Understanding our times - Judgement & Care

The beginning of the 10^th century BC was a tumultuous time in Israel’s history – a raging battle between two rival dynasties. It was decision time for the people – how would God want them to respond? Step forward the men of Issachar…  

…who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do (1 Chron 12:32)

Throughout the Bible it’s a mark of godly wisdom to stand back from temporal events and see God’s hand at work – to be able to discern the bigger picture and to act accordingly. Conversely, not to do so is a sign of spiritual dullness and inattention (Matthew 16:1-3).

God working at every level

So what might be God’s lessons for Christians and the Church as we start to take stock of 2020 and Coronavirus? Now some might think even to ask such a question is a little parochial. Surely a global crisis of this magnitude is, if anything, God working at the macro and historic level of human activity – so isn’t it a little arrogant to think it should mean something to me personally or my local church?

But God is big enough to be working at all those levels simultaneously. Yes, there are aspects of Covid-19 that are clearly bigger than any individual or local church, but that doesn’t mean that God can’t also be speaking into our micro-situations too. The events of Solomon's life and kingship, for example, were in so many ways much bigger than him – but that didn’t stop God meeting him personally and probing his heart's desires (2 Kings 3:5).

PRUNING

So how might we understand our times? What might be the bigger picture or spiritual reality behind our churches being closed and having had our activities so severely restricted.

One possible way to think about it – is through the Biblical metaphor of pruning.

Pruning is an image used throughout Scripture – the picture of the gardener cutting back the tree, the bush, or the vine. It’s used to illustrate a number of aspects of God’s work.

Judgement

Isaiah in his judgement speech against the people of Cush writes…

For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
    and cut down and take away the spreading branches. (Isaiah 18:5)

In other words, God is going to cut this haughty and arrogant enemy of God’s people down to size. It will be humbled.

Care

Conversely, however, pruning is also presented as a picture of care – that is, a lack of pruning could, in some circumstances, be a sign of judgement.

Throughout Scripture one of the pre-eminent pictures of Israel is that of a vine or vineyard planted by God Himself. In Isaiah 5 God’s care of this vineyard is described – its lovingly planted in fertile soil and guarded. It has everything needed for it to flourish and produce an abundance of good fruit.

Yet tragically its fruit is bad, sour and useless. It is, of course, the story of Israel and its failure to love and obey God. The result is the uprooting and destruction of the vineyard…

    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and briers and thorns shall grow up (Isaiah 5:6).

Thus the gardener’s care is withdrawn and the vineyard is left uncared for - abandoned to the weeds and thorns.

Gardener still at work.

Fast forward to the New Testament where both of these pruning images are brought together in John 15.

In fact, and let’s not miss this, Jesus’ take-up of the Vine picture is nothing short of startling, because he immediately states that he is now ‘the true vine’ (v1). That is, it’s no longer Israel - the locus of God’s people has shifted to Jesus! Which means to be part of God’s people now – you must be connected to Him!

God’s true and ongoing people are all in Christ – BUT the Gardener’s work goes on. The Father will continue to prune (v1). He will continue to judge - removing the fruitless branches (v2a). He will continue to care – cleaning and trimming the fruitful branches (v2b).

Gardeners will, of course, understand both these actions – stripping off the dead husks and rotten branches, while pairing back healthy growth and removing excess foliage.  All so that the plant can flourish and bear an even greater harvest in future seasons.

A time of pruning

Whatever else Lockdown has been – it has surely been a period of pruning. Christians and churches have been paired back and trimmed in a whole host of ways. At church level, so many activities suspended and cancelled. Personally, we’ve been paired back in our activism with many of our outputs and plans reduced or grounded.

Perhaps our very Christian identity has been pruned – public worship forced back to private devotion. Faith needing to become personal and individual again, our Christianity needing to be rooted in something deeper than being on a church rota. If what was ‘keeping us Christian’ was more duty than Jesus – then we can thank the Gardener for snipping us back.

Let me finish with two final questions to ponder.  

