How to Deal with
Sickness on Sunday Morning
Dear brothers and sisters of SKC,
If you have lived in the Ohio Valley for any length of time, you know that there is not really any one season of the year which a person could point to and say “this is the busiest season of the year for illness”. Allergies of all sorts are prevalent in this area, leading to innumerable ENT practices sprinkled all over the metropolitan Louisville area.
Combine the area of the country in which we live and all its allergies, with regular old seasonal illnesses like RSV, influenza, Covid, the common cold, and lots of littles in one household, and what you are left with is a Petri dish of bacteria, viruses, snot, and chills which can take your family out in a matter of days. When it comes to illnesses, two scenarios seem to demand a response from us which may include having to miss Church on a Sunday morning.1
Fever
When you wake up on a Sunday morning with little ones, maybe even yourself, having battled illness and fever the few days prior to a Sunday morning, those of the Church with little ones of their own can surely appreciate the fact that you throw in the towel for Church that morning. I’m obviously not a Doctor, so talk to yours if you are unsure of what I’m about to say, but it’s a safe bet that a feverish child is a contagious child, and they should be kept home to not only rest and recover, but also to prevent the spread of infection around the Church family.
Intestinal troubles
Snotty noses aside, another illness related issue which may necessitate staying home on a Sunday morning involves what one might term intestinal troubles. Without going into much graphic detail, this symptom would demand that your access to a restroom be unhindered, and immediate. This type of illness can be very unpredictable, and it would be understandable if you missed out on gathering together until you or your child recovered.
Obviously, these two scenarios are not all inclusive. Mobility issues, fractures, casts, and splints which make travel in a car, and navigating staircases impossible are understandable. Clearly, severely debilitating disease, recovery from surgery, and other types of post disease treatments which leave a person incapacitated and in a weakened state are all legitimate reasons for missing church on a Sunday. God is merciful and understands our frames.
One of the ways which God has provided for us in the midst of our weakness is by giving us Elders who watch over the flock.
“Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;” (James 5:14)
Is this your practice? When your family suffers from an illness so severe it leads to missed worship and work, do you call for the elders to come pray over your sick loved one? Why not? When was the last time you or your children were so sick that you missed Church and called for the elders to pray over you and your family? As an elder I can assure you that we would love nothing more than to be invited into your home in a moment of vulnerability to have the privilege and honor to lay hands on your sick loved one and anoint them with oil. Rather than an inconvenience, it’s our pleasure.
Here’s a question: when your family is so sick that you’ve missed Church on a Sunday, does that same illness keep you from your work on a Monday? This is one of those diagnostic questions that only you can answer. If you find yourself regularly pulling the plug on gathering together with the saints on a Sunday, only to realize that, miraculously on Monday morning everyone seems just fine, you may have a case of the Sunday morning flu which Pastor Spurgeon has mentioned a time or two. In other words, Sunday morning flu absences are sinful reasons for missing the gathering together of the saints. Lumped in with the Sunday flu could be decisions which allow you to avoid the inconvenience, headache, and chaos of trying to wrangle a bunch of sick (fever free) kids during the Sunday morning worship. With all the moms, young ladies, teenagers, and ladies without children in the Church, you have plenty of resources to help with your fussy kids. Moms and Dads aren’t superheroes, so please, don’t let fear or pride keep you from asking your brothers and sisters for help, we actually enjoy it!
Remember this story from Mark 2?
“Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.” (Mark 2:4)
Juxtapose this scene with the last time you missed Church for sniffles or other common complaints. These men, friends of the paralytic, took great pains to bring their loved one into the presence of Jesus. Nothing would stop them, yet we loathe the idea of needing a Kroger bag to hold all the snotty rags which our child’s nose demands, and dread the idea of having to ensure the child with the cold doesn’t lick the pews or wipe his nose on another child, while these friends of the paralytic would not be deterred. Imagine if these men had not brought their friend to Jesus on that particular day, citing the fact that they’d have to carry him (inconvenient and difficult) out in the elements (uncomfortable), then get him up to the roof and lower him down (very unorthodox). “Is it even worth it?” they could have asked.
