In  my last blog, I wrote about the one thing I most pray will remain the same post-COVID.  I pray that this apparent renewed interest in trusting God will stick.  However, today, I want to share the one thing that I most pray that COVID make different about.

I pray that we will have a new, improved attitude about church.

Let me suggest two ways this new attitude should manifest itself.

A Different View of the Church Gathered

I have missed not coming together in person with my church family.  I don’t know about your church people, but my church people are fun.  We laugh a lot and joke a lot with each other, and we genuinely enjoy each other’s company.  We even love the annoying ones among us.  (If you can’t think of who the annoying ones are, well…)

I pray that not being able to come to church will make us appreciate the gathering even more.  We tend to take the church meeting for granted.  We see no harm in missing a Sunday because another Sunday will come around seven days later.  Before we know it, we miss several consecutive Sundays before we bring ourselves around again.

I like what I heard an old preacher Say one time.  Church ought to be the reason we miss other things, instead of those things causing us to miss church.  If you have been sporadic in your church attendance, let COVID motivate you to come back.  You see, we ALL have missed at least four Sundays now with several more yet to come.  So you have a clean slate.  Renew your commitment to gathering with the church body. (Read Hebrews 10:24-25)

A Different View of the Church Scattered

At the other extreme lie those who see “church” as the physical place where we gather.  To them, church is a place we go not a people we are.  So for the last several weeks we have not met.  And we probably will not for several more.  YET… our church still exists.

When the church first started in the book of Acts, they didn’t have a building.  They gathered regularly in homes, but they focused more on what they did when mingling in the community.  The early church was scattered more than gathered.

Jesus told His disciples to look at the ripe and ready harvest fields.  I hope that this time away from meeting has given us eyes to see the community around us.  Have you seen needs created by the Coronavirus?  Do you see people who feel isolated?  Have you seen the sick, broken-hearted, anxious, and desperate? 

Guess what?  They were there before COVID.  We see it more now, because people closer to us experience these pains.  But there have always been hurting people.  And there will be hurting people once all the COVID complications fade away. 

I pray that we will see opportunities to reach out and share the love of Jesus more than ever. 

I pray that we will not just be the church gathered, but the church scattered.

I pray that we will not just GO to church, but that we will BE the church.

I believe God allowed the Coronavirus to refocus our attention and release us to love a hurting community.