1. What has the Gardener being trimming that we ought not to try and re-attach?

Has there been excess foliage in our lives and/or churches? Where might old growth have been hindering healthier future growth? What good activities need to give way if new and better ministry is to flourish? Don’t rush to try and restart everything just as it was – there may be a reason the Gardener cropped it back.

2.  How can we ensure that going forward we remain connected and fruitful branches?

It seems that most of us and our churches will survive Coronavirus and escape the potential catastrophe feared just a few months ago. But what if it had been worse – or gets worse in an unexpected way? What if the casualty rates had been much higher, what if a total lockdown had been extended for months to come, what if our numbers and finances had been truly decimated?

The point of the question is not to be sensationalist – but to remind us that if our lives and churches are spiritually unhealthy and fruit-less now then we may have escaped complete removal this time – but next time we may not.  

So let’s abandon any policy of hoping that something will just ‘turn up’ to sort moribund spiritual lives or churches. Rather let Lockdown be a spur for renewed prayer, repentance, mission, and where necessary radical changes.

And may our experience of pruning now be the precursor to an even greater harvest in the years ahead for the Gardener’s glory.

Leaving Lockdown - Church Leadership Considerations

15th June 2020 
As of today churches in Scotland are still in 'Phase 1' of the Scottish Government's plan to ease Coronavirus lock-down restrictions. The move into Phase 2 is anticipated soon - and with that phase and those following (subject to the control of the virus) churches will have increasing freedom to resume some of their physical activities. 

An outline of how the different phases of lock-down might be particularly relevant to Scottish churches was circulated to FIEC leaders - with the following points of consideration attached....

1.  Don’t be a ‘rule-bender’.  ‘Private Prayer’ is not a cover for holding small meetings. Don't be tempted to hold a socially distanced get together under the guise of ‘private prayer’. Rather let’s be people of integrity and remember, as recent events have shown, even if we think our ‘exception’ is harmless or justified it can result in massive reputational damage.

2.  Do it properly. That is, have a thought-out plan that ensures seating keeps people a safe distance apart, insist on masks, cleaning, one-way systems, a cap on numbers etc. It’s how we love our neighbours and respect the civic authorities. It would be a tragedy if a church became a new Covid-19 hotspot because of the sloppiness or arrogance of Christians.

3.  Keep it sustainable. Many were exhausted having to set-up online ministry and changing to a whole new way of working at the start of the lock-down. However, that will probably be as nothing compared to rushing into having multiple socially distanced services on a Sunday in a hasty desire to try and get things back to normal. Remember until we get back to full normality things just won't be normal.

You’ll need to make a careful assessment of whether multiple and/or partial gatherings are a sustainable next step. It may be that your current online ministry will actually deliver more (sustainably) than what might prove to be exhausting but actually quite sub-optimal physical gatherings (e.g. it is not yet known whether congregational singing would be allowed?).

4.  Be understanding. Remember those who are particularly vulnerable and fearful – people who will be reluctant to be anywhere that heightens their risk of infection. They may not want (or in some cases be able) to gather anytime soon even as restrictions are eased.  So be mindful of them in weighing-up what and when to restart - and consider maintaining online ministry for them alongside any resumption of physical gatherings.

5.  Avoid criticism and competition. As more options open-up we will see different churches move at different speeds re: restarting their physical activities. These decisions will depend on a range of factors that only local church leaders can fully assess (e.g. make-up of congregation, size of building, geographical location etc).

So we should avoid any temptation to either criticism or competition.

On the former let’s refrain from passing judgement on others who we may think are either too quick or too slow in resuming activities. On the latter don’t be pressurised into making decisions that are not right for your situation just because of what others are doing elsewhere. Guard the flock God has entrusted to you!

For a more detailed consideration of planning for ‘Church while Social Distancing’, see the FIEC ‘Leaders in Lockdown’ Webinar slides & discussion at:

https://fiec.org.uk/resources/webinar-leadership-in-a-lengthy-lockdown