On (virtually) going to church

 

On (virtually) going to church

 

As happened with many, my local church closed its doors and went to a fully virtual mode for several weeks to help lessen the spread of Covid-19. And so, my wife and I sat in front of a screen with other family members in their nearby home. It was better than nothing.

 

With delight we returned to physical church some weeks back, with a video feed for those unable to attend. Social distancing replaced handshakes and hugs. The harsh perfume of hand sanitiser rose like incense. Masking-up meant that people smiled only with their eyes. Even so, to be with our church family in a familiar place whose walls enshrine heritage was wonderful. It is indeed good not to be alone and we yearn for the companionship of others bearing the image of our maker who is Trinity in relationship.

 

More recently, circumstances sometimes prevented physical attendance or even from doing virtual church in company. Instead I sat, with solitude, in front of a screen. I was reminded that I am made for God and that he is for me in Christ and his Spirit. The Bible was well explained, illustrated and applied and that is good for me. And of course, private and family acts of devotion can supplement the screen and nourish the soul and our social identity. Still, something was missing.

 

Virtually watching church in solitude is not the same as going to church. For church is inherently social - a gathering of God’s people to him through the Son and in the Spirit.

 

And so, I will engage with virtual church when that is all that circumstances permit. (And I am mindful that this is all that some can do and that others cannot even do this.) But, when it is possible, I will be there with real presence, for that is better by far.

 

From little things, big things grow - the verbs of faith

From little things, big things grow –  verbs of the faith

The Christian faith is sometimes the subject of elevated discussion using long sentences, polysyllabic language and abstract concepts.

That is right. Christianity claims to give a mega-narrative which explains everything in space and time (and touches on things outside of space of time). It also makes a total call of all of our thinking, emotions, feelings, words and actions. Anything making those claims deserves sophisticated thinking and language.

However, the heart of Christianity can also be expressed through a few simple verbs. (Which is apt, for he is first a God of deeds rather than of ideas).

So, here are five verbs of the faith, largely drawn from Mark 1:15-20. Jesus went to Galilee, met some people, then told them that the kingdom of God was here and how they should respond. True Christianity is always like that – always a response to the deeds and words of God in Christ.

·       Repent (v15)

At its simplest, ‘repent’ means to stop heading where you are, do an about turn and head the other way. Its starts in the mind and turns into deeds. And so, we stop walking away from God, turn to face him and then walk towards and with him.

Repentance is the first and necessary part of conversion.

·       Believe (v15)

The call is ‘to believe the gospel’ which is the message about Jesus. To believe the gospel is to trust in Jesus. To trust what he did on the Cross for our forgiveness. To trust the promises of his resurrection and ascension. To trust his words such that we live with him and for him. To entrust ourselves to him.

The two words, ‘repent’ and ‘believe’ are verbs of conversion. When we repent and believe, we have become a Christian. However, God is not finished with us yet and the person who stops at conversion has quite missed God’s point. God does not just want us to enter his kingdom with repentance and faith, but he wants us to live in his kingdom as a loyal follower and servant.

·       Follow (v17)

As we follow Jesus, we start to resemble him. Our thoughts, words and actions will be increasingly like his. All this is a natural outcome of believing in him. Notice how the call to the fishermen brothers was simply expressed as ‘Follow me’ and resulted in them arising, leaving and following. For them, to believe was to follow.

To follow is to turn our conversation into discipleship. Jesus is now not just our Saviour, but he is also our Lord.

·       Serve (v17)

‘Follow me’ is immediately followed by ‘and I will make you fishers of men’. To follow Jesus means (as we saw) that we start to say and do as he does. And that means that we become part of his mission in all its forms. For these fishermen, that specifically meant telling others about him, and calling them to repentance and faith and to follow. For each of God’s people, there is a gifting of the Spirit that enables some activity in which we help Jesus and his mission. To follow is to serve.

This is when discipleship becomes service.

·       Grow

The above four verbs are the heart of the faith. However, we can usefully add a fifth verb that is implied by them – ‘grow’. The Christian’s goal is to grow to be more and more like Jesus (Eph 4:12-13, 15-16). This happens on the simple logic that, to the extent that we are like Jesus, we are truly and gloriously most human, for he most bears that image of God which is our created identity (Gen 1:26; Col 1:15).

There is to be an inevitable and organic growth such that the convert grows into the disciple who then grows into a servant. It’s not like a freeway with several exit points. Rather it is like stepping on a moving footway where one stage leads naturally to the next. It’s a denial of conversion not to grow to discipleship. And it’s a denial of discipleship not to grow to service. Growth to each stage, and within each stage, is all part of Christian identity.

