One of the creations of this weird year is the focus on Safety Zones. To defend against the Corona virus we attempt to make our homes safety zones. We limit visitors for example. We don’t hug or grandkids or have coffee with out friends. We try to create mobile safety zones when we leave home by social distancing and wearing masks.
In this year of social violence we hope our neighborhoods are “safety zones” and that the looters and rioters will limit themselves to other cities and other neighborhoods. We encourage policing and try not to attract political attention.
We became upset, as Christians, when our ability to gather in the “safety zones” of our churches was limited. We proclaimed that the church is not a building, but we still longed to gather and failed to do anything really significant when we were denied access to our comfortable church family.
Sadly, safety zones don’t really insure safety. Folks who ignored social distancing and didn’t wear masks caught the virus, but so did those who were fanatic adherents to both.
Our churches aren’t really safe. In fact, their appearance of safety make them dangerous. We may see less of the fearful world but the worldly ideas and negative influences penetrate the walls nonetheless. We often don’t recognize these dangers because, after all, we are in church.
The chief characteristic of inhabitants of “safe zones” isn’t security but fear. I can see the fear in the faces of the elderly and vulnerable as they creep around grocery stores, masked and staying as far away as possible from others.
Even the residents of “safe” neighborhoods look over their shoulders and are careful when they park to shop scanning the area for potential threats.
Even gathered as the church, we know we have to live and work in “the world” and can feel that playing church isn’t exactly what Jesus would want.
In fact, Jesus never commanded us to be safe. He commanded us to “fear not.” That command assumes we are in situations in which we encounter fearful things. The disciples didn’t cling together and stay at home where it was safe. They ventured out boldly and fearlessly and proclaimed the truth they had learned. It didn’t earn them respect, honor and safety. It costs them their lives.
Maybe the reason that 2020 has seemed so bad isn’t the disease, hurricanes and social upheaval, but rather our cowardly response to them. These conditions caused us to retreat into our safety zones, places we were not designed to be. These things provided us opportunity to serve or to hide.
We have Christ inside. We have a mission. If we feel like we are missing out, if we feel purposeless, if we are afraid, maybe we need to shed our safety zones.
Those affected by the virus need encouragement. Those displaced by the storms need help. Those confused and frightened by the social upheaval need assurance. They all need Jesus, but we aren’t helping if we are huddled up in our safety zones.
Get bold and fear not.
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