Fellowship in the Covid Era (Part 2) How we can enjoy it

 

 

 

 Today's Post is written by Pastor Roy Summers

 

 Those Wretched Masks (again)!

 

It is my settled opinion that Christian fellowship is impossible wearing face masks. Why? Because God has designed us to communicte with the whole of our faces.

 

In Stuart Burgess's fascinating book "The Origin of Man" he points out that one of the great differences between humans and apes is the number of facial expressions we can make (some 10,000 unique ones!) We have fifty facial muscles and only half are used for essential tasks, the rest are for expressions. Apes have fewer than 30 muscles and none for facial expressions, so apes can make half a dozen expressions - and none of them are very nice.

Visit any chimp house in any zoo around the world and for your every animated look into a chimp's face all you'll get back is a vacant "nobody is at home" stare.

We can't have fellowship with face masks on, because we need to communicate with our whole faces.

 

And some may ask that with all the other restrictions upon us, is it really possible to engage in meaningful fellowship today?

The answer is a resounding yes!

Church is not Buildings

No government around the world has banned fellowship on account of Covid. They may have banned certain gatherings over a certain size, they may have banned gatherings in certain places, but none have banned fellowship.

 That's because fellowship is when even two or three believers gather anywhere in Jesus' name. 

Fellowship happens when four Christians go for a walk in Jesus' Name.

Fellowship happens when five Christians meet out doors in Jesus' Name.

Fellowship happens when six Christians meet in a back garden in Jesus' Name.

Fellowship happens when one family invites another into their home for Sunday lunch, in Jesus' Name.

We can still enjoy fellowship if we understand what fellowship truly is. If we think fellowship is a large number of people meeting in a building, we are mistaken. But if we see fellowship as the New Testament sees it, then we can all continue to enjoy it, though we'll have to take our masks off.

 

New Patterns of Fellowship

 

What this pandemic is doing is challenging us to go back to more Biblical and simple patterns of fellowship.

 

Let's use our homes, invite a family or individual around, and talk about the Lord and pray together.

Let's go to cafes and have fellowship over coffee.

Let's get some excercise and walk-and-talk the Gospel together.

 

Let's use our own initiative to find new ways of experiencing fellowship together. 

 

 Grace before the Storm?

When I suggested to a friend that perhaps the greatest lesson the Lord is teaching us through Covid-19 was to steward our homes for the sake of the church and Gospel, he said this, "I wonder if God is gently preparing us for persecution?" 

As you know persecuted Christians can only meet in places such as their homes and often only in secret. 

Perhaps the Lord, knowing that persecution is around the corner is breaking his church in gently by returning the church to its home-based roots.

 

I hope not, but we never know, for The Day is always drawing near.