From little things, big things grow as the seed of faith turns into followers who serve (Mat. 13:31-32).

Conversation with a dying man

I recently spoke with a man who is dying. Correction – every person I speak with is dying. As is the man in the mirror. However, this man knows he is dying and what he is likely to die from. In a matter of months, a strong and vigorous man has become terminal. A great day for him now is to walk to the end of the street and back, eat three times daily and have bowel motions. Soon enough even those days will be memories for him and then for his surviving family.

He is a Christian man. He has been of faith for many years and has given distinguished service over many years at high levels of church leadership.

He appreciates appreciation for his church service but, as he says, ‘we are saved by grace not works’ and ‘all that matters is that Christ died for me’.

He does not want to die yet and is not looking forward to the process of dying. However, he is sure of his destiny because he knows who holds it and who chose him before creation, brought him to faith, nurtured faith into discipleship and discipleship into service.

He is not afraid. Not angry. Nor despondent. Rather he is abounding in life. So much so that in speaking I was able to say, ‘for a dying man you sound very well.’ He does not expect the Lord to deliver him from death but has unshakeable confidence that He will deliver him through death.

And so, he has the sure and certain hope of which Scripture speaks (Heb 6:19). He does not brush his death aside with mindless platitudes, deny it, try to escape it with mindfulness, nor yield to despair. These medicines of unbelief hold no appeal, for the gospel is his tonic.

That is a living faith in a dying man.

Covid-19 and staying local for church

Covid-19 - staying local when it comes to church

As Covid-19 restrictions continue, most of us are doing virtual church. (This option is quite impossible for many majority-world Christians for whom the restrictions mean no church, but that is another story.)

We miss much. We miss the joy of seeing familiar faces in the flesh, exchanging hugs and handshakes, reading body language, singing together and sharing in the sacraments. We face the danger of being distracted zoombies as we have yet another enforced bout of screen time (or is that ‘scream time’).  It’s not the same and not as good as being there in the flesh.

However, there are also big opportunities as the world virtually opens before us. We can go to church anywhere that puts out a signal (or nowhere, if we want to break the habit of meeting together and not get caught).

Let’s face it – most of us can find a better preacher, better technology and better music if we prowl around the internet looking for a church more to our taste. There is no need to put up with the usual bunch of people and their mindless conversation, along with insipid church coffee and that preacher whose lines are familiar to us after years sitting under the same voice. And perhaps there is a place for visiting other churches as we seek more frequent rich feeding in these spiritually needy times.

However, there is a case for mainly staying local and continuing with the church we belong to. To me it’s a joy to see the pictures of our familiar church building appear to give a ‘before and after’ physical bracket to the virtual service – it’s a reminder of what was and yet will be.  Our pastor knows us and his introduction to the Sunday gathering connects into our lives in our local community. Familiar faces read the Bible and present music from our regular play list.  Each week a church member known to us is interviewed about how they are going in life and they then lead a pastoral prayer that reflects knowledge of our people, our church and its local activities and wider projects. The ministry of the word in the preaching of Scripture comes from a pastor who knows us and can explain and apply the Scripture into our lives.

Doubtless there’s a slicker presentation, more eloquent preaching and such like elsewhere on the web. However, those other churches are not there to pastor us locals. They won’t be there for us after Covid-19. They won’t make the regular phone calls that our church leadership are making to check on all members. Dropping into someone else’s virtual church is a bit like visiting another church when away from home for work or holidays. It’s better than not attending at all, but never the same as going to the church where we are pastored with ongoing knowledge and concern.

And that’s why I’m going to my local this Sunday.

Covid-19 and human identity

Covid-19 and human identity

 “Tell me about yourself” is a question we often ask when meeting a new person. Many answer by talking about our paid employment, profession or business activity.

And that leaves a challenge for those whose paid work has disappeared or been scaled back during the CV-19 season. Add that to the perceived humiliation of applying for government transfer payments and lining up at the food bank and our sense of identity may be shattered. We are what we are paid to do.

Let’s think about how work related to human identity. Does the loss of paid work undermine who we are?

In a Christian view, work is basic to human identity. In the foundational early chapters of Genesis, we read who we are. We are made in God’s image (1:26); we are gender differentiated (1:27; and we are made to be fruitful, to multiply and to rule over the rest of creation, including harvesting it for our food (1:28-29). We are also told to ‘work to work it and keep it’ with respect to physical creation (2:15), implying development and use of the earth’s resources, coupled with creation care. The curse on our work that results from our rebellion against God makes work hard and unsatisfying (3:17-19) – but work itself is not the curse.

