Ploughing Sand

 "Do not let us mistake necessary evils for good".

C S Lewis - Membership (The Weight of Glory).

This past few weeks has seen the first evidence of people once more going about activities which bear a 'shadow' of normal life - shopping, having haircuts, exercising in gyms, and the like - and even a shallow echo of socialising in drinking together outdoors amidst the slightly milder spring days. It should renew the appetite for full-blown common rapport, but as I've evidenced often at my work place these past weeks, the prevalent mood is towards 'protection', often scorning those who are already stepping back into such activities.

It isn't safe, apparently, to be with others, however many masks or vaccinations you have had, because there will always be 'variables' that may bring further danger and possibly death.

This all speaks to the manner of darkness which has descended upon our realm, where we can no longer be 'safe' in being with one another because, apparently, we may unwittingly bring great harm in such a context, so the 'safe' thing to do is desist from these behaviours.

When the Lord promised Abraham that his line would produce both a nation and then a seed to redeem humanity, he made it clear that such a birth would come amidst hardship and adversity (Genesis 15:13), involving a judgement on those that oppressed them (verse 14). In like manner, those who follow the 'child' which God sends to facilitate that redemption (Genesis 3:15), will find themselves driven out into the 'wilderness' of similar suffering and hardship (Revelation 12:6). Such troubles are most commonly encountered in the church in the manner in which the enemy seeks to bring teachings and practices among us which seek to sever us from Christ and thereby from each other (Colossians 2:20).

Whilst many, if not most, in the general culture are still mesmerised by the despicable notion that stepping beyond the bounds of their own front doors isn't healthy, some are quickly coming to terms with the fact that there must be a process beyond the debilitating constrictions of the past year, so engaging with what little has been permitted again grants, hopefully, a step towards this, but what must trouble us is not the limits still in place in this, but the reasons for these limits, which derive from the manner of darkness Lewis references in his statement on 'necessary evils' in his essay on membership.

This essay begins by making the point I allude to here concerning God's children - that they are called out to assemble together, and no law or requirement should work to undermine this. If this company becomes dislocated, notes Lewis, then you are merely left with the diminishing notion of private religion, emptying the faith of its vital role amidst the world.

What is essentially good in normal life reflects or echoes the nature of the life God's people share with one another. Family, friendship, socialising, even solitary times, are all meant to feed into a common wealth which makes who and what we are about valuable, and all that government is about should be to nurture and enhance the vitality of this society, but when authority begins to seek other goals, notes Lewis, it enters into actions which are 'meaningless vanity' that vexes and represses our worth and role to each other.

When we begin to prefer slavery to freedom, as the children of Israel when encountering hardship, we have slipped into a nightmare. A 'sick' society is one where continually worrying (inhabiting what is slavishly demeaned) replaces the good of living life well, where talk about issues becomes a form of cowardice, because it evades the root troubles that are causing such woes, continually deflecting to less disturbing symptoms than the actual disease.

When we reach this state, rules are enforced only to hinder what is good, so there can be no place for a people "who 'drink' what harms or handles what is deadly".

This current crisis has acted in such a way that our speaking of being 'members of one another' (Ephesians 4:25) has become emptied of its true meaning.

Being part of a family illustrates that each member of that company is distinct and has a very particular role and connection to the rest. The distinctions between each member are key, because each has a very real and vital 'office' in respect to the others, and each is essential when employed well to the good and the benefit of all.

The living community into which we are baptised shares such an identity - a living "body", where each must play its part to the good and wealth of the whole (Romans 12:4-8), so what occurs when this union, this vital dependancy upon the life God brings amongst us together, is severed or severely disrupted by agencies outside God's people imposing other requirements upon them which, in effect, atomise the church? Does 'zooming', ticketing and distancing in any fashion substitute for such sundering? Does our continuing to behave as if all were well amidst such an estate truly please our Heavenly Father, or provide the manner of nurture He authorises amongst us? If the Apostle teaches us that when a part of the body suffers in this context, then the whole suffers (1 Corinthians 12:26), how can be even attempt to behave as if all is well?

"His presence, His pleasure", notes Lewis, "must always be the over-whelmingly dominant factor in the life we lead with His body". Anything else is wrong.

Fellowship is where God strips us of disguises, where our very wickedness grants access to unmerited and unfathomable grace! We are equally sinners, that we may be equally bestowed with His adoption, and thereby fulfil the multitude of roles and offices He chooses to gift to each one. This is the only remedy for the 'fiction' of worldly power, which always corrupts because it denies our inherent wickedness.

The church is where God saves the ungodly. It is where Eden can be regained.

Our union, our fellowship, is the first-fruits, the foretaste, of the society that will clothe eternity, making us individuals who genuinely enrich each other in the life from God.

We must, as Lewis concludes, reform back to this essential condition, or wallow in the misery of a new outbreak of deadly Pelaginism, where we are locked with our own definitions of service and worship because of stubborn disobedience to the essential behaviour to which we are called.

We dare not give up the incalculable worth of our birth-right, in the midst of this adversity, for something so much less than what God has called us to.

"Obedience is the road to freedom, humility the road to pleasure, unity the road to personality".