Pastor, if you’ve not given much thought to how you will respond to a request for religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine, let this be your encouragement to do so. Here is a helpful article to aid your thinking and here’s why you should read it:

It’s thoughtful

As Christians, we can nuance problems and issues to arrive at a better conclusion because God’s Word and His Spirit guide us. Everything is not as black and white as you would like it to be. Wisdom does not work that way. Just take a look at Proverbs. In one moment, riches are evil, and in another, it’s a sign of unrighteousness. It’s not black and white; one must have the fortitude to consider deeper things when making ethical decisions. We know the truth and then apply that truth to our situation.

If an MLB player thinks he is only getting fastballs, he will fail miserably when the curveball comes his way. No, he must apply what he knows about hitting and adjust. If you, Pastor, think you will only get theological fastballs that can be hit easily, well, when the ethical curveball comes your way, you might strike out.

It defines what constitutes religious exemption well

Defining terms and issues clearly are of utmost importance. We cannot arrive at a healthy decision if we don’t know what makes something right or wrong. It might be possible that one is claiming religious exemption when they are actually misguided and working from preference, philosophical presuppositions, or political identity.

If you go swinging at balls outside the strike zone, well, you will not be successful. If we go swinging at issues not in the strike zone of biblical mandates, we will not do very well at being moral people.  

(By the way, if you’ve not read The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams, you should. It might help you develop critical thinking skills. He was way more thoughtful about hitting than most pastors are about pastoring.)

It gets the conversation rolling.

Pastor, there are so many issues flying in your face daily; this is overwhelming. We often don’t have the time to consider every problem that arises in our cultural setting. So, why not take advantage of others who have given it some thought as a way to jump-start your thinking. Even if you disagree, at least you started thinking.

To have a game of baseball, one must simply start by throwing the ball. To have a pastoral response to the ethics of claiming religious exemption has to begin with you, Pastor, reading, thinking, and talking with other pastors.

Follow this link to learn more.

Today is September 11, 2021. It is the twentieth anniversary of the worst act of terror ever perpetrated upon the United States of America. I remember how the churches filled with people in the weeks following that day, and how these words filled the vengeful air; “we will never forget.” For some, these words were muttered angrily, for others they were simply an expression of sorrow and disbelief. But, nonetheless these were the words on every American tongue.

Since then, Americans have made countless attempts to erase the past. They have destroyed and defaced statues of historical figures, and spun endless narratives about the history of the country. History has become offensive in and of itself as interest groups revise and reinterpret the past so as to change the future. In short, everyone has their own version of events so that history, for better or worse, is more about ‘what happened according to my feelings,’ rather than simply ‘what happened.’ So, as we look back at that horrible day, can we still claim that we will never forget, and can we expect future generations to remember as we have? Can we expect them to never forget?

The Bible is full of exhortations for God’s people to memorialize events. In Exodus 13:14;

“And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What is this?” then you shall say to him, “With a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.”

Jesus told his disciples to memorialize his death in the same way that they did the Passover meal; “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:14-23).

A memorial is meant to extend past one’s own lifetime as an ordinance for future generations. But sometimes we can take for granted the sincerity and seriousness with which each generation should commemorate such events. We also may try to control others in our own attempts to commemorate or memorialize. As time passes, the seriousness and sincerity of the commemoration wanes, and some people will become frustrated with an “ungrateful generation.” But this is just a fact of life, as the Qoheleth tells us in Ecclesiastes 1:11

“There is no remembrance of earlier things; and also of the later things which will occur, there will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.”

So there you have it – we WILL forget. Maybe your generation will remember, but future generations will certainly forget. Those who come after you and whose actions, or lack thereof, are far beyond your control will most certainly forget. They will not hold certain truths to be “self-evident.” They will not hold high the values of human life and dignity in the same way. They may not hate certain manifestations of evil in the same way. They will revise human history as they see fit in order to have a narrative with which they feel comfortable. How do we know this? Because we have done the same things. Every generation revises history with a certain set of biases and cultural values. Sometimes the nuance is so insignificant that it is unrecognizable to the untrained eye. At other times, it is patently obvious to all. Either way, people and cultures change over time, and therefore the overall memory of humanity changes. It wanes and disappears, and we change and forget.

But there is ONE who does not change, nor does He forget.

His story is from old, for He was in the beginning (John 1:1). He does not change (Mal 3:6). He is Faithful and True (Rev 19:11). He will not forget His sheep. He will not forget His promise to those near and those far off. His righteousness does not wane over time, nor does He grow weary of interceding for His people. So, “though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; and though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake with swelling pride,” “we will not fear”(Psalm 46:2-3).

So even though we fail miserably to remember and honor the people and events of our past, let us be encouraged in the Lord, Jesus. His memory is not fickle. He will never forget. Nothing can separate us from His love, and His love does not wane over time.

He is coming again soon, and He will not forget.