Most of all, while government at all levels can enforce a certain amount of behavior change, for example through quarantines and “lockdowns,” it is almost impossible for coercive authority to increase people’s capacity for love and service to others.

Worship is essential for human flourishing. For one thing, we are all worshipping something all the time. The idolatries that fester, even in a well-disciplined Christian heart, when we are confronted with nonstop news of terror and rumors, can only really be put to rest when we gather with others to “set forth God’s praise, hear his Holy Word, and

A leader’s responsibility, as circumstances around us change, is to speak, live, and make decisions in such a way that the horizons of possibility move towards shalom, flourishing for everyone in our sphere of influence, especially the vulnerable.

At the same time, it has never been more important to gather in small groups.

Close Christian fellowship — gathering with others who know us by name, who are our literal neighboring brothers and sisters in Christ, to study God’s Word, break bread, and pray together — is not an optional extra for Christians, but the very source of our life and

We have become accustomed to culture being shaped “somewhere else” — by elected officials, especially national ones; by celebrities; by media. But we are dealing with a virus that is transmitted person to person, in small and large groups of actual people. This is not a virtual crisis — it is a local, embodied one. Local, embodied responses will

They play that role through both symbolic action — what they say, how they say it, even how they hold themselves and respond to others — and through decision-making on behalf of others.

The reason to alter our practices, especially the way we gather (see below), is not self-protection. For one thing, in the case of this particular virus, if individuals are young and healthy, infection may pose not much more threat than the ordinary seasonal flu. The change is needed because our vulnerable neighbors — those of any age with

How will we move the horizons of possibility, not just for those we directly lead, but for our whole culture, in the time of coronavirus?

More than ever in my lifetime, the direction of the culture around us, and the future of all those we love and care for, is quite literally in our hands. May God direct the decisions we make, and the way we

We should not say, “Everything’s going to be fine,” or even, “You’re going to be okay.”

This is not true even on the most normal day. Every human being will die; practically every person will endure terrible suffering of one kind or another. These phrases can be appropriate when used by a parent comforting a small child, but they are not the