Role of church during time of crisis is different, but still vital

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has changed the world to the “new normal”. There is no facet of our lives that will operate the same in the aftermath of the virus. No institution, including the church, has been spared.

The church in my understanding is “the community of sinners, who have realised that they need help to deal with their own sins”. The church was never established for the saints. In fact there are no saints. As an institution, the church was designed to accommodate the sinners and assist them to see the head of the church, Jesus Christ, as their only helper.

So the church is a living organism and will take its shape from the context of sinners who are its constituency and community. As the coronavirus has changed how people should behave, therefore the church will also have to change if it is to save and serve people better.

The church can no longer drink sacrament from the same chalice, eat from the same bread, no more holy kisses, hugs and physical touches. All those signs we used to embrace and image love, are not going to be part of the church institution for the foreseeable future. Gatherings have been prohibited. The virus has forced the church to redefine itself or go back to the basics of the inner church.

The focus has been more on the visible church, which is the walls, gatherings and  prayer sessions, and this has confused the definition of what the real church is. We have named buildings churches, and created unique identities of certain churches. Uniforms have been created  to identify and differentiate the church from other churches. Physical matters of the church, tithes and other material contributions have been the focus for quite some time.

The inner church, which is the real and original church of Christ, has nothing to do with such demands. It focuses on the heart and relationship with God, only through the heart.

The coronavirus is teaching us exactly that, to go back to the basis of worshipping God from the heart. It is refocusing us to think  less of gatherings and physical fellowships, but to concentrate on the personal relationship with one’s creator.

The church of the heart has been neglected by the focus of the church building We have to meditate on the resources we have to reactivate the power of the church of the heart. Martin Luther once said: “I have read confession of faith and the Lord’s Prayer and every time I read them I was overwhelmed by the unending meaning of it”.

It is time we read those sources with our hearts and find new meaning on them. This is the time we must depend on the hermeneutics of the heart to enrich the outer church by focusing more on the inner church, to listen to our creator from the realm of our hearts.

I would like to encourage those who are in the  frontline in our battle against the coronavirus — the medical team; government leadership; civil servants and all those who are in dangerous essential services to continue the good fight.

Luther argues that someone who stands in a relationship of service to another has an occupational obligation not to escape. As our frontline you are standing, and remain unfaltering before the peril of death for the sake of many South Africans. The sick and the dying needs the great shepherd who will strengthen and comfort them. Our nurses and doctors are playing in that space with much aplomb.

South African citizens, without any theological training, may find themselves in a situation of providing pastoral and theological care to the sick and dying. What one has in one’s heart is all what the dying person needs at this time. This is the practice of love for thy neighbour and the needy. In the same breath, we do not inspire our nation or professional staff to expose themselves irresponsibly to danger. God has given humans the inclination towards self-protection and trusts that they will care for their bodies.

The virus teaches us to care for each other using our caring hearts to communicate with the needy hearts. The church leaders sacrificed the Easter services for the care of humanity and I urged them to get their church building ready in case we need to quarantine the people of God. This is important as self-quarantine in places like informal settlement is almost impossible.

Avail our members to be trained for awareness and information sharing sessions, our theologians to provide spiritual virtual support to those who are quarantined. The sooner the church comprehends that the mission is different, the better.

Our theology, as happened during apartheid and under the leadership of our church father Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu and many others,  should provide intuitions, attentions and leadership for a great response to the coronavirus.

An injury to one body infected by coronavirus is an injury to Christ and his entire body. The God of reasoning is appealing to us to pray for medical scientist trying to find a cure and to encourage them.

Mzukisi Faleni is a theologian. He presents the Imvuselelo show on Umhlobo Wenene and writes in his personal capacity.