Standing Together (Six Feet Apart)
“The work is great and widely spread. We are separated on the wall, far from one another,” wrote Nehemiah about the efforts to rebuild Jerusalem as the people of God returned from exile (Nehemiah 4:19). They were practicing social distance, not because of a viral threat, but because they were rebuilding walls all around the city. Instead of all working together in one spot, they spread out, each family group worked on a different section of the wall.
As we’ve been looking ahead to reopening in-person ministry and worship at Holy Cross, my personal devotions have centered around this return of God’s people from exile. Last month I shared some of that with you in a newsletter article focused on Ezra. This month it’s from Nehemiah. While his reason for the family groups being spaced “far from one another” was different than ours, that will be our reality too when we return from COVID-19 exile. When we do come back together to worship we’ll only be using every other pew for a while (to provide six feet of social distance) and only two households per pew (one at each end).
Spreading out in Nehemiah’s day was necessary to get the job done, but it made the families vulnerable. There were people living near Jerusalem that did not want it rebuilt. More than just naysayers, these people were breathing threats of death against anyone working on the wall. So Nehemiah says, “half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail....Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped to his side while he built.” (Nehemiah 4:16-18)
For us, social distance isn't what makes us vulnerable. Proximity makes us vulnerable. Our best and most practical defense against the death threat from this virus is providing enough space between ourselves and others so as not to share our breath. That’s even more of a challenge when we are all singing and praising the Lord. This is why spreading out in a large open space with good ventilation, like our sanctuary, is so important. There are other defenses we should keep close at hand too, not shields and swords, but an elbow to cough or sneeze into, a place to wash or sanitize our hands, and even a mask to cover our mouth and nose. Using these practical defenses is not evidence of fear and distrust in our God, but like the people of God in Nehemiah’s day taking up swords and shields as they worked, this is a way to be faithful to God’s calling in the midst of the threat. Their rallying cry for continuing to work was “Our God will fight for us,” (Nehemiah 4:20) yet “each kept his weapon at his right hand” (Nehemiah 4:23).
God often works that way. He calls his own to arms but then He does the fighting. He told Gideon “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian...I will be with you and you shall strike the Midianites” (Judges 6:14, 16). But then neither Gideon nor his army ever raised a sword in that battle. God caused the Midianites to fight with themselves in frightened confusion and to flee from one other. God does this in service too. Before a crowd of five-thousand hungry men, Jesus told his disciples “you feed them” (Mark 6:36) and sent them off to collect what food they could find. Then Jesus fed them all. Jesus told his disciples “take up your cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34), but then rather than leave them to their own crosses, he took one up for them.
That’s how our God works our salvation and that’s what he’s calling us to do now too. Take up every practical defense we can against this virus, and then trust in him to come through for us. He will!
You’ll find in this newsletter, articles explaining what this means for our ministry as we begin to reopen. We are committed to defending against this virus and trusting in the Lord!
Stand with us, will you? (At a safe social distance that is.)
In Jesus, Pastor Mike