Can I Go Home Now?

Is the church a safe place? When will you return to your church?

Churches have been slow to reopen. Pastors, board members, deacons are worried, oops...I mean cautious (Christians don't worry) about exposing their members to the COVID-19 virus. No church wants to be the place where an outbreak occurs.

The safest alternative would be to keep our churches closed for a year, until a vaccine is widely available. Obviously that is not an option. Christian will not stop meeting together.

Online services help, but most churches have seen a decline in viewers each week. Online services are lacking some essential element. I'd call it human interaction.

Is the church a safe place? I've been going for years, knowing I'd be touching doorknobs during flu season, knowing I'd hear some kid snuffling in the next pew, knowing many people would hug me or shake my hand. It never really bothered me to take communion shoulder to shoulder with someone else, not even questioning if they might not know they were coming down with something.

Now, of course, we've convinced ourselves that we might die for attending church.

What is there about attending in-person worship that is worth some degree of risk? Christians in many places on our planet risk a great deal to worship together.

Why?

1. I cannot adequately praise God by myself.

2. I need to know I'm part of a committed army of believers, because sometimes I need that encouragement.

3. God inspires pastors to interpret scripture. So often it feels like the message is especially for me. It hits home more in person.

4. God expects my attendance to be used as an encouragement to others.

5. The church is a family, united by the spirit of God within us. Family reunions just don't work online.

6. The reason online worship works at all is because of the ties made previously in person.

Eventually each person will choose to take the risk to come back to church, the most needy first.

Is the church a safe place?

Is being a Christian safe?

If you're looking for safety, you won't find any guarantee in the Bible.