Pandemic Preaching - Meeting Together

"And do not neglect our own meetings, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another—and all the more so as you see the Day approaching."
Hebrews 10:25

Depending on where you are located, going to church (meeting together for church  worship services) have either been completely closed down or regulated one way or another because of the ongoing pandemic.

But while church buildings have been shut down, given restrictions such as sitting capacity limits or only allowed services to take place outdoors, church services have thrived online, on social media, on TV and radio throughout this pandemic time.

New Normal

So while most people have grown used to this current church attendance setup, there actually are two things that church goers have not been able to do with the new normal, with this online church attendance.

Two Things

These two would be the only things church goers have been missing and one of which may still not be available anytime soon, depending on their location's pandemic guidelines or safety protocols.

Corporate Worship

First thing church goers have not been able to do since the pandemic protocols is to come together physically for corporate worship.

So while church goers were still able to come together (virtually or online) and able to sing worship songs (in their sweat pants or pajamas) inside their own homes, corporate worship or being able to come together and worship in one voice in the same physical location is totally not possible and it is not the same if only a small percentage of people can come physically together.

Encouragement

Also while church goers are able to do zoom meetings or social media virtual meetings and continue meeting together to encourage and build one another up, the other thing church goers have not been able to do and still might not be able to do is to hold each others hands, arms, hug one another and lay hands on people.

And this is actually the only thing that people may still not be able to do right now or even for quite some time.

Online Church

In the meantime, everything else that we used to do in church,, we still can do in an online church (even take communion).

God is spirit and He is available to everyone, everywhere, anytime and social media and the internet is the new evangelism tool.

Since the pandemic, people have been coming to Christ in huge numbers and the good news of Jesus Christ is being shared to people and places which used to be otherwise unreachable pre-pandemic.

The Day Approaching

By the way, the Day that the writer of the Book of Hebrews was referring to was open to interpretation. This letter as having been written to Jewish Christians in the 1st Century, that day would have been something that will be significant for them in their lifetime.

But with the Scriptures being living and active, the Day being referred to in the passage, as far as Christians today are concerned, would be the Day of the Lord (the final one).

Pandemic Preaching Series