In short, we were made to work as well as to socialise and to form family units (2:18-25). These activities were all there before the fall, are affected by it and are redeemed in Christ. In Him, we are still to do these things, only now as redeemed people who have an eye on eternity (eg, Eph 5:21 – 6:9).

The sense of shattered identity arising from lost or scaled back work during Covid-19 is real. However, it may be deepened by a too-narrow definition of work as ‘paid’.

The Old Testament discussion of sabbath rest shows the inadequacy of our definition of work as something we monetise. Israel was to rest from all her work on the sabbath (Ex 20:8). The scope of work from which Israel is to rest is wide. It’s no surprise that the ban included paid trading activities including food retailing and winemaking (Neh 13:15), but the prohibition goes far wider. Even the provision of heavenly manna (a passive act of gathering what God had provided) was not to be done on the sabbath (Ex 16:5-30). Gathering sticks, presumably for a fire, was forbidden (Nmbrs 15:32-36). Note also that the command included family members, servants, visiting strangers and even livestock (Ex 20:10). The fact that the severest penalty was applied for sabbath breaking is an indication of its seriousness (Ex 31:14). God takes our work, along with our rest, very seriously.

Our work is part of who we are as people. If our work is taken away, our identity is diminished. However, our work is far more than paid employment. Curating a garden. Cooking a nutritious and attractive meal. Creating artistic beauty. Raising a family. Building friendships. Caring for the needy. Caring for ourselves. These are all work, but are generally not monetised.

The redefinition of work beyond something we are paid to do aligns us with most people, in most places at most times. For them, the idea that work only involves coins or banknotes is as foreign that the thought that we are not male and female. Work is just the stuff that we do to live.

Covid-19 is an an unwelcome opportunity to rediscover the wider world of work in God’s economy. And to be satisfied in the work  that he gives us to do, whatever that may be for this season.

Covid-19 - where is the Easter music

Covid-19: where is the Easter music?

Word, prayer and the sacraments are the key means of grace for the people of God. They are the Father’s provision to lead us to his Son in the Spirit as we gather to him and to one another.

The word addresses us with teaching, training, correction and rebuke. Prayers enable our response to God in adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. The sacraments are enacted drama as they point away from the sign to Christ who is signified. Together, these means of grace nourish the soul and equip us to be the people whose every thought, word and deed is an act of worship.

Song is an important means of these means of grace. It is a normal part of gathered worship (1 Cor 14:26). Through song we can teach the word to another. As Scripture says: Let the word of God dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Col 3:17). In that sentence, teaching, admonishing and singing are all means to the indwelling word. Song is also a means of expressing our response to the Lord in thankfulness, lament, petition and more – consider the range of responses embedded in the song book of Psalms.

From earliest times God’s people have used song to praise God and to address one another. The first recorded song was a response to God’s great act of exodus salvation (Exod 15:1). The Bible speaks often of singing with some 225 uses of key words (sing, singing, song, songs). The Psalms urge us to sing with exuberance (Ps 150) and to sing a new song to the Lord (Ps 149:1). Isaiah links that new song to the coming of the Lord’s servant who bears the Spirit and who brings the day when the old yields to his promised new things (Is 42:1-10). The last action of Jesus before going to his arrest was to sing a hymn (Matt 26:30). The heavenly throne room echoes Ex 15:1 as worshippers sing the new song praising the lamb who has brought the ancient promises to pass (Exod 19:1-6; Rev 5:9-10). Singing is in the beginning, middle and the end of redemptive history.

As churches go to livestreamed services in the season of Cov-19, we seem to have hung our harps (Ps 137:2). Equipment issues, copyright protections and social distancing may mean that song has little part in virtual worship. God made us to love with heart, soul, mind and body (Matt 22:37) but livestream seems most quickly suited to a head focus.

Many of us miss the music. Music has an ability to reach into the heart and to help express its deepest feelings. It touches the soul. Of course, Christian singing is no more to be separated from a Christian mind than the mind is to be separated from singing (1 Cor 14:15). Mind and heart always go together as grace enters a person and as we respond to it. Gathered worship without singing seems … well … empty.

Music has a special place in Easter gatherings. The dark songs of Good Friday take us to the agony of Jesus and its necessity in our sinfulness. Hymns like “Rock of Ages” interpret the Cross and teach us to come naked and with empty hands “... simply to your Cross I cling”. And then great Sunday release as we sing “Jesus Christ is risen today – hallelujah”.

Even if livestreamed services cannot have much Easter music for the above reasons, this doesn’t mean that our harps are hung. Individually, or in family units and closed social media groups, we can juxtapose the reading of Scripture, prayers and reflective silence with well-chosen music from our CD collection or sources such as YouTube.

