Articles
Spiritual Disruption
During our recent trip to Tennessee, Texas and Alabama we experienced a variety of COVID-altered congregational activities. In Nashville we had an in-home devotion on Wednesday night. On Sunday the Lord’s supper was the prepackaged variety, which is a real trick to open without wearing your grape juice.
In Graham, Texas the following Wednesday there was one person in attendance outside of the Jonas-Criswell extended family (some in the congregation had contracted COVID; others, mostly elderly, were afraid of exposure). Their Sunday evening worship is suspended for the present.
In Birmingham we had Bible study on Wednesday night via Zoom. They began with a recorded choir rendition of two hymns, and a brother led a live prayer. The study merely confirmed my feelings about electronic communications: while it may suffice as a temporary accommodation, trying to teach and share ideas via Zoom is a poor substitute for being in the same room with others. It inhibits a spontaneous sharing of thoughts and even in one-on-one sessions causes constant interruptions due to transmission delay.
So, here we are, nine months into the pandemic. Churches across the land are still cobbling together worship services, altering schedules, trying to teach adults and children alike in suboptimal conditions.
While there are elements of our present situation that many justifiably find troubling, where is the guarantee that we will always be able to worship in convenient, favorable circumstances? Perhaps this generation has been lulled into a false sense of security by our privileges. Our Judeo-Christian culture has been tolerant of if not always friendly toward Christian practice. Maybe we’ve been spoiled by the ease of safe, comfortable transportation, climate controlled buildings and the freedom to assemble without interference from the authorities.
Think about others who have worshiped God under difficulty:
1. Israel under the Mosaic system. Worship under the Law was, in a word, rigorous. Three annual feasts were to be attended by all Israelite males in Jerusalem, not at the local synagogue (which didn’t exist in the OT record). Animals were slaughtered as both compulsory and free will sacrifices. Beyond the normal challenges corporate worship often fell into neglect and disuse through enemy oppression, idolatrous corruption or plain Israelite apathy (cf. 2 Chr 29-30; 34-35). The conscientious worshiper endured long stretches where he was not able to be fully engaged with God as He desired, yet God expected individual faith to endure.
2. First generation Christians. From early threats by the Sanhedrin against leaders (Ac 4-5) to later persecutions against the rank and file (Ac 8, 12) there was little opportunity for comfort and peace among the first believers. It is still amazing that the early flicker of belief was not snuffed out by civil power – first Jewish, then Roman. Instead, the “Way” became a consuming fire across the Empire because of the personal conviction of many who saw through the transparent curtain of hate, ridicule and threat to the spiritual, eternal truth beyond. These people endured because they knew what they believed, and believed what they knew. The price tag on their faith made it real to them.
3. Successive generations of Christians. Just when have believers had it as easy as 20th and 21st century Christians? In the Roman arenas being savaged by gladiators and wild beasts? During the Middle Ages when papal rule condemned heretics to the most gruesome deaths in the name of orthodoxy? In modern Communist China or Muslim nations where God’s people are fined, imprisoned or even killed?
In other words, we have lived in a uniquely blessed time in history, a time when we have been free and well-resourced to worship and work for the Lord with little persecution. How has it equipped us now that a prolonged (and by history’s standards, relatively minor) crisis is in full bloom?
As with last week’s bulletin, once again I received an email as I was writing this article. I mention this to emphasize how troublesome this pandemic continues to be in churches across the land. Here is an excerpt:
“The situation is not a little unsettling. Members who I would have never expected to absence themselves from assembling are never even heard from. Nothing – Nada. Maybe the elders are hearing from them but not the members ... I just don’t buy they cannot assemble due to this virus. As you, I fear a great weakness in the church. I also foresee a new round of assessing who are true Christians – from both sides of the subject. Those attending judging those not and those not attending accusing others of risking their lives with their actions – and those not attending also feeling we judge them by our mere presence at services. Satan has found a crack in the brotherhood and is exploiting it well. Unfortunately there are more weak members than I would have dreamed that there were.”
I hear of Christians who can work, shop, eat out at restaurants, even go to weddings or on vacation with fellow Christians but cannot come to worship. I hear of Christians at home on Zoom who can be seen by brethren in the assembly drinking their coffee, dressed casually, with the TV playing in the background, repeatedly getting up to attend to some trivial distraction. I hear of brethren with 20/20 hindsight criticizing the leadership for decisions made under critical pressure, sometimes colored by exaggerated media information – when they were merely trying to address the conflicts presented by COVID. I hear of those who resent wearing masks; I hear of those who feel threatened by those who don’t. I hear of those who think COVID is either a hoax or a politically manipulated crisis; I hear of those who couldn’t visit their loved ones as they lay dying of the virus. I hear the phrase “abundance of caution” and fear that it will become an easy excuse in the future to justify weakness and absenteeism.
I am concerned about what the congregations of the Lord will look like in America after the crisis has passed (or, shall I say, after special interests have realized how easily the whole country could be persuaded to inflict self-imposed isolation). I do not know what the “new normal” will be, but whatever it is, it is up to each individual Christian to reaffirm his/her faith in the Lord and dedication to sacrificial service to Him, which includes taking risks when worshiping God may not be as easy as in former times.
