How do you react to our meeting on Sunday morning once again?

Some are ecstatic. Some have concerns. Some will decide not to attend.

All those reactions are understandable. All can be the result of assessing the situation biblically.

All our lives, we make decisions based on our assessment of risks and the benefits associated with taking those risks. Let’s say Frank plans to drive to Atlanta to visit a friend. The latest forecast includes a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch along the route. Frank may decide to postpone the trip. He’ll be more likely to do so if his tires need to be replaced, or if he really doesn’t see well in poor weather conditions. On the other hand, if Frank is not just visiting a friend but traveling to a grandchild’s wedding, the trip can’t be postponed until next week – he’ll be more likely to travel, since the cost of not traveling is missing this one-time family event.

The decision to attend a worship service this weekend is similar. If we are biblical we value meeting together highly. We all long to praise God with one voice. We all have greatly missed interacting in person with other believers.

And yet there is another option: continuing to worship “together” via the stream. While we all acknowledge that participating virtually is inferior to participating in person, we assess differently the added value of being together physically.

There are even greater differences among us on the assessment of risk. We know this virus is much more dangerous for those over 60 and for those with certain other medical conditions. Also, some who aren’t in a high-risk category themselves interact regularly with those who are, and must be especially careful about exposure to the virus.

So we will make different decisions about attendance this weekend – and that is fine.

Remember the exhortation of the Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus:

Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1b-3).

So may we show who Jesus is by the way we are humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing with one another, as we display our essential unity in Christ.

Furthermore, in these trying political times, when there are sharp differences of opinion about the danger of the virus and the usefulness of the shutdown, may we also live out Paul’s exhortation to the church in Philippi:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves (Philippians 2:3).

There are appropriate times and places to discuss disagreements about the virus and the public policy response. May we limit such discussions to those times and place – and, in those discussions, may we be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, in humility honoring those who disagree with us as either fellow sinners saved by grace, or lost folks who need to hear of and see Jesus.

We are called to be salt and light to the world around us. As Jesus is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). Let us live that out this Sunday and throughout the time of the virus, among brothers and sisters in Christ and before the world, so that we do all to the glory of God.