Refusing Contaminated Community

Education matters, but what you discover is not always what you set out to learn...

In my last trip to the church library I was not at all browsing. In typical manly shopping mode (hunt the prey down and obtain it for your own) I knew what I wanted, and was eager to "get to it." I was on a mission to answer a question about a bible passage and had a few minutes while waiting for someone to meet me.

I saw the computer and the signs of instruction on how to access the library inventory screens and I made myself comfortable in the chair that was so inviting. When I sat down, I looked at another sign over the screen of the computer: "Please use hand sanitizer before using the computer". The sign had a neatly drawn arrow that directed my eyes to the cleanser bottle placed on the shelf next to the screen. Are you kidding? Has the power of media struck again teaching us new phobias that demand retaliation against normal living? Are our collective immune systems so fragile that we risk ourselves when we come to church? I thought risking yourself was exactly what going to church was about!

I lost track of my original reason for coming to the library for several minutes as I pondered the well meaning person who believed they were helping when providing the soap and sign. What is next, surgical gloves before shaking hands, head and arm holes in hefty bags before we can hug? I'm not sure I can exist in such a "clean" environment. I need my messy, risky interaction with the people I know and love - and even those I don't know and try to love. If we all wind up wearing diving suits to church, who is it to protect - us or them? Even though God must not like bacteria that harm His children, I don't think He intended us to wear Darth Vader like helmets when reading from the scriptures. I can just hear us: "Luke.... Luke... chapter 6 vs 5" from pulpits across the land.

While not aware of any ailment I would pass on, or of any harmful chemical already on my hands, I did not succumb to pressure of the note, and enjoyed doing my computer search - risking excommunication - with "unclean" hands.

Dave