Warning: CONTENT MAY OFFEND.
We live in polarising times and the topic of this article is proving to be polarising in the general community of Aotearoa New Zealand, and in the local church that I serve as lead pastor of. This article might raise emotions that you have trouble articulating. My advice in these trouble times comes from Jesus himself as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28, where he says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Why I didn’t get vaccinated
Okay, so the title of this article was an attempt at click bait, and the executive summary is that I have received my first jab of the Pfizer vaccination here in New Zealand (the only vaccine available). But there is a story I want to share about why I’m an advocate for vaccination that may encourage some of you to think about your why not.
Scepticism
I’ve always called myself a cautious entrepreneur. I love the idea of creating new things and taking risk, and I have done that many times, but it’s more than a small voice of caution that speaks to my dreams of inventiveness, so as the vaccine rollout gathered pace, that voice of caution encouraged algorithms to feed me more than my fair share of articles and opinions that fed restraint and caution.
For a long time I took the wait-and-see approach to the COVID vaccine, using the often-heard justification that I’m young[ish], healthy[ish], and that even if I somehow attained the virus, I should be okay.
Yes, my level of scepticism was on the rise.
The voice of God
Like many people, I sometimes lie in bed over-thinking about life and the challenges in front of me. On one such morning, out of a random corner my thoughts, I heard that other, quieter voice, the one I [sometimes] recognise as being God. Often it’s hard to discern that voice from all the others, but years of spiritual practices have taught me a thing or two about hearing God’s voice.
As a musician I have a wide repertoire of music that I enjoy. As I lay in bed that morning, the words of Gotta Serve Somebody, a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan on his 1979 studio album Slow Train Coming, came to my mind. For those who know it, sing the chorus with me: “Well it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody.”
Except I felt God lead me to change the words to, ‘You gotta trust somebody.’
Trust
You see, I’m a rational thinker. I read widely and like to consider many points of view. That has been my experience as a disciple of Jesus.
That morning I sensed God feed my thought pattern along the direction of thinking about trust. I’ve rationalised faith over my lifetime. I’ve rationalised Jesus over my lifetime, but for any current or future disciple, at some point, we’ve got to trust, we’ve got to have faith. There’ll be questions that have to be left on the table.
Trusting God is an act of faith with undetermined outcomes, for today, and for eternity.
I felt God say that this is the same with the vaccine and His question to me was, “Who are you going to trust? The small minority with conspiracy theories that might have a little credibility, but not much, or the vast majority around the globe including health experts who have taken the vaccine themselves?” In our context in New Zealand that also includes the Director General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, who has risen to national prominence during the pandemic, and is an openly confident disciple of Jesus.
I knew the answer
The question that God was asking me was a rhetorical one, it didn’t need answering. I instantly knew the answer and what He was saying, and that receiving the vaccination would help my family, my church, and my nation (in that order).
Several hours later I drove to the Auckland Airport Mass Vaccination Centre (because we were in our harshest Level 4 lockdown and I needed a valid excuse for a drive), and experienced that interesting environment for the sake of history, receiving my 1st jab in the drive through marquee. The second jab will follow in 6-8 weeks as prescribed.
Choice
I also know taking the vaccine is a personal choice, and as a Christian leader I’m not going to be overly vocal about what people should do. I serve a church who God has gifted freedom of choice to, people have been given levels of intelligence to work these things out and there’s more than enough information to make their choice. On top of that, I in no way want to get stuck in any spiritual conspiracy story and there is no way that I think that the government is doing anything with the vaccine that is about control or socialism or anything like that, and there’s not a single thought that the vaccine is the mark of the beast (really there are more people than you think who are saying this).
Who are you going to trust?
Faith in Christ means that whatever happens in this world, God is with us, and God is good. If you’re on the fence about the vaccination programme, maybe you need to hear God asking the question He asked me, “Who are you going to trust?”
The words of Jesus in the Gospel of John, Chapter 16, Verse 33 have resonated with me over this time, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
I am grateful that my faith has played a significant part in this very uncertain period of my life. The certainty of faith is something none of us should ignore.