As the pandemic prevents us from meeting together publicly, many of us are feeling the pain of social isolation. This pain is actually a good sign, because it reminds us that the church is “the body of Christ,” and that each of us are “individually members of it,” (1 Cor. 12:27). Is your heart feeling a bit ‘dismembered’ under the present circumstances? That hurts – but believe it or not, it is a healthy hurt. We are physically cut off from one another; times like these are supposed to hurt.
So how do we stay connected in these socially dismembered times?
As individuals, many of you are already taking the initiative to connect with one another via phone, text, and/or video calls. This is excellent, and we encourage you to continue in this. “Encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing,” (1 Thess. 5:11).
As a body, we encourage you watch and participate in the weekly Sunday School and worship videos posted to our YouTube channel. We also encourage you to participate in the weekly, Wednesday evening prayer meetings via Zoom. Besides reflecting on Scripture and praying together, these have been wonderful opportunities simply to see one another and speak together. Look for an email reminder each week!
As your pastors, we have decided to establish this pastoral blog as another means to help our church navigate the present crisis. Whether this blog will continue once COVID-19 recedes remains to be seen. Yet for the present, we will utilize this space to share with you what we hope will be edifying reflections and useful resources. We hope to add new content several times each week, so check back frequently!
For example, one resource that we became aware of this week is from our brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA): a prayer guide for every day of the month of April, including Scripture references and specific prayer points for the church, nation, and world as we together face the coronavirus. You can download it here.
I’ll conclude this introductory post by reminding you of the Scripture you received yesterday via email: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them,” (Ps. 139:16). I’ll say more on this in my next post; for now, I encourage you simply to remember: God is a good Author, and even the darkest pages of his story lead to a happy ending that is better than we can imagine. Take heart, brothers and sisters.