This morning I face-timed with my friends. It started off my day wonderfully. It was good for my soul.
Then we watched church online. If we do this for very long then I'm quite sure Trey and I are going to get in trouble when in-person church starts again because we really like to talk through the whole thing. I like to think that today it made church an interactive experience. There are likely thousands of churches online right now, and I would encourage you to choose one to tune in to while you're social distancing. The link to ours is here.
I have two things to say and no good transition between them, so I'll just do part one and part two.
Blog Post, Part One:
During the service today I thought so much about opportunity.
I joined our current church on the first Sunday of January 2000. It was symbolic of in some way. Trey and I had been secretly dating for about six months (that's a whole other story), and the one place we were together openly was at church. I grew up never missing a service - two on Sundays and one on Wednesday every week. In college, I didn't really go to church until I started going with Trey and his family.
When I joined the church, I didn't tell anyone I was going to do it. (If memory serves, I may have had conversations with my mom that I don't specifically remember, but I do have memories of her encouraging me to find a church and get myself there.) I wanted my decision to be about me and God and not me and my (somewhat) new boyfriend. It was my decision alone, and that was important to me.
Fast forward to today and corona craziness and social distancing. As I watched church in my pajamas from my bed, I thought of what it would be like to walk into a church for the first time. I considered what an incredibly brave thing that would be, and I wondered if I have that much bravery. I pictured all of the people who would want to talk to me and welcome me and ask me questions when I would probably just want to blend in, get in, and get out. Attending a church out of the blue must be one of the most vulnerable things a person can do.
But now, now, people can dip their toes into church. They can worship and be spiritually fed and see if a service is good fit for them. It's still brave, but it's nothing like walking in the doors of a church building for the first time. For those people who wonder if they would ever be brave enough to walk head first into a service, there is a way to begin a connection. If I didn't have a church, I think that would be me.
Then, when the doors do open, maybe those people will choose to find a community of faith. In person.
The idea fills my heart with joy during a time when the greatest possibility is that it will get worse before it gets better.
Addendum:
Church members should be welcoming and kind and question-asking and such to people who walk in for the first time. This is not commentary on that. It's commentary on what my inclination would be, good or bad, if I were in this situation.
Blog Post, Part Two:
My goal is to "read" the Bible all the way through this year. Some awesome friends and SC parents have a facebook group called WholeBible35 where they share each day's reading. I'm using the YouVersion Bible app (pictured below), and in it you can download the same plan from the Facebook group. Then (the best part) the app will read the daily readings to you. I'm 83 days in and starting the book of Joshua.
Joshua 1 has a well-known scripture about being strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9). Today I read the whole chapter and learned that it says to be strong and courageous LOTS of times. Over and over again God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous.
So Sunday's post leaves you with this. These are strange times. But they are filled with opportunity. Let's be strong and courageous and use every opportunity for good.
The end.
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