Just when we thought we were done with masks, the mandates returned. You could almost hear the collective sigh from pastors everywhere. Really? This again?
Within a few days, elder boards were putting their heads together. Do we “require” our members to wear masks? Or “recommend” them? Or can we “rebel” against them? What’s the right word?
For instance, my pastor friend Garrett and his elders discussed the matter. One invoked 1 Peter 2: “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (vv. 13–14). This elder believed these verses provided an open-and-closed case: “We have to ‘be subject.’ Period.”
Yet a couple other elders weren’t so sure. Do we have to obey everything the government says? What if the government required hopping on one foot every Tuesday? The elders of my church had a similar conversation.
Toward the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic I offered some thoughts on civil disobedience. I’d like to offer a few more now for pastors, both for the sake of the mask questions but also for the analogous challenges I
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
