During lockdown I was told that there are usually three stages to a crisis. I see these responses in the lives of the families I know, including my own.
1. Emergency response. The first weeks of lockdown. Hard work. Getting by. Running on adrenaline. Late nights. Early mornings. The crisis feels very real. Is our family safe? Is there food on the table? Eventually, we realise that lockdown isn’t ending anytime soon.
2. Recovery response. The continuing months of lockdown. We are tired. We can’t keep up this pace. Home-schooling has to ramp down a little. We need daily exercise. We need more sleep. However hard we try, there is still a lot of shouting. The novelty of online church has worn off. We are emotionally exhausted, nervous that normal is a long way off.
When the phone comes to church
We’ve been studying Romans 14 at church recently, and the teaching has covered "disputable matters" – issues where Christians, in …