There has been a great deal of debate about the nature of church in the days since the coronavirus meant that we are "locked-down".  My position is unchanged.  We, the people, come to church, the building, for many reasons, but two stand out.  We gather to worship God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to support each other on our Christian and life journeys.

When we are strong, we can support the weak, but when we are weak, we can rely on strong people who will help.  In this way we create "community".  This has not been a popular concept in recent years.  We were told that there is no such thing as community.  But as we can see in this current situation, community is exactly what is helping all sorts of people cope with it.

So we are streaming our services.  We are no longer able to meet in a physical building, to worship and support, but we are finding other ways to meet, and reach out and support.  These are substitutes, and in the long term will not replace our tradition of meeting every week to worship God and demonstrate our love for each other.

I have read that some people think that the closure of churches does not allow them to "practice their faith".  So my question is, how do we practice our faith?  We reach out to those in need, we each find or own ways to support "the widow and the orphan and the resident alien".  

We are commanded to love our neighbour.  

That is the practice of our faith.

Churches being closed does not stop that happening.  I am already missing church, I am missing the times we gather and share.  I am looking forward to that time when we meet again to worship in community.

We may well then live in a changed world.  We may then see different priorities.  We may then have learned lessons from our own selfishness.  Living in community may help us to remember these lessons.

God bless

David