It's time to stop focusing on just physical health, Gov Sununu - Granite Grok

It’s time to stop focusing on just physical health, Gov Sununu

Heaven

For two months it has been a nonstop yammering of “flatten the curve”, “overwhelm our hospital system”, “community transmission”, and “testing, testing, and testing.”

Related: Governor Sununu, You Have Some Splainin’ To Do!

Sorry, but Government, in handing over its role of governance to technocratic medical gurus, has lead to an outlook that we are nothing but one-dimensional beings.

Economic health, Educational health, Work health, Relational health (hey, THEY changed the rules so I’m just using them), and Liquor health. Of COURSE, the latter – Sununu made it ESSENTIAL, right? Gotta get that growler, wine, and whiskey, and don’t forget the Kaluah.

Spiritual health? Almost every State has shut the doors of the places where spiritual health and guidance can be had: churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, house churches, Bible studies. You name it, it’s closed. Not even with promises of social distancing has the decree have any leeway (or forgiveness).  Sure, worship is an individual act of mind, body, and soul but congregate worship IS important too – but it has been sliced away. Too many people, they say. Too much closeness, they say, Too much touching, they say. Too much risk in passing the plate for tithes and offerings.

Might as well just say too much prayer, too much singing, too much praising; too much looking above for God instead of looking to Concord.

CNSNews has a sad, sad post about the Archdiocese of Chicago headed up by Cardinal Blase Cupich who is refusing to fight for his churches to open and has thrown in with the secular elite. He won’t even bother to meet with some of his congregants to even talk about doing so. What do they want?

Their home of spiritual strength to reopen (reformatted, emphasis mine) and excerpts from their “ask”:

…Throughout history, when plague and destruction have struck, Christians have been the ones to run toward it, to fulfill the call of the Gospel, to care for the sick, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless. We give as Christ gave, because our treasure is in heaven.

But now we are being told that the Church is not essentialWe are willing to let people die utterly alone…but churches are dangerous.  For generations, Christianity has been declining in the West, but if we needed proof of where we stand, here it is.

…We owe our obedience to our lawful authorities, both in the state and in the Church. Love of neighbor dictates that we must do our part to help limit the spread of this virus. For this reason our Bishops have released us from our Sunday obligation. But love of neighbor is only half of what we are called to do as Christians, because our life here on earth is not the only one we have to secure. First and foremost, we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. If we don’t use our heart and soul and strength to defend our Lord and His Church, and insist that our churches are essential, and must be treated as such, then we must contend with Matthew 10:32-33:

“Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.”

It is not reasonable to assert that there can be 400 people inside your local Costco, with some woman touching every single bag of lettuce on the stack, and then to say that we can’t allow a lesser number of people inside a church. It is not honest to say that we need to allow people to buy liquor and marijuana and mocha lattes to help keep them happy, but that we can’t allow our churches to be kept open for private prayer.

And most of all, it is not honorable to have lines for pizza takeout stretching around the block, while prohibiting churches from finding creative solutions for outdoor services to safely serve their flocks.

And while some churches have and are doing “parking lot / drive in theater services”, there have been a few where members of such congregations have been arrested under various charges.

So if respectful Civil Disobedience is what it takes to make this point, then this becomes our duty. When we ponder the sacrifice of Christ, magnified by what the saints were willing to suffer for His sake, we must be willing to take up our cross too.

Some say that it is selfish and irresponsible to put people’s lives at risk, when we have the safe option of livestreamed Mass. But a thousand livestreamed Masses can never add up to a single live Mass, where we offer the perfect sacrifice to God, and where He comes to us. Our life on earth can end at any moment, for any reason; are we content to put souls at risk?

Every business and public place that is open right now could equally be a source of risk. But some things we can’t do without, like food, and some things it is not prudent to do without, like fresh air and exercise. People are dying without the Last Rites, and Confession is available in emergencies only. Where do we draw the line? Are we content to say that it is prudent to do without the Sacraments…that feeding our souls doesn’t matter?

It is our sacred duty as the Mystical Body of Christ to insist that our faith is just as essential as food, healthcare, gas stations, hardware stores, restaurants, laundries, the postal service, plumbers and electricians, etc. This does not mean that we should recklessly disobey the mandates we have been given, to the extent that they are just and for our good; in fact, for most, it is prudent to stay home and not frequent the sacraments as often.

But to the extent that these mandates are unjust to the practice of our Faith, which is truly necessary for our health, both in this life and the next, we must do what we can to unshackle our Church and allow the healing waters of the Sacraments to flow once more…

A cry from the heart for the hearts and souls.

I am not Catholic – I’m an evangelical and there is a lot of theology that I DON’T share with them (or in the above). I do get what they are looking for – what they NEED. People AREN’T one dimensional where everything only comes down to masks and gloves. Food for the body is no more important than food for the soul. For some for whom congregate worship IS part and parcel of their being, it is like having a huge part of your family ripped out of your heart.

Yet, that decision has been made by others that may not understand the deep connections that are inherent in a church family especially in the smaller congregations that make up New Hampshire churches. Sure, we are the most unchurched State in the union but for those that DO attend, it is no less important than breathing. Those that don’t may not understand – but that’s OK as they’ve made the decision to NOT attend for whatever reason.

Normally at that point, I’d say “Hey, this is a Free country” but I’m no longer sure anymore. If a Constitutional Right can be taken away (and make no mistake, it IS a Constitutional Right) so easily and quickly, we must all ask ourselves “WHO ARE WE ELECTING TO OFFICE that would be so quick to do so?”.

I remember a couple decades ago when I was a Deacon at the church we were attending that we held a retreat for the Deacon Board and the Pastor for a planning session for the future. I remember telling one old timer that soon churches would be meeting on the Internet, that having a sense of community is possible without ever seeing someone and that at work (Digital Equipment Corp at the time), I was a member of several such virtual communities and had fast friends even though I had never met them in person and really didn’t know what they looked like or where they lived. He looked at me as if I was both daft and insane at the same time – there was just no understanding of the digital changes on the part this life-long carpenter that were just starting to happen. He really thought I was talking nonsense. It truly was a digital / generational divide at the time.

But here we are – and there are millions of virtual communities encased in the Internet.

Sure, LOTS of churches do livestream their services now. Some well before this epidemic like some of the massive superchurches with multiple satellite campuses across the nation or the globe. Many since our Government made it illegal to go to church. While I’m certainly a proponent of technology, I know that there is also value and need for the personal touch, of being in-person, that no technology of now or in the near future, can replace.

And that is what they ask for. Anything is a way long down the list second best. Individual or congregate; two different forms of worship – two needful paths for spiritual fulfillment (I maintain that both are necessary). And yes, God will meet us where we are be it in a building or in the stillness of a quiet morning along in one’s home. One without the other, however, leaves an emptiness that cries to be filled.

And for these folks in Chicago, is their spiritual leaders that are failing their responsibilities to “feed their flocks”. Take heed: Revelations 3:16:

So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth

Lukewarm, indeed.

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