life. Where this is so, there is no true desire of the soul unsatisfied, no power of the soul unde­veloped or idle. The true meaning of life is discovered, and that not as an ideal…but as an actual experience. It is eternal life; it is perfec­tion; it is satisfaction. 

Is it possible that at the core of all of our longings is a thirst for the living God?

We long for God but mistake it for a longing for something else. So we pursue the “something else” with almost a reckless abandon…sometimes even an addiction…until we realize that it is a dead end.

Our heart still aches for contentment…for security…for joy.

Only experienced in the fullness of God.

In Ephesians 3, Paul gets on his knees and pleads with God to enable the Ephesian believers…and all of us who are created by the same Father in heaven…to experience this divine fullness.

It begins with an INNER STRENGTHENING.

That God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man (3:16).

The experience of fullness begins on the inside…not the outside.

We tend to think that only good circumstances lead to the good life…but it is possible to have every possession on earth…and even good health…and not be satisfied. In fact, this is the experience of many “famous people” who are still searching for the good life when everyone around them think they already have it and are desperately pursuing what they have and are not satisfied with.

It is an endless cycle of vanity.

In a profound moment of honesty, actor Jim Carrey once said:

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.

Instead the Bible says that the “good life” begins on the inside. It is a joy that radiates outward from the heart not a happiness that soaks inward from outside circumstances.

So we begin our prayer for God’s abundance by asking God to strengthen our inner person through the power of His Spirit.

We ask God to enlarge our soul to receive all that He is.

We ask God to make us a person of character rather than a person of comfort.

We ask God to do whatever it takes to grow us from the inside out.

It is a scary prayer.

Because God’s strength is only experienced in our weakness.

Here is the bottom line: We often don’t experience God’s fullness because we don’t trust God enough to pursue Him alone…to desire Him alone…to surrender to Him alone.

We keep running to broken cisterns instead of to the living well.

But if we truly want Him, then the desire for inner strengthening leads to the next request: FULL SURRENDER.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (3:17).

It is a simple prayer but it is loaded with implications.

The word for “dwell” in the Greek language has the idea of “being at home with.”

William MacDonald described the request this way:

We enter into the enjoyment of His indwelling through faith. This involves constant dependence on Him, constant surrender to Him, and constant recognition of His “at home-ness.” 

At home-ness.

That Christ would be “at home” in our hearts.

There is a classic story by Robert Boyd Munger, My Heart, Christ’s Home, that captures this idea.

When we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, Christ comes in and takes residence in our hearts. But He may not always feel “at home” in our hearts. Often times we may treat Him like an unwanted guest…or we may restrict Him to certain parts of our heart while keeping some parts hidden from Him…outside His reach…outside His Lordship.

We want Christ…but on our own terms.

We want Him…but only a part of Him.

This is where Jesus’ prayer…”Not my will but Yours be done”…comes into Paul’s prayer.

It is full surrender.

It is saying, “Lord, I don’t like this…I don’t want this…I am not sure what You are doing through this…but I trust You. I surrender to You. You can have all of me because I want all of You. Not my will but Yours be done.”

Jesus’ experienced God’s fullness because He was fully surrendered to His Father.

Our path to fullness follows Him.

With this focus on God’s inner strengthening and a full surrender to His will, then we finally come to the last piece of the puzzle.

ABSOLUTE SATURATION with the love of Christ.

That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height–to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. (3:17-18)

To be totally saturated with the love of Christ.

To be overwhelmed by His incomprehensible grace.

To know a love that surpasses any love that you have ever known before.

To allow yourself to be loved by God.

It is a strange thought…but perhaps our greatest struggle is to allow ourselves to be loved by God.

We keep fighting to earn His love…to look good…to prove ourselves worthy.

When all God wants is for us to fall into His arms and be loved by Him.

As a father, I remember how awesome it was for my children to run to me with arms outstretched, shouting, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” Being happy to see me…to run to me…to want nothing more than to be embraced by me.

Holding someone who desires you fully is to experience one of the greatest joys of life.