Easter calls us to unhang our harps and to sing the Lord’s new song.

Covid-19 and the generational pivot

CV-19 and a generational pivot

As the Covid-19 pandemic widens, life changes in ways unimaginable a month or so back. While the still-living dig graves for the dead and settle to prolonged hibernation we ask how long this will last and how will we survive.

Is this also a time to think of what happens next? What will life be like after the virus runs its course?

An episode from Biblical history can help frame the discussion.

In about 587BC the nation of Israel fell captive to a Babylon invasion.  Old certainties disappeared. Jerusalem became a wasteland and the great national symbol of God’s presence became building rubble with the fall of the temple. The population was decimated. The dead were left to bury themselves and the living were sent to Babylon, Egypt and elsewhere. The land, people and blessing promised to Abraham were only memories (Gen 12:1-2).

What next?

Some hung their harps on the poplars, refused to sing and surrendered to bitter thoughts of vengeance (Ps 137). This may well represent a failure to face the new reality and a futile captivity to the past.

Others did differently.

Daniel flourished as he both served his captors and remained true to his Lord (somewhat like Joseph in an earlier time). This is an example of blooming where you are planted and making the most of adversity. And so, we read of a florist whose flowers became compost as she adapted her home delivery business so that carrots replaced camellias and radishes replaced roses.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel were two of God’s spokesman who suffered with their fellow Israelites and went into exile. Jeremiah’s already difficult life was compounded such that he wrote a book whose very title evokes a tear: Lamentations. Yet even there we find a great word of hope and expectation as he speaks of new daily mercies from the Lord which prompted a personal ‘waiting’ on him (Lament 3:23-24).

More and better was to come.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel were inspired by the Sprit to see an ‘over the horizon’ pivot point when the Lord would do something remarkably new. Ezekiel speaks of the valley of dry bones being restored to life by the breath of God and a new future for Israel under a new king (Ezek 37). Jeremiah was given a remarkable vision when Israel would again be ‘my people’ (Jer 31:1) and when the Lord’s everlasting love (Jer 31:3) would result not just in restoration but in a stunning new covenant (Jer 31:31).

Get it? Under God, the crisis of judgment was to become the pivot point to a new and different future that went way beyond restoring the past.

People started returning to their country about 50 years after the fall of Jerusalem. However, this was a tiny triumph as they returned to a still-conquered land only by permission of a foreign power, struggled to re-establish life and took forever to build a new temple that was a faint shadow of its predecessor (see Ezra and Nehemiah). Far from being a pivot moment, this was a half-start. The pivot was to come about 500 years later with the advent of Jesus who is the fulfilment of all God’s promises (2 Cor 1:19-20) and the inaugurator of the long-promised kingdom that made mighty King David look like a village Mayor. Grace pivoted divine judgment into the redemptive moment.

Is Covid-19 the opportunity of such a generational pivot moment on a collective and personal level?

I am not suggesting that Covid-19 is equivalent to the fall of Jerusalem in terms of God’s judgment and covenant making (although the aspect of judgement in Covid-19 deserves careful attention). However, there is room to see some parallels of events and process.

What responses can we make to Covid-19? Several possibilities suggest themselves.

• We can hang our harps and be consumed by bitterness as we realise that the past will never return.

• We can choose to engage with the new normal and thrive like a Daniel.

• Or we can, under God, imagineeer a new and different future. This is the  opportunity to pivot.

• And so, the pastor of a long-established church who sees a generational opportunity to use the shutdown to think through what a re-booted church could look like and to plan for it.

• Or the bank CEO who remarks that things cannot be the same in his business and who dares to imagine the future.

• Or the schools now forced into virtual learning and who ask how they can shape new blended pedagogies to serve the future.

• Or the families who ask how they can reshape their relationships into healthier forms.

• Or the individuals who ask what old constraining patterns can be jettisoned for a good new growth curve.

Here are a few starter questions to help find the pivot:

• What are the significant aspects in what I now do?
• What are the defaults in those aspects?
• How do those defaults stand up to scrutiny?
• What new habits or patterns could replace the present defaults?

• Should some of these aspects of life be discarded, replaced or changed in their relative weight?

• Are there whole new things to be doing with my life?

Of course, for Christian people and organisations, these are not questions to ask by ourselves lest we self-construct a new Babel that collapses like the tower of Siloam. Rather, as we imagineer the post CV-19 pivot it is a time to be humble and ask what the Lord desires.

This is not a time to be consumed by nostalgia for the past or fatalistic about the future. Rather it is a time, under God, to ask what the future can hold.

As a poem puts it;

Let life rejoice in what is and can be

And regret not

what could, but should not be

Or, what was and should not have been.