Across the state, like those who throw open their shutters after a storm, people are starting to reopen their businesses. One by one, restaurants, retail stores, and service providers are rehanging their shingles. But the church isn’t a business. We aren’t here to sell you something, or even to provide a “service.” The church is different. The church is about hugs and laughter, singing and fellowship, healing and rescue, prayer and receiving the sacraments–the very presence of God. The church is about touch and togetherness. That’s why we can’t reopen our doors. These days, in-person fellowship is just too dangerous.
I’m sure this is painful. It’s painful for me, too. We need each other more than ever and we long to be with each other in the flesh. But as the church we are called to a higher purpose–to care for the most vulnerable in our midst. Consider this from Micah 6:6-8:
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before God with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” The Lord has told you what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
What does the Lord require of us? To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. We don’t need to worship in-person to live into this calling. In times like these, justice, kindness, and humility require us to be physically distanced. It also requires us to be creative in the ways we serve God and one another. Continue to be innovative and seek new methods to reach out to each other and our neighbors. Keep investing in online worship. Remain engaged in extravagant generosity with your online and snail mail giving. And for the sake of all God’s children, keep physically distant, but faithfully present.