Being held by someone who desires you fully is to experience a taste of the fullness of life.

God’s joy is holding you.

Our joy is being held by Him.

We love Him because He first loved us.

Or as Pastor John Piper puts it…God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.

Or as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once noted…

Our chief defect as Christians is failing to realize Christ’s love to us.

Stop for a moment and consider this.

Behind my fear…anxiety…depression…anger…frustration…discouragement…is an inability to rest in the sovereign love of God.

The unwillingness to acknowledge my need and to be held in His strong arms.

The blindness to the incomprehensible love that He showed in humbling Himself, entering my world, taking on human flesh, dying in my place, and conquering death to give me real hope.

Offering Himself to me so that I could experience all of Him.

To know Him.

To love Him.

To be held by Him.

That is the essence of eternal life.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

This is what it means to be filled with all the fullness of God.

An inner strengthening through God’s Spirit…

Leading to a full surrender to His will…

Enabled by an absolute saturation with Christ’s love.

It is saying, “God, here is all of me so that I can experience all of you.”

That is the ultimate prayer worth praying.

Because that is the only life worth living.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 2 Comments

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity…and Why This Harms Everybody

Posted on October 22, 2020 by Steve Foster

A year ago, I couldn’t have even told you what Critical Theory was. It sounded like some weird theory spouted in the halls of elitist academia. Nothing to worry about on Main Street.

Now I realize that everyone needs to know about Critical Theory.

Why?

Because we are watching Critical Theory on display in our universities, the news media, politics, sports, and on main streets all around this nation…and all around the world.

Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay recently wrote a book explaining and evaluating Critical Theory.

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity…and Why This Harms Everybody.

Pluckrose and Lindsay are not right-wing ideologues or conservative Christians. They are political and academic liberals who see the growing danger of Critical Theory.

Their book is worth a read.

What Is Critical Theory?

Pluckrose and Lindsay define Critical Theory as “reified postmodernism” or postmodernism taken to its fullest extreme.

“It takes the assumptions of postmodernism to be real, objective truths–the Truth According to Social Justice” (17).

It is an ironic assumption because, at its core, postmodernism denies the existence of absolute truth or any kind of universals. Postmodernism is radical skepticism, seeing everything in society as a form of power that needs to be identified, confronted, disparaged, deconstructed, dismantled, and destroyed.

Yet Critical Theory takes the most extreme skepticism…the most extreme cynicism…and universalizes it.

It denies universal truth…and, at the same time, elevates itself as Universal Truth.

How Does Critical Theory Work?

Since there are no univeral truths, then all of society’s structures, norms, and practices are simply the products of the powerful who have imposed them on the rest of society.

In other words, critical theory sees all of culture as a vast conspiracy theory, perpetuated by the powerful or the “privileged”…often without them even knowing it.

The powerful have, both intentionally and inadvertently, organized society to benefit them and perpetuate their power. …It is the social system and its inherent power dynamics that are seen as the causes of oppression, not necessarily willful individual agents. Thus, a society, social system, or institution can be seen in some way oppressive without any individual involved with it needing to be shown to hold even a single oppressive view. (Cynical Theories, 36)

Critical theory leaves no stone unturned. It questions and attacks everything in society, particularly western society.

Its core premise: Everything in Western culture is the product of white male heteronormative supremacy.

Everything.

Even the family structure, rational thought, research-based studies, and the scientific method itself are products of “whiteness” and must be dismantled and destroyed.

This is not a joke.

If you are white, male, heterosexual, cisgendered, and/or able-bodied then you are part of the power structure and the “oppressor group” whether you acknowledge it or not.

If you are black, female, homosexual, transgendered, and/or disabled then you are part of an “oppressed group” and have both the authority and the clarity to speak on all issues. And the more “oppressed” boxes you can check, then the greater moral authority you have. This is called “intersectionality.”

