Times Of Swaziland: THE CASE FOR OPENING CHURCHES 2

THE CASE FOR OPENING CHURCHES 2
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Rev J.V Mazibuko on 23/06/2020 07:43:00


Last week my focus was on the spiritual connotations of the pandemic,
particularly the evil spirit behind COVID-19, which has come to steal, kill and
destroy.
The church of Jesus Christ is uniquely empowered by God to fight any and all
evil that is perpetuated by the enemy. When churches are continually restricted
to fully operate, this spiritual fight is compromised. Yes, we can still gather
in smaller groups but the impact and effect of togetherness is lost. Easing the
restrictions will mobilize the church to gather itself in one accord and fight.
Today I wish to highlight a few thoughts about the physical and social
implications of easing restrictions on the operation of the church. Some have
argued about the centrality of the church in the response to COVID-19, given
that this is foremost a health issue. In fact, the argument is to the effect
that churches are potential epicentres for the spread of the virus if they are
allowed to fully operate without restrictions.
Attention
I wish to bring it to your attention that churches value the sanctity of life
and over the past months, we have learnt a lot about how the virus spreads. Most
churches have put in place measures to limit the spread of the virus during
church meetings. Opening of churches, with these measures in place, will bolster
the psychological fight against the pandemic as our frontline workers, who are
exposed to strenuous conditions, will have a place of refuge. The emotional
baggage that our healthcare workers and all frontline workers carry, can have a
negative impact on our response to the pandemic - the church offers that
upliftment and hope.
One of the key roles of the church is to refresh our foot soldiers; undoubtedly
our frontline workers are carrying a heavy load in ensuring that every positive
case of COVID-19 does not end in death. Most of these workers are churchgoers
and since the closure of churches, many have been denied their source of
inspiration and encouragement. I am aware that when we talk about lockdown, some
say the church has always been locked down or we don’t need many people for
fellowship because Jesus said; “Where two or three gather, together, in my
name, there shall I be in their midst.”
Christian
Unlike communist countries, Eswatini is built on Christian foundations  - to
quote the preamble of our Constitution; “We, the People of the Kingdom of
Swaziland do hereby undertake in humble submission to Almighty God to start
afresh under a new framework of constitutional dispensation.” It is
discouraging to observe that today we have abandoned that posture towards God in
our fight against COVID-19. Corporate meeting and worship are imperative because
challenges that I struggle with alone tend to be eased when I am surrounded by
like-minded people - this is true even for national challenges. I think of the
dream of King Somhlolo, encouraging us to choose ‘umculu’ over
‘indibilishi’. I think of the inscription in our Emalangeni notes; ‘God is
our source’. All these point us to what we are seemingly reluctant to
prioritise - God and His church.
Another key role of the church sterns from the fact that no community is
complete without the church, in as much as it is not complete without the
political and education spheres. Religion plays a key function in the stability
of any nation. We cannot enjoy true peace if there is turmoil in the religious
sector. Over the past few months, we have witnessed different churches making
donations towards the response to COVID-19. Complementing the efforts by
government through NDMA, churches are distributing food hampers not only to
their affected members but also to the community at large. I must say these
initiatives are difficult to facilitate and maintain given the status quo of the
restricted operations of the church. It is the responsibility of the church to
respond to any humanitarian crisis, and this we can optimally do when the
restrictions to operate are lifted.
Argued
Many have argued that the impact of the church is minimal, hence they see no
need to prioritize the opening of this great institution, which is central to
the well-being of many emaSwati. I wish to point out that the church is doing
many good works which are rarely reflected in our mainstream media platforms.
The church has contributed to education in many forums, paying school fees,
buying school uniforms, supporting school food programmes, to mention a few. A
couple of years ago the nation adopted a multi-sectoral approach in the fight
against HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, the church was left behind because it was
deemed as primitive with its teachings of abstinence and faithfulness. Leaders
of the pandemic, then, felt the church was irrelevant because we were not
embracing condoms.
I believe there are lessons to draw from the initial fight against HIV, which
was muddied with a lot of finger-pointing. It wasn’t until the combative
effort from all sectors that meaningful strides were made, including what the
church was preaching all along, the issue of abstinence and faithfulness. I
believe even today, to adequately fight this pandemic, everybody must be
involved. This is an emergency! Lives are at stake, therefore, no one or sector
of society should be responsible for the entire nation. When the alarm is
raised, everyone comes with a weapon he knows best.