A Good Article

Here's a good article for you to check out, over on Gottesdienst. Dr. Koontz is a new professor at our Ft. Wayne seminary. I have heard him speak and preach a few times and read things he has written. He is very thoughtful and articulate. You may not always agree with him, but he will make you think!

My only caveat to the article is that local considerations must be taken into account as well - and not only in the US (and maybe not at all in the US), but around the world, in different countries and cultures who think quite differently than we do here. We cannot paint with too broad a brush.

That being said, I think he makes a number of very good points, particularly about catechesis in God's Word versus catechesis by government and media. I have long wondered, too, when this pandemic hit, about those churches that do not preach about sin and death but more about having a good life . . . what did they have to offer their people? 

But yes, absolutely, the church should include the vaccinated and unvaccinated, the masked and unmasked, everyone. He calls on us to repent now. That's always in order. But I also hope we begin having conversations now about what we did, how we responded, what we did well or not so well, and how we could do better in the future. And always become more grounded in the Word of God.