Because of its internal complexity and single-minded focus on oppression, intersectionality is riddled with divisions and subcategories, which exist in competition with–or even in unrepentant contradiction to–each other. Some in the U.S. therefore argue that gay white men and nonblack people of color…need to recognize their privilege and antiblackness. This can lead to the insistence that lighter-skinned black people recognize their privilege over darker-skinned black people. Straight black men have been described as the “white people of black people.” It is also not uncommon to hear arguments that trans men, while still oppressed by attitudes towards their trans status, need to recognize that they have ascended to male privilege and amplify the voices of trans women who are seen as doubly oppressed, by being both trans and women. …All this sophistication keeps intersectionalists busy, internally argumentative, and divided, but it is all done in the service of uniting the various Theoretically oppressed groups into a single meta-group, “oppressed” or “other,” under an overarching metanarrative of Social Jusice, which seeks to establish a caste system based on Theorized states of oppression. (128-29)

It is an ingenious Theory.

Only the oppressed can speak.

The oppressors can only listen…and agree.

To question or argue with the oppressed, even using rational arguments, evidence, research, or science (all products of “whiteness”), merely reveals your role as an oppressor.

Ironically, the oppressed become the hegemony.

And to violate any tenet or principle of Social Justice is blasphemy.

You must be excommunicated.

Canceled.

Critical Theory and Racism

Pluckrose and Lindsay cover all the major areas of Critical Theory–postcolonial theory, queer theory, gender studies, and even disability and fat studies. But perhaps their most relevant chapter is on critical race theory.

There is no question that racism exists…that there are individual people with racist beliefs…and that societal structures can reflect the prejudice and injustice that one group has toward another. But critical race theory takes all of this to an absolute extreme.

In critical race theory, all white people are racist by default…along with all societal structures and systems. Furthermore, any apparent “progress” in race relations is vehemently critiqued and denied.

The beliefs that the decline in racist attitudes has largely been a mirage and that white people only allow people  of color rights and opportunities when it is in their interest to do so can produce profound paranoia and hostility.

…Critical race Theory’s hallmark paranoid mindset, which assumes racism is everywhere, always, just waiting to be found, is extremely unlikely to be helpful or healthy for those who adopt it. Always believing that one will be or is being discriminated against, and trying to find out how, is unlikely to improve the outcome of any situation. It can also be self-defeating.

…The core problems with critical race Theory are that it puts social significance back into racial categories and inflames racism, tends to be purely Theoretical, uses the postmodern knowledge and political principles, is profoundly aggressive, asserts its relevance to all aspects of Social Justice, and–not least–begins from the assumption that racism is both ordinary and permanent, everywhere and always.

Consequently, every interaction between a person with a dominant racial identity and one with a marginalized one must be characterized by a power imbalance.

…Everything the marginalized individual interprets as racism is considered racism by default–an episteme that encourages confirmation bias and leaves wide open the door to the unscrupulous.

…Adherents actively search for hidden and overt racial offenses until they find them, and they allow of no alternative or mitigating explanations–racism is not only permanent everywhere and latent in systems; it is also utterly unforgivable. This can lead to mob outrage and public shamings and it tends to focus all our attention on racial politics. (132-34)

In critical race Theory, the universal nature of humanity is denied and the differences in skin color are amplified. In fact, it is all about the color of one’s skin, which runs exactly counter to the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. who longed for the day when his children would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Racism is a problem…but critical race Theory is not the solution.

Indeed, it belies a solution…since it actually depends on the existence of racism to exist in itself. It actually depends on victimhood to maintain its moral authority. It has to be “oppressed” to hold onto the power of the oppressed.

What Is the Solution?

As liberal scholars, Pluckrose and Lindsay look to liberal principles for the solution to societal problems such as prejudice, racism, sexism, and injustice.

