Masks & Vital Piety
In 1748, John Wesley established a school near Bristol, England to educate the sons of local coal miners and Methodist preachers. His brother, Charles, wrote a hymn for the occasion. It contains many elements of the Wesleys’ philosophy of education. The fifth stanza, I think, encapsulates an essential part of any Christian education aimed at true discipleship.
Unite the pair so long disjoined,
Knowledge and vital piety:
Learning and holiness combined,
And truth and love, let all men see
In those whom up to thee we give,
Thine, wholly thine, to die and live.
Over the years I’ve pondered just how does one “unite the pair?” How do you bring together “knowledge and vital piety?” I can’t say I’ve got any where near the whole answer to this question. However, I do know that unless vital piety is modeled and aligned with the more cerebral aspects of education, there is little hope of bringing the pair together. Obvious contradictions undermine teaching probably even more than modeling enhances it.
Earlier this week I was asked if I would consider teaching a 4th grade Sunday School class. Since discipling the next generation is a very important task in the church, I wanted to say “yes.” Always in the back of my mind, though, is Wesley’s line, “unite the pair so long disjoined . . . ” I didn’t want to enter into a teaching assignment with that task subverted. The pandemic being rampant in Kentucky, I asked about COVID protocols in the children’s program. It seemed to me the answer to this question would in part reveal whether Wesley’s vision was even possible.
After receiving the answer to my question, I wrote the following response:
Thanks for asking me to teach the New Testament to the 4th grade Sunday School class! I would love to help the kids understand Jesus’ message and it’s implications for life. But I have a big concern which I can’t fix and which makes this decision very difficult. My issue probably won’t make sense to everyone.
You mentioned that pandemic safety protocols aren’t required or emphasized in the children’s education program. I’m afraid I’m not comfortable trying to teach the message and significance of the New Testament to 4th graders when the church doesn’t put any emphasis on masking, particularly among unvaccinated children. I’ll try to explain.
First, children aged 9 or 10 are not currently eligible to be vaccinated in the United States. Yet as the numbers over the past month have shown, they can still contract the COVID virus. While most cases in children are mild or asymptomatic, not all are. And children can spread the disease to vulnerable adults (of which there are many in Kentucky). Masks have been shown to significantly diminish this problem. The CDC, the State Board of Education, the governor’s office, the County Department of Public Health, and the Public Schools have all supported the masking of children and their teachers when they are in public indoor settings. A mountain of well designed research indicates that universal masking minimizes the risks related to gathering in-person and protects our kids. I really don’t want to lead a class that ignores the health risks to kids.
Second, one of the central messages of Jesus and the New Testament seems significantly undermined by the body of Christ ignoring the need for masks during a very deadly stage of the pandemic. Yesterday alone 45 Kentuckians died of COVID. The US has now lost 1 in 500 of its entire population to the virus. Every 3 days the equivalent mortality of the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurs in the US. The Emergency Departments and ICUs in our area are overwhelmed while doctors and nurses are stretched to the breaking point. (Just talk with my daughter-in-law, a local pediatrician.) Across the country, the health care system cannot address emergency situations due to the overwhelming numbers of COVID patients. Even our church has experienced significant pain and loss due to the virus.
I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, if I am going to teach kids the New Testament I am not going to just have them learn the trips Paul took or the difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees. I want them to learn that God, Himself, is pro-life. That life in its fullest is His objective. That in order to bring that abundant life to the world–both physical and spiritual, His own love for all of us compelled Him to “empty” Himself, take on flesh in the form of a humble servant, sacrifice everything–even His own life, so that undeserving and helpless people could join His family.
I also want the kids to learn that when we enter the Kingdom and embrace the new life Jesus offers, we are called to the same calling Jesus was called to. We are to display the glory of God’s love in the same way Jesus displayed it. And that the world is going to understand the gospel because the Church, Christ’s body, demonstrates this same sacrificial love that is now shed abroad in our hearts and the same commitment to loving the unlovely, the vulnerable, the weak, the children and the poor.
When the message of the New Testament is that following Jesus involves taking up our cross and dying, if necessary, on behalf of others, it is hard to explain to 4th graders why, as a people, we wouldn’t even protect our children by wearing a mask and having them mask up. Many debatable elements of church practice are not central to the gospel. Methods of baptism, pre-trib or post-trib, stance on divorce, the contemporary relevance of tithing, etc., all these disputes are tangential to the core of Christ’s message. The choice to ignore or not ignore the health of children, however, is central. Because love and life are central.
There are many things in my life where I am sure I don’t measure up to what Christ calls us to. Some of my inconsistencies I see and some are still hidden to me. I’m deeply grateful that God hasn’t given up on me but instead embraces me and keeps working to “transform me from one degree of glory to the next which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18) But I will say, even though I don’t like masks, I do try to wear them when around the unvaccinated indoors. Wearing a mask is a very low bar for expressing love for the least of these and seems an extremely obvious expression of my life in Christ.
I am going to have to decline your kind offer. I know you may totally disagree with my position. I was hoping there would be a different standard in place for children’s ministry. But since there isn’t, and since this is my understanding of obedience to the New Testament message (c.f. Matthew 7:24-27), I don’t think I can teach the class.
With regrets,Keith