Church is Open

Five years ago, as the year 2020 came in, I was out of the country, and I was making birthday plans. I was turning 50 in 52 days and I had plans. 2020 was here and I was ready to celebrate. Fifty-two days into the New  Year I turned 50 and had set birthday plans in motion for March, April, May, June, and July. However, 75 days into the New Year the world was turned upside down and all my plans were canceled. As a lover of Shakespeare in March I often said, “Beware the Ides of March.” That’s March 15th for non-Shakespeare lovers and the day Julius Caesar was killed. Well, that statement took on a new meaning for me, because around March 15th State buildings began to close. Something was happening. Life, as we all knew it, changed. Businesses and even churches were forced to close without a spec of snow or an inch of rain or threat of wind. In the year of our Lord 2020, the entire world was hit with a plague! Well plague is what I called it but the world’s leaders call it a pandemic. March 2020, the weather was mild, and I thought March is not coming in like a lion. I was wrong! March indeed came in like a lion and instead of leaving like a lamb that lion continued to roar and roar and roar.

During this unprecedented time, professional athletes complained about the possibility of playing in empty stadiums while Pastors were giving full sermons to empty churches. I could hear the emptiness in the building, while the Pastor preached. There were no Amens or hand claps to be heard but the Pastor still preached. With a small crew, church went on. As members sat home in lounge clothes, they logged onto their computers to see their Pastor in his Sunday best deliver the Word of God to an empty church. Even as weeks turned into months, Pastors and church leaders pressed forward. I gained a greater appreciation for the actual church building, for my Pastor, for the leaders of the church, and for the small crew. When the world slowly opened and I was able to go back into the building I had an even greater appreciation of the building and its members. The church wasn’t the same. For many, fear and/or the ease of worshipping behind a screen became the norm. Even after the ban had been lifted church members chose to forsake the assembling of one another. If we didn’t learn anything from COVID it should have taught us to appreciate our Pastor, leaders, faithful few, and the assembling of the saints.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive us for forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Forgive us for taking the church, the Pastor, and the church’s leaders for granted. Forgive us, Lord, for failing to use our gifts to maintain church ministry as You have instructed. Thank You for providing a way to gather during and after the pandemic. Help us, Lord, to appreciate the work it takes for the Pastor and the leadership team to adjust to new norms as the world changes. Thank You, Lord, for the Pastor and church leaders who are seeking You during difficult times and bringing Your Word despite push back. Thank You, for Your grace and mercy, Lord. And thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
 By Sis. Patricia Towns