After 15 weeks of online-only worship, we are looking forward with great anticipation to re-gathering this Sunday, July 5 for two in-person services at 8:30 and 10:30am. Throughout this process, my own heart has found language for my desires in Psalm 42:4, “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God.” How I have longed to be with you for gathered worship again!
As we prepare to gather this Sunday, and as I consider the ways in which in-person worship will be different, two words have been on my heart: Love and Lament.
#1 – Love – Colossians 3:14-15 says, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
We are a people who have been infinitely loved by the God who chose to lay down his rights in Christ Jesus and give himself completely, so that we would be His forever. We have the opportunity, as those loved by Jesus, to demonstrate that same love toward one another. We will have the opportunity to sacrificially love those who have different opinions about how we should re-gather. We will have the opportunity to lay down our own rights by loving our neighbor through social distancing and wearing a mask in gathered worship. We will have the opportunity to love one another by recognizing that some may be more cautious than others and by respecting others through those differences. We will have the opportunity to demonstrate our love by reaching out to those who are unable to re-gather with us for the time being. And we have the opportunity to gratefully demonstrate our love for God by being reminded that worship is about Him and not us.
We are a people who have been infinitely loved by the God who chose to lay down his rights in Christ Jesus and give himself completely, so that we would be His forever.
#2 – Lament – Psalm 42:1-2 says, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
Like us, the Psalmist’s angst is experienced in the context of separation from the people of God. He desires to worship with God’s people in the manner in which he has worshiped before. It’s human to desire normalcy, and many people look to the church as the place of stability in the midst of a changing world. However, in the midst of this season, our re-gathered worship will look different in many ways from what we’ve been used to, and this can create sadness. Among the changes are two different worship services, meaning we will not be gathered with all of our church family at once. In addition, all music will be played instrumentally, without in-person singing. As a people called by God to sing praises to our God, this will likely be an understandable source of sadness. Additionally, social-distancing measures, sanitation procedures, and masks will be a visible reminder of the difficult season in which we find ourselves. This is among the reasons why I’ve chosen to preach a series on the Biblical grace of lament, which is the language of faith in the midst of a broken world. While we wrestle with the sadness of change, we will have the opportunity to exercise the biblical practice of lament, turning our hearts toward our God.
While we wrestle with the sadness of change, we will have the opportunity to exercise the biblical practice of lament, turning our hearts toward our God.
Even as we gather in the weeks ahead, we know that we may need to modify our practices in order to love God and love one another in the midst of an ever-changing environment.
I love you, Calvary Church family, and look forward to re-gathering with you in person, recognizing that in the midst of the joy of worshiping together, we will face the challenge of change. May God give us grace to love Him and one another in the midst of this season, even as we lament in faith, the reality of our broken world.
