The COVID-19 pandemic was a shock to our world. We’ve seen millions of deaths, hundreds of millions infected, stores and restaurants and churches shut down by government orders, social distancing, Zoom meetings, mask mandates, vaccinations, and so much more. When all this started in early 2020, we thought the disruptions to “normal” would last a few weeks. We were wrong. Welcome to the “new abnormal.” I doubt that we will ever return to pre-COVID normal.
It seems we are finally putting the worst of the pandemic behind us. The Lord only knows if this crisis prepared us to better handle the next one – and the Bible assures us that more crises are on the horizon. But the pandemic has left us with some lasting effects – some good; many bad.
What have we learned from this pandemic? Probably not all that we will yet learn. We know some things we didn’t know before, but we still have many questions.
Will the end of social distancing bring an end to emotional distancing? Worship in the body of Christ has always been participatory. We all sing, we all raise our hands and praise the Lord, we all shout out an occasional “Amen” or “Hallelujah” during an inspiring and anointed message. But we haven’t done that while watching virtual services. Will we get back to doing that as part of our “normal” worship?
Even when we were allowed back into church buildings, we weren’t able to gather around and pray with one another. We couldn’t have the prayer lines we were used to. We couldn’t fellowship the way we were accustomed to. Will we get back to that level of comfort and ease with close proximity to our fellow saints?
Will we ever get back to the close community that the local church was pre-COVID? People are often marked by the experiences of their youth. Prior generations were marked by World War II, or the Cold War, or 9/11. Generation Z will be marked by COVID-19. Will they ever be as social, as close, as open, as the generations who lived with little fear of infectious disease? Will they be as ready and willing to volunteer, to give of themselves and their finances? Or will social distancing breed emotional distancing?
Will we ever be able to hug one another, and encourage one another to “press in” to the Spirit? Or will there be a subconscious reluctance to get too close? We have many questions, but not enough answers.
Will the widespread availability of livestreamed church weaken the attachment to the local assembly? Will saints pick and choose among a menu of preachers and worship services on social media platforms? The biblical pattern has always been strong local churches. But with virtual church widely available, will the strong attachment to the local church and the local pastor remain?
Things We’d Rather Not Have Learned
Still, while we may not yet know the answers to all these questions, we have learned some lessons from the pandemic and the governmental and societal responses to it. Some are good, but some things we’d rather not have learned.
I believe we learned some things about the beast. We’ve heard for years that the beast was going to speak. We have heard its voice clearly since the beginning of 2020. We’ve seen how an emergency trumps Constitutional rights. And the government gets to decide what is an emergency. Those emergency powers will be used again and again, and freedoms will diminish. Governmental “good intentions” will lead to oppressive, beastly actions.
We’ve seen a double standard in justice. Our government is rightly hunting down and arresting every person who broke into the US Capitol building in January, while failing to arrest and prosecute thousands who destroyed property and stole goods during months-long, nation-wide rioting and protesting.
There has been social turmoil in the months of the pandemic. Racism is a horrific sin. Police brutality is a threat to all our freedoms. But should we condone vandalism, theft, and even killings – all in the name of “protests?” Social unrest, especially among young people, is threatening to turn our cities into dangerous war-zones.
We forthrightly condemn racism and police brutality, but where will society be if we defund the police and abolish the prisons? The irrational demands of a growing number of people risks harm to the safety and security of the society at large.
When churches are forbidden to conduct worship services, but protesters are allowed to gather by the thousands, the world is out of kelter.
We’ve also learned how powerful commercial Babylon is. Corporate-owned social media platforms can decide whether to allow free speech to exist on their platforms. They can decide what is true and false and can censor messages they don’t like.
We’ve seen that economic boycotts and the threat of litigation and boycotts can force people and businesses to conform to a “woke” mentality. Businesses can force employees to attend “diversity” workshops and “sensitivity training” to brainwash them into accepting sin, but those same employees are not permitted to speak freely about their religious convictions.
We also experienced shortages of essential goods, and empty shelves at stores. Few Americans had ever seen that. Hoarding and shortages will be part of the future. We’ve learned we need to be prepared for future shortages.
America’s generous unemployment compensation scheme, adding $600 or $300 more to unemployment compensation checks seems to have made low-wage employees reluctant to return to work. “Help Wanted” signs abound – especially in places like restaurants.
Working at home has been so wellreceived that office workers are reluctant to return to their places of employment. Large office buildings remain partly empty. Employers still have to pay rent and utilities for the unused space. Those applying for jobs are demanding work-at- home status. Maybe this is good, maybe it isn’t – it’s really too soon to tell.
The pandemic also disrupted our weekly routines. The weekly cycle of work, leisure, church, shopping and other “routine” practices were suspended or drastically changed. We were given the gift of time, and many squandered it. Instead of drawing closer to family, or spending more time in prayer and Bible study, or even just reading good books, many began wasting hours scrolling on social media.
Someone once said, “killing time isn’t murder – it’s suicide.” Wasted hours will never be regained. Bad habits acquired during the pandemic – wasting time, overeating, surfing the internet, becoming slaves to the news cycle, and such – will be very hard to change.
