Why We Must Gather

Why We Must Gather

If we thought closing was difficult, reopening is proving to be even harder.

So much of our understanding of what is church is at odds with our current reality. Our style of church has been built on being a place that makes people feel welcome and loved. They can even belong before they believe.

We do what we do for the sake of reaching people who don’t know Christ with the Gospel. This is coupled with the Adventist foundation that still prioritizes time for studying the Bible in small groups gathered together - the Sabbath School, and the collective worship with music, prayers, sermon and call to dedication. Eventually followed by potluck with or without the traditional haystacks. 

It’s hard to make people feel welcome when we have to take their temperature before they walk in the door (in some places this is a big deal). Amid the pandemic, there can be no handshakes or hugs, no hanging out in the lobby. There are no warm smiles, since they’re hidden behind masks. We can’t sit with people who are alone, since they have to be six feet from everyone else.

There is no circle of prayers around someone requesting it. We no longer pass the offering plate as an act of worship or loiter in the sanctuary after services. Even singing is now regarded as questionable.

These jarring realities are forcing us to ask what all this is for. Have these practices become the essence of our faith? If they are not, why should we bother getting together at all?

This is a difficult time - not just churches, but for all industries and individuals. Every routine and relationship has been upended. Every family has been affected. Every nation has changed. Ours included.

It is the greatest disruption we have faced in our lifetimes, and there’s no sign of it letting up, an unexpected appendix to the time-of-the-end crisis. As the Church, we are blessed with the responsibility of being a place of hope and healing. But in this strange environment, where nothing can be as we have known it, why are we going to such great lengths just to gather?

Here are some of the reasons why, when it’s safe to do so, coming together for church still matters:

1. We come together to practice our faith. Many people remain hesitant to venture out, especially to unfamiliar places. That means this is not a time where we are seeing high numbers of visitors.

Perhaps the Church has become so visitor-driven, we have forgotten about the importance of the gathering of believers. We come together to do the things that strengthen us — to hear the preaching of the Word, to receive Communion together, to say the words of the creeds and songs that remind us of what we believe.

Our time together inspires us to live out our faith as a beacon of hope in a discouraged world. This is part of our freedom of religion; this is part of the practice of our faith. We don’t do it because it’s well-produced, or even well-attended. We do it as an act of worship to God.

2. We come together to be in His presence. I don’t mind leading worship on Zoom or FB. I have done it multiple times every week since we shut down in March. But there is still something powerful about coming together in person, in His presence. Jesus said, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Mat. 18:20). This is true even if we are spread out all over the room. The gathering...

I looked out this past Sabbath and saw a couple of our faithful members wiping tears from their eyes as we sang the words "As we come to you in prayer"... The sheer act of being together in His presence brings a special kind of joy and strength to weary hearts. As Christians, the experience in His presence cannot be separated from the practice of our faith. 

3. We come together to see lives changed. When I worked in construction, I regularly invited my co-workers to our church. Some of them came and visited, and some even became a part of the church (in one case even after I left the place). I still doing the same thing, inviting people to come to church, although with less success because people expect to do it as a pastor.

I did some Bible studies during the week and they were people who always seemed interested, but never attending the church. Sending messages, phone calls, even small gifts, trying to compensate for the handicap that I cannot go visit them in person during this pandemic. But when we reopened, two of them came in person for the first time, mask and all. What a joy seeing them again.

I thought of Revelation 12:11: “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” Seeing these people there in person was a powerful encouragement to me to overcome. 

4. We come together to express our gratitude to God. More than anything, I hope this season is teaching us gratitude for what we do have: the people we love and hope to see the coming of Jesus together. Our praise takes on new meaning when we lift it up in the face of adversity.

Let’s look beyond the physical world and grab hold of the spiritual strength that comes from worshipping God together. Whatever the future holds, we can trust the One who holds the future.

As Romans 9:37-39 says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

"Shall We Gather at the River?"https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/432-Shall-We-Gather-at-the-River 

Yes, but before that, we must gather together as the Remnant - the Church of those "keeping the commandments of God and having the Faith of Jesus". Come!

(thank you Kristi Northup)