COVID-19 (also known as the novel Corona Virus) has disrupted normalcy and stability for many of our routines and social structures. More severely, it has threatened the health and well-being of our most vulnerable community members, those we as the church are tasked with honoring and serving. What does it look like to show compassionate neighbor-love and offer collective worship of God when the core of our life together may put others at risk? Does this mean that the church, too, has her foundations shaken with her life teetering in the balance?
By no means!
The church has a long history of service and growth when facing some of the worst ailments, opposition, and plagues in history.
This moment should be no different.
However, the way we structure our common life, the means by which we communicate and walk together may require resourceful innovation. It may force us to revisit Scripture afresh, dig deeper into its pages, and intently focus on the dispersion of God’s people throughout her history to understand how to thrive in this crucial moment. One thing is certain:
It requires the church to leave the building.
Perhaps the call to leave the building is a call to understand the church as the Temple. Leaving the building challenges us to realize that the church is the gathered people’s hearts (not a public facility) making space for communing with the indwelling Spirit. While our gathering is in separate spaces in the moment (and we all yearn for this temporary separation to end soon), when we are open to the LORD with one mind and one heart, when we engage in worship with a spirit of togetherness, when we push back against the weight of the world’s anxiety, fears, and despair, we are displaying to the cosmic powers and the watching world God’s beautiful Kingdom.
So while it is okay to mourn the absence of our gathered togetherness bodily (we should miss this terribly!), let us not lose heart. May we realize that the core of our mission as the people of God never consisted solely in what we do in the building. What we do at the building should equip and empower our weekly ministries as we disperse and sow Kingdom seeds among the world’s fields. It should equip us to live life together in the grit and tension of the old nature’s looming shadow.
All our prior togetherness has equipped you for a moment such as this. In your dispersion, know that your mission has only changed in approach, but the soul of it still beats wildly. While it may be better neighbor-love in the moment to share life from afar, know steadfastly that we are walking with one another in this night with Christ lighting the darkened path before us.
May you see that our common with-God and for-God life has always thrived in intentional community lived in the rhythms of the every day.
This common life can thrive for us through intentional communication and acts of love. These very well may prove to be the lighthouse to keep someone else from wrecking on the rocky shores of the moment.
The church may not be gathered at the building in this moment. But let it not be said that we caved to fear or threat. Rather, we are seeking a better way to march forth with our light and mission blazing more brightly than ever.
And never forget, you are the keeper of that sacred light.
Shine it today without reserve. For the life of the world needs your bravery.
May God's Grace and Peace Be With You All,
Matthew Miller