Coronavirus

By my reckoning we are somewhere around Day 335 of our COVID Exile (or is it a seige?). It was basically March 12, 2020, when the whole world began to cancel and shutdown. On the Sunday after that shutdown began I preached from the book of Hebrews. Being 335 days into this season it feels like a word of encouragement is fitting, and this "time capsule" seemed worth revisiting. I hope it encourages you. 

Over the last few months we’ve gone from the reality of COVID-19 to a global economic upheaval to the death of George Floyd to riots and looting in cities across America. These recent events feel unrelated and distinct, but they aren’t. They’re simply ripple effects of something that happened thousands of years ago and which shapes everything we experience in this world.

The elders are grateful that the church will be able to begin meeting together again on Sunday mornings. It will be a mixture of praise, joy, gratefulness, and awkwardness. We are glad to be back together, but recognize that the changes in our schedule, physical space, and safety protocols will feel unnatural and frustrating at times.

Thank you for your commitment to bearing with one another and with your leaders as we seek to honor the Lord, provide a safe environment, and encourage one another through gathering together in these strange times.

Currently we find ourselves in the midst of a lot of change, especially when it comes to our routines. One thing that doesn’t change is God’s word and the truth contained in it. Jesus told his disciples that if we would abide in his word we would know the truth and it would set us free.  

Last week in our sermon we looked at Romans 15, God’s guidance for handling disagreements between Christians. Seems like a worthwhile topic to revisit here.

COVID-19 brings with it a lot of opportunity for disagreements:

• Should the church follow the government’s orders or practice civil disobedience?
• Should churches add protocols for COVID or keep things as normal?
• Who are the medical and public health voices we should listen to?

It’ll feel a little different to gather while maintaining what we now call “social distance.” This six feet of space we call “social distance” is just a tad farther than normal. It’s basically the distance of a fist bump where you don’t quite land it.

This isn’t brand new, though. If your family had the stomach bug or the flu is blowing through the children’s ministry, you wash your hands a lot. You might even stay out of children’s ministry. Sometimes you don’t shake hands.

The quarantine that has occurred over the last seven weeks or so has only increased our love of the fellowship of God’s people as we gather to worship, pray and hear God’s word preached.  The elders would appeal to each member of our church to help with the transition that will occur over the next few weeks and months as we begin to gather again and move back to normalcy. 

This week our special guest is Phil Sasser, Pastor Emeritus at SGC. We'll post this in two parts. The first has to do with the Sunday gathering, and the second with workplace evangelism. Given Phil's decades in pastoral ministry and his extensive study of the Bible and church history, he has a lot of insight about the Lord's Day gathering and what it means to the life of a Christian. Stayed tuned for the end of the interview for his...candid...advice to parents of young boys about preparing for Sunday worship.

The example of the NT church is that they met on Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection, and they referred to it as “the Lord’s Day.” To come together on the Lord’s Day wasn’t a convenient add-on to living the Christian life. It was one of the essential activities of the Christian:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb 10:24–25) 

With hard things coming our way pretty fast it's good to look at God's Word and remember some of the reasons why they do. Otherwise we can miss what God might be up to in our lives. Here are the 12 reasons listed out: