Masks and Romans 14

 So let me start off with saying that I do not believe masks to be an affective means of disease mitigation.  I don't like wearing them and I especially dont like being told to wear them by the government.  However, several months ago I was approached by two parishoners with concerns about Good Shepherd's mask policy.  I knew instantly that enforcing a stricter mask policy was the right thing to do.  

Why?  Because of Romans 14.  St. Paul writes, "Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand." Change out eating for mask wearing and we are in business.  

Notice verse 3.  "The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does."  This is a two way street.  I as an opponent of the governments mask policy must not treat those who are proponents of the policy with contempt.  But here's the thing.  They aren't supposed to judge us. Like Mrs. Davis, my kindergarten teacher used to say, "worry about your self."  

So then for me this was a no brainer.  If my brother asks me to wear a mask because he is afraid then that is the Christian thing to do. But on the other hand it is not for my brother to judge me because I might chose not too.  If you see someone walking down the isle at the grocery store and their face is maskless, just keep your distance and move on.  

Now some might come back with the notion that these aren't the same things.  Eating Kosher was debatable, wearing a mask isn't.  But that's not true.  Even the CDC has waffled on masks.  This is a debatable issue.  But what St. Paul instructs us to do with this debate is to debate it with Christian charity.  

Do not shame your brother, do not manipulate him, or pass judgment. Do not walk off in a huff because you didn't get your way. Satan wants to destroy our unity and he'll do that any way he can.  Don't give him a foot hold.  Simply accept the brother who is weaker, whatever weakness that might be.  A failure to do so is a failure to live up to our calling to be a peculiar people.