Benefits of the Pandemic
But not all of the results of the pandemic have been detrimental. Some good things may come from what we have gone through over the last year and a half. Have families drawn closer together during this time? Have they played board games, worked puzzles, watched church services, and had meals together as a family? If so, let’s retain that good thing in a postpandemic world.
It seemed in the years leading up to the pandemic that many families lived separate lives under the same roof. There weren’t family times together – no family devotions, no picnics, no game nights; just a group of busy people who often didn’t even have time to sit down for a meal together. Even when they went to church, parents were in the band, or ushering, and children were shuttled off to “Children’s Church.” But during the pandemic, children watched sermons and services with their parents – they asked questions, and gained an appreciation for their parent’s faith – or at least I hope so.
And it may well be that the entire structure of marriage and families has been altered in a good way by this pandemic. The marriage rate in America was dropping before COVID-19. It was a record low in 2018. The current economic upheaval and the difficulty in dating in an era of social distancing and lock-downs will drive the marriage rate down further. Experts say a staggering one-third of young people today will never marry.
The full implications of this are unknown. The birthrate, already at an all-time low, will continue to drop. Will there be workers to support retirees? Already, it is hard to find entry-level employees. Will immigrants fill the job openings? We really don’t know. And the increasing number of lifetime-single persons may alter the fabric of society in ways we don’t yet see.
But those who do marry may help change the very form of marriages. Starting in the 1970s, the “soulmate” model became the predominate form of marriage. That is the idea that marriage is primarily about an intense emotional and romantic connection with your spouse. That soulmate marriage is good only as long as each partner feels happy, fulfilled, and “in love.” When those things are gone, the couple breaks apart and files for divorce.
Actually, God instituted marriage – not humans. And God intended marriages to follow the “helpmeet” form, and not the “soulmate” form. A helpmeet marriage will endure; a soulmate model has many weaknesses that become apparent in difficult times.
The soulmate model is a weak form of marriage, because it is based on unrealistic expectations. Nobody lives happily ever after. The romance goes out of every marriage – at least at times. Nobody is deliriously happy every day. Not every spouse finds his or her “soulmate.” And when they think they have, they get married and find out that spouse isn’t exactly who they thought he or she was.
But the darker and more difficult world we now face – one marked by economic insecurity, ongoing and repeated pandemics, increasingly beastly acts by governments, etc. – people will realize that their soulmate model is based on a myth. When you can’t depend on the economy nor the government, people will realize they need a family (or a church family) that they can depend on.
So the coming marriage model will be less in the mode of a soulmate, and more in the mode of a family-first marriage. That will be a stronger, more stable marriage – and one that will be more of a safe harbor for children. Families (and church families) will have to pull together and depend on one another.
The family first format means leaning on
W h e n c h u rc h e s a re f o r b i d d e n to c o n d u c t wo r s h i p s e r v i c e s , b u t p ro te s te r s a re a l l owe d to g a t h e r by t h e t h o u s a n d s , t h e wo r l d i s o u t o f ke l te r .
one another – to nurture and even school children, to tend the garden, to launch home-based businesses, or to help care for aging parents. Instead of finding selffulfillment in the constant romantic love of a spouse, the model will be one where the focus will be on raising children and a family all pulling together. In that mode, commitment and community support is essential.
Those in a family-first marriage will find that it is about more than just the variable, fluctuating feelings between two people. These will be stronger marriages. This will be true in society in general, but also in the body of Christ. We’ve always taught that marriages are based on commitment, and not just some romantic love, but it may be easier to see and accept that in the future as the whole society’s concept of marriage evolves.
The family-first model is based upon a “till death do us part” commitment. Divorce will not be an option. Even if the “romance” goes out of the marriage, the commitment will remain and will hold the family together. Surveys have shown that those who are in marriage because of the romantic love were less satisfied with their lives than those who have adopted a family-first marriage. They have more trust, more emotional security, and more confidence for the future. Over the years, your helpmeet can become your soulmate. But the danger of a family-first marriage is that some put the family ahead of the church. The church community is supposed to bear one another’s burdens. But some become only concerned about their own little family. “Me, my wife, our son John, and his wife – us four and no more.” Jesus didn’t come to build strong families – the Old Covenant was sufficient for that; the Lord came and died to build a church.
Although much of the future seems far more bleak than it did when this decade dawned a few months ago, the future for married families looks bright. And that will be good for the church if marriages don’t become so big a priority that the church comes a distant second, or third.
This body has also learned to use technology in ways we hadn’t considered before. We’ve live-streamed services. While some fear we are casting our pearls before swine, others believe we are casting our bread upon the waters. It is hard to completely discount the advantages of being able to watch services from home when a saint is ill, or for new ministers overseas to see the pattern of body worship in live-streamed services.
We’ve used Zoom for ministers’ meetings. It isn’t as good as in-person meetings, but it is better than nothing. It is possibly a cost-effective way to supplement in-person meetings in the future. We’ve had multiple youth meetings on Zoom, Facebook and other social media platforms. Again, it isn’t true corporate worship, but does help fill the gap caused by governmentallyimposed restrictions on meeting together.
Undoubtedly, other benefits and advantages will be found in a postpandemic scenario. If we really are turning a corner on this terrible, contagious disease, then let’s look for the good, learn from the bad, and go forth into the future the Lord intends for His body.