{"id":28069,"date":"2020-03-25T15:30:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T19:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=28069"},"modified":"2020-03-25T16:42:52","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T20:42:52","slug":"the-missing-component-in-the-churchs-covid-19-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/the-missing-component-in-the-churchs-covid-19-response\/","title":{"rendered":"The missing component in the church\u2019s COVID-19 response"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is how the church is responding to the Wuhan virus that is creating worldwide havoc.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll start with the most fatuous: almost every Anglican archbishop is exhorting us to <a href=\"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/here-we-go-again-with-the-candles\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">light a candle<\/a>. A bit like this:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vicar accidentally sets himself on fire during online sermon.\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LIVQOKZz-W4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I have nothing against candles \u2013 except that we now have incandescent, fluorescent and LED lights that work better and don\u2019t set things on fire. The problem is, whenever something bad happens, people compulsively light candles to symbolise\u2026. something, nobody really knows what. Instead of a candle, why aren\u2019t the bishops telling us to put a cross in the window; at least that is a clear symbol that announces to passers by the convictions of the occupants.<\/p>\n<p>Then we have the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JustinWelby\/status\/1242755482701488128\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">synchronised recitation<\/a> of the Lord\u2019s Prayer. That can\u2019t be bad, other than the \u201cThy will be done\u201d bit. What, perish the thought, if His will is to smite what is undoubtedly an evil generation and its ecclesiastical enablers, hip and thigh?<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, the church is no longer meeting. I find myself in two minds about this. As far as I am aware, never in the history of the church have Christians been afraid to congregate. If persecuted, Christians met in secret. I believe that the church continued to meet during the black death \u2013 someone correct me if I am wrong. Are Christians just as afraid of death as everyone else? I know, we don\u2019t want to see the grim reaper marching through our congregations, that&#8217;s why I am in two minds about it.<\/p>\n<p>What is the missing component? Repentance. Admittedly, the Anglican Church of Canada is in a state of constant repentance about bringing Christianity to the original inhabitants of Canada. But what about the very real current evils it tolerates \u2013 even celebrates &#8211; in our society? In Canada, 100,000 babies are murdered in the womb every year; euthanasia is now legal and has killed more people than the Wuhan virus (as of this writing); children are fed transgender nonsense by adults and being butchered to become something they are not and never will be. Has the church stood against any of this?<\/p>\n<p>I know that to even suggest that God might be judging the world will evoke shrieks of horror from all, the loudest coming from clergy. But what if it is true? Should not the church be calling on the country to repent just in case? Before it gets even worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is how the church is responding to the Wuhan virus that is creating worldwide havoc. I\u2019ll start with the most fatuous: almost every Anglican archbishop is exhorting us to light a candle. A bit like this: I have nothing &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/the-missing-component-in-the-churchs-covid-19-response\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2636],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}