Is the Church really closed?

As I walked through my neighborhood the other day trying to clear my mind of all the overwhelming thoughts and feelings about COVID-19, I was struck by the different signs on the doors of all the churches. The sign on one church said, “In an overabundance of caution, we are not having service until further notice.” Another church I walked past simply said, “CLOSED.” As I continued to walk further down the street, I noticed a blinking LED sign in front of a church flashing, “Church CLOSED.” I stopped and stared at the sign for a few moments. “How can you allow this to happen Lord? How can you let your church close?” I thought to myself. On my way home, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the CLOSED signs. All the churches that are not open. As I got to the steep hill at the bottom of my street, the Lord gently whispered to me, “The church is not closed. The church is open. You are the church.” 

The word church comes from the Greek word, ekklésia. According to the Nelson’s Bible Dictionary, the definition of ekklésia is a local assembly of believers as well as the redeemed of all ages who follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus commissioned the church (his followers) to go and make disciples of all nations. The commission wasn’t to a building, it was to a people.

Yes, the buildings we typically gather in are closed until further notice. However, the church is not closed and we (as Christians) are not absolved of our responsibility to “go and make disciples of all nations”. Although we can’t invite our neighbor to a physical building for a Sunday service, we can invite them to the Bible study that is being held via conference call or the service on Facebook Live. We can literally have a service in the house with our family. We can send a text to a friend with our favorite Bible verse or call our neighbor down the street to offer a pray. We don’t need the mass choir to worship God. We can still pray and read the Bible without the pastor. Although we are in unprecedented times, the Great Commission is still the charge. 

The church is not CLOSED.

The church is OPEN. 

I am the CHURCH. You are the CHURCH. We are the CHURCH. 

The Great Commission

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20 NIV)

SOMEONE ELSE’S ARMOR

“I’m leaving Facebook”, I told my friend during a recent conversation. “Why?”, she asked me with the slight sound of surprise in her voice. “Because I don’t like the way it makes me feel”, I said with a slight sound of embarrassment in mine.

The truth is…

I haven’t felt good about Facebook for a while now, but I can’t stop myself from grabbing my phone, hitting the “f” app, and meandering through the lives of my thousand closest friends. I’m praying about this. Seriously, I am.

Why does scrolling through the lives of other people make me feel so bad?

At first, I thought it was my friends. There must something wrong with the friends I have on Facebook. Yeah, that’s it. There’s something wrong with all thousand of them. It’s not me, it’s them.

I know. It’s probably me.

OK. It’s definitely me!

The truth is…I feel so inadequate when I look at my life and compare it to the lives of people around me. I look at their posts and think to myself, “I should be doing that. I should be going to that conference or attending that meeting. I should be going to that event or reading that book.” I see the way other people are living their life and I want to be like them. I want their journey to be my journey and when it isn’t, I feel inadequate.

The more I scroll, the worse I feel.

The other day I was reading and came upon 1 Samuel 17. It’s a familiar story in the Bible. The story of David and Goliath. David, the youngest son of Jesse, was sent by his dad to take food to his brothers who were fighting against the Philistines. When he arrived, he learned that all the Israelites were afraid to go up against the mighty warrior – Goliath. David tells Saul, the king, that he will fight Goliath. After a brief conversation, Saul dresses David in his ARMOR. He gives David his tunic, his coat, his bronze helmet, and his sword. David tries to walk around in Saul’s ARMOR, and says, “I cannot go in these, because I am not used to them.” David then gets his ARMOR: a staff, five stones, and his sling. We all know how the story ends. David defeats Goliath with stones and a sling.

Then it dawned on me…

I’m trying to wear SOMEONE ELSE’S ARMOR and it doesn’t fit. I can’t walk. That’s why I feel so bad. I put on their tunic, their coat, and their helmet and wonder why I don’t get the same results. Like David, I need to acknowledge that “I can’t go in these.” I need to take off their ARMOR and pick up my own. David’s inability to use Saul’s ARMOR to fight his battle reminds me that I must wear the ARMOR that God gave me.

I can’t go in SOMEONE ELSE’S ARMOR!

“Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So, he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:38-40 NIV)

CHANGE

My sister and I in front of the Chapel at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary 

A few months ago, my sister and her family moved from Cleveland to New Orleans. Prior to the move, we could visit them anytime. Weekends. Holidays. Summer Vacations. Day Trips. We’re in Pittsburgh, PA. – They’re in Cleveland, OH. It was awesome to have them so close by. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit them at their new home, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. My sister and brother-in-law were busy writing papers and studying for finals, so I took the opportunity to spend some quality time with my niece and nephews.

Their move was hard on our family. When they first made the announcement, we were all in disbelief. Everything was going to CHANGE. How would holidays work? What about New Year’s Eve? What about our annual Cousin’s Week? The one week in the summer when we all travel to Cleveland for Vacation Bible School at Liberty Hill Baptist Church where my brother-in-law was the Pastor. It’s been hard for me to come to terms with their move, so I could only imagine how difficult the move was on my niece and nephews.

During my visit, I decided to ask, “How has the move been for you?” Much to my surprise, they all said the same thing.

At first, they were in shock. “They must be joking. We aren’t really going to leave Cleveland and move that far away, are we?”

Then,they were nervous and scared. “How can we leave the only home we’ve known for the last 10-years? How can we leave all our friends?”

I thought they would stop there. I wasn’t totally prepared for what they said next…

“But mom and dad said we were going, so we went. And now that we’re here, we really like it. We like our new school. We like our new friends. We like the community center down the street. And we love getting snowballs and beignets!”

As I was traveling back home, I thought about how my niece and nephews have embraced the CHANGE God put in front of them. Even though they were shocked and scared, they trusted their parents and the result is a new home in a new city filled with excitement and new possibilities.

The truth is…we all should be like my niece and nephews. When God calls us to a new thing, a CHANGE, we should embrace it. Be shocked, be nervous and scared, but trust that God is faithful and will work everything out for our good and His Glory. God has a plan for our lives and it often requires a CHANGE. 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

Getting snowballs with my niece and newphews at one of their new favorite spots – #pontillysno