Liberalism values the individual and universal human values; Theory rejects both in favor of group identity and identity politics. Liberalism across the board centers human dignity; Theory focuses on victimhood. Liberalism encourages disagreement and debate as a means to getting at the truth; Theory rejects these as ways of reinforcing dominant discourses that suppress certain perspectives and insists that we cannot get to “the” truth, but only to “our” truths, which are rooted in our values. Liberalism accepts the correspondence theory of truth–that a statement is true if it accurately describes reality; Theory promotes the idea that truth is a “language game” and that words, ultimately, only point to other words and can never correspond concretely to reality–unless those words describe oppression. Liberalism accepts criticism, even of itself, and is therefore self-correcting; Theory cannot be criticized. Liberalism believes in progress; Theory is radically cynical about the possibility of progress. (237-38)

The liberal principles that Pluckrose and Lindsay espouse are core principles in Western society (and are also a reflection of Judeo-Christian principles, by the way). To seek to destroy all Western structures and values based on societal problems that have actually been exposed by these liberal principles is short-sighted, dangerous, and downright scary. That is why Pluckrose and Lindsay wrote their book. The road we are on in academia, politics, and everyday life does not lead to some postmodern utopia but to a destructive civil war where everyone loses.

As a Christian, I also see the inherent dangers in Critical Theory. Because Critical Theory is based on postmodernism, it denies truth. Because it is rooted in a cultural Marxist mindset, it denies grace.

It forces us to put people into a category rather than see their common humanity.

It produces fear and paranoia rather than humility and trust.

It leads to separation rather than to reconciliation.

It inflames anger rather than encourages love.

Wherever we are on the political spectrum…whatever we may believe…however we may see these issues in our culture…we cannot blindly accept the tenets of Critical Theory without subjecting its theory to our own criticism.

We cannot make everyone who disagrees with us an “enemy.”

We cannot cancel healthy debate and disagreement because it makes us uncomfortable.

We cannot keep destroying one another and not expect to be destroyed.

As Scripture reminds us:

For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. (Galatians 5:14-15)

Posted in Recommended Books | 2 Comments

Election Fatigue

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Steve Foster

I am tired.

I am ready for this election to be over.

2020 has been hard enough. Pandemics. Shutdowns. Protests. Riots. Wildfires. Hurricanes.

And now we are in the midst of perhaps the most polarized election in history…or at least in recent memory.

Our nation is divided. Deeply divided. One side hates the other…and the other side returns the animosity.

If Lincoln was correct (and he was because he was quoting Jesus), then it doesn’t matter who wins. If the division widens, we all lose.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Is there any way forward?

Can we come to some sense of common ground?

I think it is possible…but it will not be easy.

It will require humility…the realization that none of us has perfect knowledge or unbiased objectivity.

It will require perspective…a willingness to see things from the other side…or at least see the weaknesses of your own side.

It will require relationships…a real-life connection with other people who are different than you…a commitment to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger…a pursuit of the kind of other-centered love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

And it will require discernment…a recognition that our post-modern, post-truth, media-saturated, social media-driven culture intentionally feeds our self-centered nature, tells us what we want to hear, and often keeps us angry and divided while we are stuck in our own echo chambers.

Even if our society cannot find common ground, my prayer as a pastor is that the church can stand on common ground.

We really have no other choice if we claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

In the midst of a contentious, conflicted, confusing culture, believers can stand united and move forward together on at least five truths.

1. God is sovereign. He rules over the nations of the earth. He raises up leaders and brings them down. He works all things according to the counsel of His will. No election threatens His dominion.

2. Jesus is Lord. We follow one King. We serve one kingdom. Our identity is found in no political candidate or party. It is found in Christ alone.

3. Scripture is our authority. The Word of God confronts, convicts, corrects, and changes us. It is God’s truth to guide us. It is God’s mirror to reveal the motives of our heart. It doesn’t submit to us…we submit to it. If you can’t think of one opinion, thought, or action in your life that has been confronted by the Word of God lately, then you haven’t been reading God’s Word correctly…or humbly…or at all.

4. No candidate perfectly aligns with biblical truth. I know that there are Trump lovers and Trump haters. I have talked with both. Neither side can fathom how the other side can see things the way they do. Instead of seeing Trump or Biden (or any political candidate for that matter) as “all good” or “all bad,” it is better to see them accurately…as flawed individuals who represent flawed people in flawed political systems. Thus the choice in any election is always a mixed bag of good and bad…sometimes more bad than good. No candidate is a perfect choice…despite what you may think.

