A friend likes to say that he is “Sometimes wrong – but never in doubt!” Though I have my opinions, that’s not my motto. When I was an Associate Pastor, apparently I said it a lot, but then Amy and I accepted the call to become your Pastors. A colleague told me, “When you become the Pastor, you can no longer say ‘I don’t know.’”
Oh, yeah? Wanna bet!?
“What do you think about the requested budget increase?”
“I don’t know. I want to be responsible but also confident and courageous and faithful. What do you think?”
“What is your opinion on euthanasia?”
“I don’t know. It’s complex. I can understand both sides of the debate. How do you approach the issue?”
“What about the Coronavirus? When should we go back to church? What about schools in the fall? College football? Should we just rely on herd immunity – we’ve got to open the economy, right? Should governors mandate masks?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.”
The truth is, no one else does either.
This is a maddening time, so filled with fear and confusion and uncertainty – and bitter, divisive anger. We need leadership so badly. Of course, no one knows the answers to COVID-19. We have never been here before. In all of human history this is a unique moment. There have been virus outbreaks across a nation (Spanish Flu) and sweeping plagues (Black Death which killed half of Europe’s population in the 14th century) – but never has the entire globe been so inter-connected that a pandemic has been fully PANdemic, literally, world-wide.
People say “perfect storm” when all the wrong elements line up at the right time, and we may just be in one. We are experiencing the most divisive national leadership we’ve known in my life-time, if not the history of the nation. Illustrations include a White House that campaigns on division-as-winning-strategy, a Congress that is so dysfunctional that “dysfunctional” doesn’t even begin to describe it, social media platforms all programmed on the same winning algorithm: “Us vs. Them = $,” and there’s that unique strain of the coronavirus, for which we have yet to develop any effective treatments. (Oh, yeah, and George Floyd and Bubba Wallace and out-of-control protests and confederate statues…)
In the absence of any cohesive leadership, governors are being shouted down; their directives ignored. City councils are arguing over whether to follow the guidance of their own mayors. Churches are conflicted about gathering for worship and fellowship. Families might as well be quarantined in separate rooms in the house.
Why such division? Because anyone with a public voice (which everyone can have these days for the price of a free Twitter handle)… which means – everyone – has become an expert. I’d like to invite all those “experts” to say with me, right now: “I don’t know!”
When I don’t know, I ask a lot of questions and try to rely on the wisdom of those who have more expertise or experience in the matter at hand. I’ve never been worse off for just listening. (Experts don’t know, either, but epidemiologists and Infectious Disease docs are certainly better equipped to offer an opinion. We ought to follow their advice since we really don’t know!)
I have no way of knowing whether Climate Change is human-caused or not – but acting like I’m suddenly an expert is helping no one. It’s worth stating that if scientist are right about Climate Change, we’re in for big trouble pretty soon. (Not the environment, mind you. Nature will recover in a few thousand years. It’s the poor, those living in the marshes, on the margins, that I mostly worry about.)
I’m not an economist, so I don’t know if Congress should issue another trillion-dollar assistance package to the American people – but since that question doesn’t revolve as much around understanding advanced economics as it requires crystal-ball-prognostication, even the economists need to accept a little humility. Say it with me: “I don’t know!”
When do we need to come back together for gathered worship? Well, given the division we’re experiencing from sunup to sundown every single day, the answer is TODAY! The reality is… (say it with me) “I don’t know.”
We WANT everything to be back to normal. We WANT to be back gathering, worshiping, and enjoying fellowship and mission and study, together. Unfortunately, today isn’t the day for that, and, in truth, everything will never be back to the old “normal.” We’ve been changed by this pandemic and will have to learn to do some things differently. Angry voices around the country, within The Church, are arguing about the wisdom and the virtue of returning to worship, or not – and speaking to (and of) one another in not-very-Christ-like terms. In the process, they are fomenting more anger, adding to the problem. That’s not helping. Such uncivil dialogue will not get us back to normal any sooner and will only make it more difficult when we are together.
In this unique moment, it’s never been more true: I don’t know. Neither do any of the experts, any of the politicians, any of the preachers, any of the Tweeters. No one knows.
I do know what’s always been true, for Church and politics and family life: United We Stand. Divided We Fall. Let’s stand together.
- Russ