Mid-week Prayer Focus
COVID: Forsaking the Assembling
Pastor Wes
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There’s a passage of scripture that many pastors across the world have been wrestling with as a result of Covid-19. Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
These past 2 months have been really difficult attempting to balance out being wise in our cultures/habits/actions, with not being controlled, manipulated, dominated by fear. We as a church have limited our assembling together- not reacting to fear, but rather reacting to other’s wisdom- considering the counsel of our state and national leaders, adhering to Proverbs 24:6 “And in abundance of counselors there is victory.” We as a church want to do our best in maintaining good relationships within the community as Paul says in Romans 12:18: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” None of our churches in this area want to be seen as entities that defy its governmental leaders. We also love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and want to be careful as to not jeopardize their lives in any way. So, just for a temporary time period, we have forsaken the assembling together, and during this time period we have attempted to stimulate love and encouragement amongst the body of Christ. For many this has been time to re-set, and hopefully when things get back to being close to normal, for many, they will be in an even healthier place spiritually. It’s my hope that this will be the case for you. I hope that during this time you have deepened your walk with Jesus, that you have been able to do some life assessment, some soul searching, and that as a result you have grown spiritually. I hope that you have missed assembling together and that you are looking forward to the day when we will all gather again to worship together.
At Glady Branch we are taking steps towards that day. This past Sunday, a few of our connect groups met- one group met outside in the morning, under the awning of the fellowship hall, and another met that afternoon outside at someone’s home. I had the pleasure of being a part of both meetings, and it was so great to see folks again, and to be meeting together with the intention of being the body of Christ and encouraging one another in the Lord. In one of the groups we looked at Mark 5, about the woman in a large crowd who touched Jesus’ garments, and immediately was healed of her sickness. Knowing who it was, but wanting to draw her out, Jesus called out “Who touched My garments?” And the disciples responded to Him “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” (Mark 5:30-31) You see, as Jesus worked His way through a large crowd of people, many were touching and bumping into Him. But there was one who touched him with intent, faith, purpose, desire. As we looked at this passage together, we thought that perhaps this story is lived out in a similar fashion- spiritually- today. How many people- especially here in the USA, in the south- bump into Jesus, and in a sense, rub shoulders with He and His people? He’s right there, easily accessible, so close, and yet they casually bump off Him without any further encounter? May that not be us! May we be the ones reaching out to Him- like the woman in this passage- with intention, purpose, faith, and expectation of His power, authority, and goodness.
And may our intentionality not stop just with our pursuit of Jesus. May our encounters with each other, not be casually bumping into each other when we are able to assemble together for church. But rather may we intentionally seek each other out with the focused purpose of encouraging, loving, and blessing one another, as fellow members of Christ’s body. Continue meeting together in small groups, continue to call and reach out, and we’ll look forward to gathering together on the 28th!