5. Every believer should pray for wisdom when voting. Since there is no perfect candidate, then there is no perfect vote. Thus, a believer should enter the voting booth having done their best to seek the Lord’s wisdom, evaluating the candidates and issues to the best of their ability, and voting with humility (because we all see things imperfectly), thankfulness (because we have the privilege to vote), and some level of tension (because we are always supporting a flawed candidate or party to some degree).

And when you step out of the voting booth, you can look up and remind yourself, “My hope is not in this world.”

No candidate…party…amendment…or law…can usher in the kingdom of God.

And no candidate…party…amendment…or law…can stop it from coming.

So even though I am tired…

Tired of the division…the animosity…the turmoil…the uncertainty…

I am not discouraged.

My confidence is in a higher election.

One that was determined before the foundation of the world.

One that holds me secure until the day of redemption.

And one that calls me to a different kind of life in this present world.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. And to all these virtues add love, which is the bond of perfection. (Colossians 3:12-14)

Posted in Random Thoughts | 4 Comments

Masks & the Coronavirus

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Steve Foster

Masks or no masks?

At the beginning of 2020, I would not have believed that that simple question would be one of the biggest ones I would face during the upcoming year.

In fact, I wouldn’t have even understood the question.

“What kind of masks are you even talking about? Halloween masks? Mardi Gras masks? Face masks on a football helmet?”

2020 has presented challenges that none of us could have fully anticipated. Political polarization. Protests. Riots. Economic upheaval. Sports cancellations. Social unrest. Wildfires. Hurricanes. And a global pandemic that has affected us all.

As our governor has said many times, “We are operating without a playbook.”

The last significant pandemic in America was in 1918…long before most of us were born.

This is new territory.

Uncharted.

Unprecedented.

Unwanted.

As a pastor, this year has confronted me and our church with a number of difficult decisions. When to stop meeting? When to start meeting? How to stay connected while not meeting? How to stay unified while meeting? How to minister effectively online? How to minister effectively in person with social distancing? How to fellowship via Zoom? How to fellowship in the same room? How to worship corporately? How to worship safely? How to sort through the changing, and often conflicting, guidelines and information? How to keep everyone together when opinions and convictions seem to be conflicting?

And perhaps the symbolic watershed issue of the day…masks or no masks?

I have heard both sides of the issue…multiple times.

And I see both sides of the issue.

On the “no mask” side…

The information from health officials and organizations has been contradictory from the beginning. The same people who chided people for wearing masks in March and April are now chiding people for not wearing them.

Many published health studies have shown that wearing a cloth mask does not prevent getting a virus like COVID-19 and only has limited effectiveness in preventing its spread. In some cases, wearing a mask could actually increase the spread of a virus because people do not wear the mask properly, touch their face more often (one study showed an average of 23 times per hour), do not properly sanitize their masks, tend to overuse them, do not wash their hands before and after use, and develop a false sense of security while wearing them.

Even the most recent CDC publication (October 2020) acknowledges that cloth masks may reduce the spread of COVID-19 but that no clear randomized clinical trial has proven their effectiveness.

On the “mask” side…

As health officials and organizations learn more about the spread of COVID-19, they have adjusted their recommendations accordingly. Since COVID-19 can spread via the inhalation of respiratory droplets, then reducing the amount of respiratory droplets in the air would obviously have benefit. Here is where masks are effective. Studies have shown that wearing a mask reduces the amount of respiratory droplets in the air along with the distance of their spread.

Thus, while wearing a mask may not effectively protect a person from getting COVID-19, it may effectively protect a person from spreading it to others.

Plus, some compelling case studies, along with general data from places that have instituted mandatory mask wearing, have shown reduction in the infection rates when the majority of people are wearing masks. Another recent study even theorized that wearing a mask may reduce the severity of the virus for those who do become infected.

In other words, there is legitimate data on both sides of the issue.

It is not cut and dry.

There is room for respectful debate.

However, the mask-wearing debate seems to heat up on other issues besides medical studies.

