Our church’s response to COVID-19, commonly known as Coronavirus, does not come from a place of fear, but out of a desire to prepare wisely and consider the health of our church family. As always, we trust in the Lord’s plan and presence, and we are praying for our community and the world during this virus.
Worship services will be held as usual this Sunday since we are small enough and we don’t meet the size thresh hold for not gathering as a group.
If you would prefer to stay home and away from crowds, please know that you can worship at home through our live stream or recordings of past services. Several of you have asked me about the ability to give online. We have had several issues with our giving platform that we are working through and hopefully we will have that up and running again soon. In the meantime, you can mail your offering to the church. Our address is Cornerstone Bible Church, 2297 Litsey Rd. Roanoke TX 76262.
If you feel sick, please follow the necessary precautions, which include the following:
stay at home
keep your distance from others (about 6 feet)
take your temperature with a thermometer two times a day to monitor for a fever
watch for a cough or trouble breathing
We will be sanitizing all of our hard surfaces at the church this week and sanitize as needed throughout the service. We would ask that you use the main entrance only to the building on Sunday, and if the doors are not already open please allow the ushers to open them for you.
Please regularly check our website and social media channels (Facebook and Instagram) for updates. If you have any questions, please reach out to info@csbiblechurch.org or call 817-614-9014.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear…”
Psalm 46:1–2a
Until God’s appointed time comes for any individual, nothing can touch that person. Our days are numbered by God alone. But because the sovereign God uses means, we should take all reasonable precautions, and we should do so while trusting in the Lord fully.
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge—10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. Psalm 91:9-10
What can separate us from the love of God in Christ? Absolutely nothing. Moreover, apart from His sovereign will nothing can even touch us. And at the same time, because we are trusting in His sovereign will, we should at the same time obey His sovereign will, and take all reasonable precautions.
The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. Proverbs 14:15
God is in absolute control and look well to your going.
Throughout history, many Christians have distinguished themselves as true saints during times of plague. We must remember that times of plague in the past were much more of a recurring and routine reality, and so we have faced all this before. This courage has included many ministers who refused to leave their people at times when many aristocrats were fleeing the city in question. This kind of behavior has been one of the things that caused the Christian faith to grow and expand and get established in the first place. That pattern has been followed and continued by courageous Chinese doctors in this instance, and if we are called to it, we should be prepared for it as well.
We should also keep this in perspective. Tens of thousands of people die every flu season from the ordinary flu, but we have already budgeted for that emotionally.
But this new virus is happening in a time when there has been a large breakdown of trust in all public institutions, and this includes institutions that are responsible for public health like the CDC. The coronavirus is stress-testing our systems.
Remember the boy who cried wolf. That fable has a lesson that cuts two ways. Cultural leaders need to stop trying to manipulate the public through fear — they need to knock off crying wolf when there is no wolf. And the public needs to recognize that boys who cry wolf when there is no wolf are not boys who make the appearance of wolves impossible.
So on the one hand, I have absolutely no reason to trust these people who have been lying to us all about climate change. Why should we trust them? They lie, and then they lie some more. At the same time, having read history before, I know that the Spanish flu killed upwards of 50 million people at the beginning of the twentieth century, and that such things can and do happen. They happen even if a liar agrees that they happen.
These are interesting times, but they are in God’s hand, as they have always been and will be.
But take another look at the picture of the virus. We live in a dangerous world, but even the dangers are beautiful. Even the dangers declare the glory of God.
Grace to you,
John