Together for Church - Reopening, Hope to See you Sunday

Together for Church

            We love coming to church to worship and see our friends.  The gathering is part of who we are.  Streamed worship services are just not the same.  Yet, for the sake of safety and the prevention of the spread of the Coronavirus, we have stayed away from the church building and away from each other.  We’ve worshiped through streaming platforms.  Now, as the country gradually reopens, we are returning to in-person worship.  As we do, ponder with me the different forms in which God’s people have gathered for worship.

            Consider the history of church.  Church is a community of people joined together by their shared faith in Jesus.  Church is not and never has been the building.  The very first churches did not own buildings and in the world today, there are 100’s and perhaps of churches that do not own buildings. 

God’s people have not been locked into any set pattern for gathering to worship.  In the earliest times, before Israel was even a nation, people would set up an altar wherever they were.  They’d kill an animal and offer it as a sacrifice to God.  When God led the descendants of Abraham out of slavery in Egypt, they wandered in the Sinai desert for 40 years.  During that time, God instructed the people on how to build a tabernacle and then on how to worship at that tabernacle once completed (Exodus 35-40). 

            Once settled in the land, the people continued worshipping at mobile altars for hundreds of years, until the reign of King Solomon.  He built the temple in Jerusalem.  That became the center of Israel’s religious culture.  In outlying villages, synagogues developed as places of worship.  When the Babylonians destroyed the temple (586 BC, see 2 Kings 25:9; Jeremiah 52:13) and many Jews from Judah were taken into exile, they had to learn how to worship God faithfully while away from Jerusalem.

            In the days of Jesus and the second temple, the village synagogue was the local house of worship.  The Romans destroyed that temple (70 AD) and over time, more and more Jews lived in the diaspora away from Israel.  Gradually worship evolved from a sacrificial system to a worship practice based on scripture.  Christians in the first century AD worshipped in people’s homes and during periods of extreme persecution had to worship in catacombs.

            This brief synopsis shows how widely worship practices and locales have varied and how much what we do in worship has evolved.  Followers of Jesus have worshiped in prisons, around campfires, in grand gothic cathedrals, and small country chapels.  For the past few months, we have worshiped in our homes watching the service streamed on computers.  God is the same God.  We adapt in the ways we, as a community, related to him.

            North Carolina is gradually re-opening after months of stay-at-home orders intended to slow the spread of the novel Coronavirus.  Phase 1 of the re-open began May 8.  Now, in phase 2, our congregation, Hillside Church, has resumed in-person worship with a few qualifiers.  First, if you are not feeling well, stay home.  We’re still offering streaming worship and we plan on continuing this even after the COVID-19 crisis has passed.  Second, if you are in a vulnerable population based on age or your own health condition, stay home.  Be in touch us to let us know your plans so we can stay connected and be praying for you.  But please, do not feel any pressure.  Attend in-person worship when you feel comfortable and ready to do so.

            If you do, come, prepare to sit spread out.  This past Sunday we had seating for over 150 people, and 20 showed up.  Six of them were musicians and stayed on the stage.  So, there was plenty of space for social distancing.  Everyone except those on stage wore masks.  If you do come during this time, please wear a mask.  We can provide them if you don’t have one.  Also, our service time has been reduced to 40 minutes to reduce exposure time.

            If we commit to these social distancing practices, we will be as safe as possible, and those who are ready to do so will be able to worship in person.  Those who stay home and those who come for in-person worship are equally part of the church family.  God is still God and God is with us.  God will work his purposes in our church family, and through our church family, God will spread His good new in our community, even in a time such as this.