“A Pissing Section in the Pool.” That is what he said. I don’t even remember what news program and what epidemiologist, as I am in the Zoom/News blur of pandemic life, but I very much remember his answer. The reporter asked the epidemiologist, “with no federal coordinated response, and some governors defying guidelines for reopening, do you think this uncoordinated approach will work?” The epidemiologist just looked back at the camera and said, “does a pissing section in the pool work?”

And like a Damascus road experience I was suddenly able to see in a way I had not before. You may be wondering where I am going with this, and those of you that hound me about “staying out of politics” or “staying in my lane” which usually is translated really to, staying out of YOUR politics, or out of YOUR lane, I am going to look at this theologically, the Church, my lane.

This sudden epiphany made me see how our theology bleeds into our common life. As divided as our country is, so is Christianity. We have, over time, developed on a more overarching level, two distinct and nearly opposite theologies. One I call “personal freedom theology”. You recognize this by people in the protests carrying signs that say, “Jesus is my vaccine” or during interviews saying things like, “it is my God given right to..blah, blah, blah.” This is a personal God that only worries about you. This is the old Tom T. Hall song, “me and Jesus got our own thing going” theology. No one else matters. Or only those who can help me in some way matter. I find it very difficult to find much in our guide, Scripture, about this theology. 

The other is a communion theology. It is based on a totally opposite idea, that the common good, the good of all is the Gospel. “Laying down your life for a friend” is communion theology. “Blessed are the meek” is communion theology. “Leaving everything behind and following” is communion theology. “Losing your life” is communion theology. These are complete contrasts to the belief that your life is the only life that is really important.

In reality, and probably a far healthier reality, is to live somewhere between, but can we?

I remember, almost 20 years ago, in a small fundamentalist church in Tennessee, the preacher came bounding out of the pulpit like a jackrabbit on steroids, bounding down the middle aisle, he quickly spun around and hunched down a bit for effect, and lowering his voice almost to a whisper, brought his two index fingers together, dramatically, and said, “you see that cross, you see that American Flag, they are exactly the same.” I have never forgotten that. And I have never forgotten the sour stomach I had for days after. No, they are not, exactly the same. The point of the cross, and what happened on it, is that no flag is primary any longer, no border, no country. Instead, God is primary, Jesus is primary. But it is just that kind of appropriation that gets us to moments like this, to division like this. I do love and admire the US, but as a Christian, it is no longer primary. It is high up there, way up there, but it is not what I worship. It is not primary.

When the epidemiologist asked sarcastically, “does a pissing section in a pool work?” It just became so clear. We, in this pampered, and generally more and more every day, selfish nation, have the idea that this virus will recognize us as the greatest country on earth, and thereby, it will respect our borders.

So how it that working for us?

“It doesn’t matter what happened every where else on the globe, it won’t happen here!” This is simply another symptom of the delusional after effects of personal freedom theology.

Many governors seem to be working off the same playbook. Surely if I do this in Florida, or Arkansas, or Georgia, the virus will stop at the border and go somewhere else.

A pissing section in the pool.

This is not an easy time. It is not easy now to be a leader of any group of humans at this time. There is so little we know, and so much yet to be known. We are flying blind to a degree, but one thing that seems pretty clear, in all of this, is that it takes us all working together, to even have a chance at beating this. And that, well, we are just not very good at it, and we haven’t been for a while.

Some say, and it is just an opinion I know, but I have heard it a lot, that Italy definitely had its bad days during their run with this, but they were far better than us at following guidelines and staying on the same page. There are lots of reasons for that, different culture, different geography, smaller geography, and all of that is real, But many are saying that the often energetic, hard to corral Italian, followed these orders because, in their culture, they care so much for the elderly. The elderly in their culture are icons, revered, to be protected. In short, there is not the “it is my God given right to do whatever I want, whenever I want, with whomever I want” even if that is scientifically proven to be detrimental to others. What do we say to those who are vulnerable in this? Well, in this theology it is said, “tough!” you have to find your own way. You shouldn’t have eaten so much, or gotten hypertension, or diabetes, or just gotten old. Why did you get old? Take responsibility!

People that know me know I am big into personal responsibility, but I do believe that as Christians, personal responsibility, calls us to a different response. Especially in instances and crisis such as this, where it is clear we have to work and act together to truly turn the tide on our woes.

I am not sure how we, the Church, navigate this difference. It does not give a very consistent face of Christianity to the world we say we want to offer this faith to. There is a huge difference in the theology of “This is my God given right to, ...... do whatever I need to do to take care of myself, and survive, regardless of the effect on others,” and a theology that says, “this is my call as a Christian in times like these, to look to the community, the whole, and to act so that we might be stronger together.”

Christianity is not a faith with “rights”. It is a faith with “calls”. We should spend a lot less time on what my personal right is, and more time on what the call of the Gospel, and of our God is, now, for me, in this time. I continue to be amazed that Christianity is a faith, the origin of which, comes directly from sacrifice, perhaps one of the greatest sacrifices ever, but much of our professed and practiced theology is one of entitlement, preference, avoiding sacrifice at all costs, most especially for anyone else.

I think the Gospel can have a saving effect for us in these days, but we are far from together on what it is, the Gospel that is. That quip was good for a virus we are trying to control, and I believe just as good for a faith we say, we really want to share. Trying to do it like we are, is about as effective as a pissing section in the pool.