Do we ask that? Is it worth it to bring our family to Church in the face of inconvenience? Think about the men in the story above. What would they have missed out on? What better way could they have shown their love for their friend? Now consider your situation on a Sunday morning and ask yourself if it’s worth it for your family to miss out on Christ. “It’s just this week”, “We can watch it on the live stream”. Both are true statements. But consider this: does your decision to stay home for what amounts to sniffles and inconvenience teach your child that church is important, or does it teach them that trivial matters can keep you away without consequences?
There are of course exceptions aplenty in this discernment minefield. Each household, husband and wife reasoning together, considering the frame of their child or their own, led by faith, in conjunction with their healthcare providers, must decide when it is time to stay home with the kids, and when it is time to load up, inconvenient snotty noses and whining all included. Mistakes will be made. Kids who were deathly ill on a Sunday morning will be fine by 5pm. The same thing can be said about adults: adults sick at 7 am can be feeling fine by 5pm. This happens. If this is you, and you made what you felt was the best call at the time, you need not feel guilt: God knows your frame and the intentions of your heart. However, if this is you, and it’s merely your easy out excuse to not have to deal with a chaotic2 Sunday morning at SKC, then you need to repent.
As I get older, the aches, pains, and slow recovery from illness have increased as well. Nearly every Sunday when my wife and I wake up, if we tried, we could likely come up with some physical reason for skipping Church “just this once”. Let me tell you, the value of pushing past the momentary discomfort, putting yourself in a position of vulnerability among the brethren, is sanctifying to your soul, encouraging to your fellow believers, and teaches your children that your family is going to get to Jesus no matter what.
In Christ,
Aaron
If you have lived in the Ohio Valley for any length of time, you know that there is not really any one season of the year which a person could point to and say “this is the busiest season of the year for illness”. Allergies of all sorts are prevalent in this area, leading to innumerable ENT practices sprinkled all over the metropolitan Louisville area.
Combine the area of the country in which we live and all its allergies, with regular old seasonal illnesses like RSV, influenza, Covid, the common cold, and lots of littles in one household, and what you are left with is a Petri dish of bacteria, viruses, snot, and chills which can take your family out in a matter of days. When it comes to illnesses, two scenarios seem to demand a response from us which may include having to miss Church on a Sunday morning.1
Fever
When you wake up on a Sunday morning with little ones, maybe even yourself, having battled illness and fever the few days prior to a Sunday morning, those of the Church with little ones of their own can surely appreciate the fact that you throw in the towel for Church that morning. I’m obviously not a Doctor, so talk to yours if you are unsure of what I’m about to say, but it’s a safe bet that a feverish child is a contagious child, and they should be kept home to not only rest and recover, but also to prevent the spread of infection around the Church family.
Intestinal troubles
Snotty noses aside, another illness related issue which may necessitate staying home on a Sunday morning involves what one might term intestinal troubles. Without going into much graphic detail, this symptom would demand that your access to a restroom be unhindered, and immediate. This type of illness can be very unpredictable, and it would be understandable if you missed out on gathering together until you or your child recovered.
Obviously, these two scenarios are not all inclusive. Mobility issues, fractures, casts, and splints which make travel in a car, and navigating staircases impossible are understandable. Clearly, severely debilitating disease, recovery from surgery, and other types of post disease treatments which leave a person incapacitated and in a weakened state are all legitimate reasons for missing church on a Sunday. God is merciful and understands our frames.
One of the ways which God has provided for us in the midst of our weakness is by giving us Elders who watch over the flock.
“Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;” (James 5:14)
Is this your practice? When your family suffers from an illness so severe it leads to missed worship and work, do you call for the elders to come pray over your sick loved one? Why not? When was the last time you or your children were so sick that you missed Church and called for the elders to pray over you and your family? As an elder I can assure you that we would love nothing more than to be invited into your home in a moment of vulnerability to have the privilege and honor to lay hands on your sick loved one and anoint them with oil. Rather than an inconvenience, it’s our pleasure.
