Yours faithfully

Article published in the 'Sentinel'
So, the long wait is over. Most of the country, well England anyway, can get back to normal (sorry Leicester, it’s not your time yet). We can return to our treasured places, we can socialise at a safe distance, we can eat, drink, and even be merry. I’m not talking about pubs by the way – I’m talking about returning to Church! This is a faith page after all.  We can go back to being Church, just as we were before. Except … that isn’t the case, nor perhaps would we want it to be.
The reality is that it’s not advisable for a good number of people to go back to church yet.  Those who are shielding have been advised to remain at home until the end of July, and those who are over the age of 70 are encouraged to stay at home if possible until further notice. There are great swathes of churchgoers who will still be absent at the weekend when the church doors can be flung open.
And before we open our doors there are risk assessments to be completed, social distancing signage to be installed, hand sanitiser to be made available, face coverings to be issued, a raft of measures to try and ensure that when people do come to our church buildings, that they are as safe as we can possibly make them.
Yes, of course we want to return to our churches. It’s where we worship, it’s where we’re inspired, lifted, fed spiritually, share, it’s the lynch pin of our lives. It’s all these things and more.
But … the Church hasn’t been closed. It’s been meeting on the phone, on the internet via Zoom, YouTube, Facebook, in emails, in letters – so many ways of worshipping, some of which we couldn’t possibly have envisaged way back in early March.  The Church hasn’t been closed as its social gospel has responded in so many ways to meet the needs of people struggling to cope, struggling to get through the day.
WWJD is probably an ancient acronym now (What Would Jesus Do, for any who are wondering). But I have often mused on what would Jesus be doing in the midst of this pandemic. I think he’d be doing what many of his followers have been doing. Healing bodies, comforting the grieving, healing minds, feeding people, housing and clothing the homeless.
You know, Jesus didn’t say, follow me and I’ll feed you, or follow me and I’ll heal you, or follow me and I’ll clothe and house you. Our mission to the poor and to those in need, our offer to help our community when its people are struggling in so many ways, is unconditional, because we’re doing all that we do in the unconditional love of Jesus. We’re not offering help on condition that you come to church, or even that you come to know Jesus.
The work that churches do in their communities in itself brings people closer to Christ. The bags of groceries and prescriptions collected by church volunteers for those who have to stay at home; the work of the Foodbanks has continued in churches that are closed to almost everything else, feeding the furloughed and others; the meals taken by the Church to the homeless in temporary accommodation. In the midst of this pandemic the Church’s voice has been heard answering the cry for help, and people have recognised that it’s the Church that has been helping them.
Joel Ryan, a Christian writer puts it this way, ‘In James chapter 2, James writes that “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” Here James affirms that deeds (or actions) are the by-product of a living faith. Works do not justify us or make us righteous before God, nor are they the means to salvation. Rather, our deeds are the fruit that grows from one who is obedient to God’s commands and transformed by His grace.  Good works are fruit born and grown from a healthy faith.
So don’t be surprised if this weekend and in the next few weeks to come, the doors to some churches remain closed. Worship is still taking place and the work of the church continues in Jesus’s name, loving, serving, and caring for all.
Glenn
Methodist Local Preacher at Temple Street Methodist Church, Fenton