Body Language in a Pandemic Season

by Rev. Brett Jones National Superintendent

Our 20th year as a church family was defined by one of the most challenging circumstances in a generation - the COVID 19 pandemic. Through it all, our body language has been on display - those subconscious postures and actions that emerge under pressure. As 2021 draws to a close and the country emerges from our second major lockdown, what posture will be called for from the Body of Christ?

Miraculously, we were able to gather in Christchurch in November 2020 to celebrate the 20th anniversary milestone and to honour our retiring National Superintendent Rev Dr Richard Waugh. It was a celebration of God’s faithfulness and the refrain of “The Goodness of God” became our anthem with good reason. We hoped that life was back to normal, not a new normal, we were over that, but actual normal. The 2021 Delta outbreak changed the script yet again, and drew a fresh response from the church. Across the movement churches dusted off their 2020 run sheets, made refinements and improvements and continued being the church. As the country soon opens up with fresh hope, it does so with a more polarised society, with battle lines drawn on vaccination, mandates, the economy, business sustainability and mental health. The church is not immune from these fractures and tensions - we exist in families, workplaces and communities that are wrestling with the issues. The question for us is how will we as a church model body language that speaks of the priorities of the Kingdom? In 1 Corinthians Paul wrote to a church that was squabbling about sources of authority (1 Cor 3), was in dispute over what to put into their bodies (1 Cor 8), was struggling with differences of opinion around freedom (1 Cor 9) and was well on the way to living a 2 tier society within the church (1 Cor 11). Paul called the church out in 1 Cor 11 and focused their offence around exclusion from Holy Communion. He then called the church to the better way of love in 1 Cor 13. Sandwiched between these chapters, Paul reveals his God’s vision for the body of Christ in 1 Cor 12 in a fresh, compelling way. Paul affirmed that as a body we don’t get to exclude ourselves or each other from the body. It’s not a part of our body language. Think about your own body for a moment. It’s not just undesirable to exclude others, it’s near impossible, that is unless you want to gouge out an eye or lop off a hand. In fact, those parts that we consider weaker or less presentable are due special honour. It’s not just that we refrain from exclusion, we find sacrificial ways to care and radical ways to include. This is our body language. In coming weeks, there will be those who for a variety of reasons are unable to meet for in-person worship: the immune compromised, the vaccine hesitant, the mandate decliners, those who are isolating, those who woke with a sore throat that morning, those who are COVID positive and those who have long been unable to attend worship because of age, disability or illness. We will be tempted to ask why and perhaps even to offer our evaluation of the adequacy of their situation. But the church is not called to that. We are called to special honour. We will celebrate that we are still connected in worship at church and at home. But we will also experience the pain of disconnection from each other. “1 Cor 12:26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” This is our body language. It will challenge us. It will shape us. We will learn to be the church in fresh ways that expose the smallness of our imagination, but usher in God’s larger vision of a Kingdom that is known for its love. May it be so in our body language.