I Love Church

Going to church is one of my favorite events each week.  For me, it is the most important part of my week.  I rarely missed a Sunday until the pandemic.  There is something wonderful about entering the sanctuary, finding a seat, and closing your mind to everything outside of those four walls, joining voices and minds, to praise and learn about God.  To open my bible and tune into our pastor to see how the same bible of yesteryear now applies to my life today.  I wish I could describe the feeling of pure joy that fills my heart when my voice joins with others to worship the Lord.  I think the best way to describe is what I feel could be pulled from The Grinch That Stole Christmas when the Grinch heard all the voices from Whoville and his heart grew three sizes that day.  All those voices … pulled together in one accord to worship the Lord…my heart grows and grows.  The verses read from scripture and sermons that help me to make a practical application of them in my own life are so very important to me.

I was absolutely bummed when Covid came and we had to take a break from attending church.  We tuned in via YouTube with a cup of tea and coffee in hand.  The Catholic church did not do online for Dave but we watched PVBC, where I attend.  Our move to the lake came with the onset of Covid, and I not yet established a local church in Lincoln, so for seven months, we met up with the Lord in our living room.  After all, church is not a building.  Church is the people, and regardless of where we are, we are part of something so much bigger.

In October, the churches here began to open their doors with strict protocols in place.  Dave returned to the Catholic church.  I began to search for a local Baptist church.  On Monday, I got a call from the pastor of the First Baptist Church where both Dave and I attended on Sunday.  One of the membership had tested positive for Covid.  The health department was closing the doors for two weeks.

That phone call gave me pause.  The church is not a building.  The church is a group of people, and by being in that building we were increasing the possibility that one of us could infect another member of the church with a deadly virus.  We can have safety and worship at the same time.  We can be together in the Lord, but separate in our own homes. We can love our neighbor by keeping them safe.  We just have to hold on until the virus can controlled through the vaccine that is coming our way.  We need to wait….wait upon the Lord.  He’s got this and if we just slow down and “Be still, we can know that he is God.”  I love church…moreover, I love the church, so at home our worship will be.