Politicization. Wearing a mask…or not wearing one…can be seen as support or protest against the president, the governor, or a political party.

Freedom. Not wearing a mask can be a way of preserving your freedom from intrusive and sometimes excessive governmental overreach.

Compassion. Wearing a mask is seen as a way of projecting that you care about others and have faith in the intentions and recommendations of health organizations and the overall scientific community.

For some, not wearing a mask says, “I am free…and not fearful!”

For others, wearing a mask says, “I am concerned…and not selfish!”

In my own experience, I have seen the benefits of both wearing a mask and not wearing one.

In wearing a mask…and seeing others wearing them, I am reminded that there is a pandemic out there and I shouldn’t ignore it. I should be careful. I should care about others. Though I may not be at risk, others are…and I shouldn’t downplay their health or their concerns.

In not wearing a mask…and being able to talk to those without them, I am reminded of the importance of relationships…of seeing someone’s face…of seeing someone’s smile. Though there is a physical risk out there, I cannot live in isolation. I cannot socially distance from every relationship. And I cannot live in fear of every potential hazard that I may confront in life.

I have also seen both sides of the issue in a church setting.

While on vacation this past summer, my wife and I visited two different churches. At one church, we arrived with our masks on, being sensitive to whatever people we may meet inside. To our surprise, in this large church, not a single person had a mask on. Though we enjoyed the worship and the fellowship, we also felt like people may have been a little too nonchalant about the risks around them.

The next Sunday, at a different church, we had the opposite experience. Everyone had a mask on and did not take it off during the entire service. Even the praise team led worship with masks on. Only the pastor took off his mask to deliver the sermon (though the week before he had to wear a mask because of local regulations). It was strange, almost surreal, to never see anyone’s face during the entire time of worship and fellowship. It felt emotionless, isolating, distant. We realized that it is practically impossible to get to know anyone, to communicate with anyone, to minister to anyone when you are standing six feet back and wearing a mask.

Relationships are hard to grow behind masks.

So what do we do…as individuals…as a church?

One, realize that you don’t have everything figured out. None of us have perfect knowledge. None of us are free from limitations and bias. None of us know the future. Be open to input. Keep learning. Be willing to change your views or at least temper your temperature on the issue.

Two, wear a mask, when you can, if you can. For most people, wearing a mask is not going to make or break them. It is a small inconvenience that may help prevent the spread of a contagious, potentially life-threatening virus. It may also communicate to someone who has serious health concerns that you care about them. (Of course, if you do wear a mask, try to wear it properly, don’t keep touching your face or your mask, and don’t forget to wash your hands.)

Three, if you are around others who aren’t wearing a mask, don’t assume that they are being careless or unconcerned. They may have other issues that you are not aware of. They may need to breathe physically or emotionally. They may need some sense of normalcy or freedom. Or they may even see showing you a smile or being able to talk to you freely (while standing at a safe distance) as the best way of showing love.

Four, extend large measures of grace toward others. You may not agree with them but seek to understand them. Seek to be sensitive to them. Don’t let a mask be the source of contention. There are bigger things in life…and certainly bigger things in our faith…than being right about a face mask.

Five, fix your eyes on your Savior, Jesus Christ. For those preferring to wear a mask, He is your security and your protection in all of your interactions with others. For those preferring not to wear a mask, He is your example and your model of sacrifice and love in all your interactions with others. For both, He is our peace and the One who specializes in bringing together different people with different convictions.

Isn’t it possible that the controversy surrounding masks is actually an opportunity for the body of Christ to learn from one another?

Isn’t it possible that there is no “right or wrong” on this issue but rather a good, better, and best depending on the situation?

Isn’t it possible that the path of wisdom requires us to balance both sides of the issue and to walk somewhere in the middle, between both extremes, wearing a mask at times and not wearing it at others?

One thing is for sure…when Christ is the center of our attention and the Lord of our actions, then it is possible to live in both humility and security, both freedom and servanthood, both diversity and unity.

Both with and without masks.

Posted in Coronavirus/COVID-19 | 9 Comments