Here’s a question: when your family is so sick that you’ve missed Church on a Sunday, does that same illness keep you from your work on a Monday? This is one of those diagnostic questions that only you can answer. If you find yourself regularly pulling the plug on gathering together with the saints on a Sunday, only to realize that, miraculously on Monday morning everyone seems just fine, you may have a case of the Sunday morning flu which Pastor Spurgeon has mentioned a time or two. In other words, Sunday morning flu absences are sinful reasons for missing the gathering together of the saints. Lumped in with the Sunday flu could be decisions which allow you to avoid the inconvenience, headache, and chaos of trying to wrangle a bunch of sick (fever free) kids during the Sunday morning worship. With all the moms, young ladies, teenagers, and ladies without children in the Church, you have plenty of resources to help with your fussy kids. Moms and Dads aren’t superheroes, so please, don’t let fear or pride keep you from asking your brothers and sisters for help, we actually enjoy it!
Remember this story from Mark 2?
“Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.” (Mark 2:4)
Juxtapose this scene with the last time you missed Church for sniffles or other common complaints. These men, friends of the paralytic, took great pains to bring their loved one into the presence of Jesus. Nothing would stop them, yet we loathe the idea of needing a Kroger bag to hold all the snotty rags which our child’s nose demands, and dread the idea of having to ensure the child with the cold doesn’t lick the pews or wipe his nose on another child, while these friends of the paralytic would not be deterred. Imagine if these men had not brought their friend to Jesus on that particular day, citing the fact that they’d have to carry him (inconvenient and difficult) out in the elements (uncomfortable), then get him up to the roof and lower him down (very unorthodox). “Is it even worth it?” they could have asked.
Do we ask that? Is it worth it to bring our family to Church in the face of inconvenience? Think about the men in the story above. What would they have missed out on? What better way could they have shown their love for their friend? Now consider your situation on a Sunday morning and ask yourself if it’s worth it for your family to miss out on Christ. “It’s just this week”, “We can watch it on the live stream”. Both are true statements. But consider this: does your decision to stay home for what amounts to sniffles and inconvenience teach your child that church is important, or does it teach them that trivial matters can keep you away without consequences?
There are of course exceptions aplenty in this discernment minefield. Each household, husband and wife reasoning together, considering the frame of their child or their own, led by faith, in conjunction with their healthcare providers, must decide when it is time to stay home with the kids, and when it is time to load up, inconvenient snotty noses and whining all included. Mistakes will be made. Kids who were deathly ill on a Sunday morning will be fine by 5pm. The same thing can be said about adults: adults sick at 7 am can be feeling fine by 5pm. This happens. If this is you, and you made what you felt was the best call at the time, you need not feel guilt: God knows your frame and the intentions of your heart. However, if this is you, and it’s merely your easy out excuse to not have to deal with a chaotic2 Sunday morning at SKC, then you need to repent.
As I get older, the aches, pains, and slow recovery from illness have increased as well. Nearly every Sunday when my wife and I wake up, if we tried, we could likely come up with some physical reason for skipping Church “just this once”. Let me tell you, the value of pushing past the momentary discomfort, putting yourself in a position of vulnerability among the brethren, is sanctifying to your soul, encouraging to your fellow believers, and teaches your children that your family is going to get to Jesus no matter what.
In Christ,
Aaron
1. Last year around this time I wrote a paper for a class at New Geneva Academy which put forth the position that Church attendance was not an optional activity in the life of a Christian. If you missed it, take a few minutes and read through it here. In the paper I did not attempt to address every possible issue which may arise leaving us standing at a crossroads having to decide “should I go to Church this morning or not?”
2. Follow up question, which will be the subject of a future blog post: why does a sick child equal chaos in your home? The answer has nothing to do with the sick child.
2. Follow up question, which will be the subject of a future blog post: why does a sick child equal chaos in your home? The answer has nothing to do with the sick child.