The Church Will Make It

   

    This Sunday, my church opened it's doors for the first time in 3 months. Granted, those doors were opened by sanitized wipes and were left open the whole morning to avoid multiple hands touching and exchanging germs on it. But it opened. We were together again, standing in our sanctuary, singing praises to the God who made it possible for all of us to be together even in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was weird in some ways to be back. I had a mask on until I took my seat, and upon seeing my church friends we had to restrain from hugging each other. My seat was 6 ft from the rows in front of, behind and to the sides of mine, and we skipped our morning greeting time. So in a way, it did not feel like church. 

 Until my pastor opened up his Bible and instructed us to do the same. 

    Church had felt strange the whole morning. But the minute I got my notebook out and began to listen to his preaching, the Word of God showed me that THIS was church. Worshiping and learning together, even if we are 6 feet apart. Sure, it's weird and a little uncomfortable. It reminds us once again that life has not been unchanged, and we are not out of the woods with this pandemic just yet. But we need church, in whatever manner it is given to us. Hebrews 10:24-25 says  "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 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.". It would have been easy to become comfortable watching our live streams on our couches every morning, but it would not have been the church God calls for. It would not have been real. What is real is when we lift up our voices together, when we listen to sound teaching of the Word. 

    Some people mentioned how they aren't very excited about this "new normal" as people are calling it. How they are worried that face masks and seats 6 feet apart and the requests to not linger and catch up with friends after church will last for too long, or worse become permanent. While the odds of this are extremely low, I can understand the feeling. The fear that our lives will ways have this dark cloud over them, a constant reminder that we must distance, or risk the consequences of Covid-19. That the church will not come out the same after all this. And honestly, it probably won't. We will come out different. But that doesn't mean we won't make it. 

    My pastor mentioned this in his preaching on Sunday. The church has survived over 2,000 years of tragedy, pandemics and wars. It survived the Black Plague (and came out stronger, as Protestantism was formed soon after). The church made it through 2 world wars, bringing light in the midst of it and after. The church will survive Covid-19 and all the other issues in the world right now, because God wills it. He will not fail us even if we suffer. And as for what will change, let us strive for it to be good change. Let us come out of this quarantine period with renewed love for the church and our fellow Christians, with passion to spread the gospel, and with a desire to follow God more zealously than ever before. The church will change in the year 2020, but we should make it change for the better. The world is dark enough as it is, let's not add to it by being pessimistic about the future of God's church, which in the end does not belong to us, or the government or a pandemic.

    The future of the church belongs in the hands of God. 

   Our joy should be placed in the gospel and in the sovereignty of God. We should rejoice knowing that unlike the rest of the world, we can sleep peacefully, knowing that whatever happens, good or bad, it is what God wanted and chose to happen. This is something even I struggle to understand, that we should be joyful over our lack of control. It goes against human nature, but then again, so does salvation. Human nature is sin, and anxiety and fear. God's nature, that which we should strive for even if it is impossible, is righteousness, contentment and peace. And it is through the church and His word that we can find this, even in the middle of all our worries. (Colossians 3:15- "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.") The church will make it, not because of us. But because of Him. 

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