Praise God that he is a God of second chances! We are no doubt all the beneficiaries. While many will have been dismayed at the announcement on Saturday 31 October of a second lockdown, few can have been surprised. Despite it being described as a nuclear option by the Prime Minister in July, the seemingly relentless spread of Covid-19, combined with the shortcomings of the track and trace initiative, the inability of the NHS to cope with the projected influx of Covid-19 sufferers, as well as the length of time, still uncertain, to prepare a vaccine, the Prime Minister’s SAGE advisers gave him no alternative but to call a second lockdown.

There are once again huge costs – from the very many whose livelihoods are being affected, notably the poorest to those whose mental health will suffer, some of whom may commit suicide – to say nothing of the wider despair that a second lockdown is causing. But, as Christians, we need to acknowledge in a way that we have not yet obviously done so, that both the nation and the church are in a dire state. Despite about eight months of having had Covid-19 in the UK, there is no obvious sign either in the populace as a whole or in most of the church, of any real humbling, repentance and drawing close to a righteous, just and holy God. Far from it.

Truly, we have failed whatever God may have hoped we would learn from our first lockdown.

It is easy to point to the problems of others. As we look across the Atlantic to the USA, we see a country and a church riven by division along innumerable fault-lines. Yet the recent calls to prayer and repentance, both in Washington and across the USA, are in marked contrast to the lack of meaningful response by any senior church leaders in the UK. Truly, we have failed whatever God may have hoped we would learn from our first lockdown.

Cycle of sin and repentance

In the Old Testament, the Israelites often had to do things multiple times, until they learnt their lessons – think of Jacob tending Laban’s sheep for 20 years. Think, too, of the Israelites who were in the wilderness for 40 years to make an 11-day journey, unable to entered the Promised Land earlier, because of unbelief. The book of Judges paints a picture of a cycle of sin, the consequences of sin, servitude, followed by calling out to God, and His restoration, until those involved had forgotten His mercy, and indulged in sin again. The books of Samuel and Kings in the broadest outline are similar – and the books of the prophets are those of God’s mouthpieces encouraging His people to repent, or there would be consequences.

The church in the UK is full of all sorts of sin: bad doctrine, rejecting God’s word, elevating man’s teachings, immoral conduct, unrighteousness, and – among many who should know better – a marked lukewarmness. The country is in the same mess as the church, only much more so, rejecting any notion of God’s sovereignty, legalising what the Bible prohibits and criminalising what the Bible endorses, and enjoying the pleasures of sin. All standards of absolute morality have been rejected. The only future for both the country and the church is earnest repentance – and that entails meaningful action as well as words. During this second lockdown, is the wider Church repenting? That is questionable. Throughout history, however, and throughout the Bible, God has worked through a remnant – and it is my belief that He wants the ekklesia to arise. He has given us the authority and the keys we need to do all He has called us to do. But we need to know what specifically that is – and accordingly we need to pray and fast, seeking His face in repentance, in confession, in mercy for our manifold sins. For some things, we need to pray and fast (Mark 9:29).

Iran’s church leading by example

Following a bad beginning to the year, including the shooting down of an airliner, many deaths from Covid-19 and much more, the underground church in Iran fasted as a body for 42 days¹. And God revealed things to them – about 2020 and 2021, and much more – some of which is also relevant to us². The point is they, though, a young church, did pray and fast – whereas we an old institution (!), who should know better, have not really done so. We need to seek God’s forgiveness for not having done so, and our pride that we think we are better than they are).

Yes, the Church of England is encouraging congregants to pray and fast one day a week – which is a good thing, but their website page³ on A call to pray for the nation has nothing on the urgent need for repentance – at individual, local and wider church levels, nor indeed nationally.

The challenge

The challenge is simple: the ekklesia needs to pray and fast, intentionally, however much longer this lockdown lasts.

The challenge is simple: the ekklesia needs to pray and fast, intentionally, however much longer this lockdown lasts. This is not saying we must all fast every day till the end of lockdown – which may or may not end on the 2nd December, and might be next spring, as even with the potential new vaccine, rollout will be complicated and slow. Rather, could we in the ekklesia pray every day, as the Lord leads, and fast for at least one day a week? Some may wish to do more, some should not fast from food at all – but surely all can go without something, whether it is second helpings, coffee, chocolate, newspapers, too long on our computers, however the Lord leads us. Whether different ministries and churches want to ‘adopt’ a day, when everyone involved fasts on that particular day, or have every day of the week ‘covered’ is a decision that should be taken on an individual basis. But the need for concerted, spirit-led prayer, fasting and repenting, beseeching God for His mercy is immense.

Endnotes

¹ Infidels in Iran and Apostates in America, FAI Publishing, 2 October 2020
² The Death of Sunday Morning, FAI Publishing, 9 October 2020
³ The Church of England