Who Attends Church in Person during a Pandemic?

It’s Saturday, January 2nd, 2020, and Covid-19 is raging out of control. So many have died. So many are months out and still struggling with the disease’s aftereffects. Then there are the widows, the orphans, the parents who buried their children . . .

It feels apocalyptic.

And all we can do to lessen this horror is stay home, wash hands, and wear a mask if we absolutely must leave the house.

So where will I be tomorrow?

That’s right. Church. A small group, roughly a third masked, more than half above age 65, will gather for class and worship, and then back for worship again. No diagnoses yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

I know some believe this is a nonnegotiable, and I should stay home no matter who it angers. They may be right. But a preacher’s wife has no choice. My husband may be the employee, but I could lose his job for him in a snap. So, risk our lives - myself, husband, child, and all we come in contact with - or almost certainly lose his job, which would inevitably be followed by losing our house?

Suddenly, the black and white decision is a grey mess.

They already think we’ve been “taken in,” due to our being the first and most persistent mask wearers.

This is madness.