Excommunication

It is becoming apparent that churches that refuse to wear masks have effectively excommunicated those people who believe that masks are important.  

Vulnerable people are staying away from these churches because they do not want to be exposed.  At the same time, the churches are focusing their attention on the people in the building, meaning that everyone else is being ignored. In the last week, I have heard of a number of families that have had next to no contact with their churches in the last year.  In addition, I have heard from women who are even more isolated, because what limited contact there has been, was with their husbands.  Their exclusion from corporate worship is not trivial.  Stories are also circulating of non-maskers shunning maskers, even in church buildings.

When this is raised with church leadership, they refer to Romans 14.  Therefore, let us study this passage.

The original intent of the passage is to speak to divisions around the acceptability of eating certain foods.  The letter was addressed to christians in Rome, a large city with a wide spread of cultures and religions.  Part of the audience were Jewish and rigorous about abstaining from certain types of food, and food from some sources.  Others were from a non-Jewish background who had never been limited in what they could eat.  It is worth noting that a decision by one person regarding the food they eat does not affect the wellbeing of anyone else – it is purely a matter of conscience.  This is a significant disconnect from our current division because someone’s choice to unmask has the real potential to sicken or even kill another.  Paul does not address who is right about the food issue, but what he does ask is that people are gracious and loving.  Key verses include:

3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

7 For none of us lives to himself,

15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.

So let’s consider this from both sides of the mask division.

The non-mask faction is requesting that their position be respected and that they are not judged.  Not judging is essential, but respecting their position is hard.  I have heard a number of arguments justifying the rejection of masks:

• I have my rights.  True – but Jesus calls us to lay down our rights for others (v7).
• An appeal to “freedom!”  This is nothing but a thinly disguised declaration that I will do what I want regardless of how it impacts anyone else, because I can.  It is a peculiarly American, self-centered mindset, all the more inexplicable because we live under more laws and lawyers than most other nations on the planet.
• Fear of appearing fearful (spot the irony here).  There is much to be afraid of in life; traffic, snakebites, lawyers, and exposed electrical wires, and we live within these bounds by controlling risks.  It is hard to avoid the conclusion that such bravado in the face of a very real, dangerous, pandemic is fueled by political party rhetoric.
• Masks are useless.  Nope.  They may not be 100% effective, but nothing is.  There are enough people out there who know what they are talking about who tell us that masks help reduce transmission rates and that the benefits far outweigh the costs.
• They are uncomfortable.  Agreed.  So are underwear, seatbelts, and shoes – yet we dutifully wear them for the good of the people around us, and ourselves.
• They make it hard to communicate.  True.  Not being in the same room is harder still, even for introverts.
• Maskers are in the minority – they should comply with the opinion of the majority.  If this is true, please provide a bible reference to support it.  How about Matthew 7:13-14?

On the other side, some are appropriately asking the church body to demonstrate love by doing something as simple as wearing a mask.  A refusal to mask-up is an outright rejection, or even an attack, because this decision may have significant consequences.  Indeed – someone who deliberately coughed on another has recently been sentenced to spend time in jail for assault.

While both factions must avoid judging (v3), the wounds of rejection to the mask-requesting people are real, deep and grievous (v15).

The question to consider is, therefore “Where do we go from here?  I am inclined to run, because I have already been cut off.