Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXXXIII
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.” (2Corinthians 5:17)
America education has been forced to embrace change. Keeping children safe by practicing monthly fire drills and bi-monthly active shooter drills are educational pillars. Kids count on daily free or reduced school lunches. If a special needs student needs help, the Law mandates that it’s met. Yearly, schools promote new pilot programs and revised curriculum. Public education is use to change, but 2020 has been extra ordinary!
American business has also been forced to embrace change. About the time you get to the top of your trade, a competitor challenges you. If you don’t embrace change or new trends, your sales, assets, and revenues will decline. Not only that, but new software to be used with improved hardware changes almost daily. Business is use to change, but 2020 has been extra ordinary!
The sports and entertainment industry has been forced to think outside the box after massive cancellations of major events due to Covid-19. Major professional sports and concerts, once drawing thousands, now perform before empty stadiums and arenas with cardboard cut outs to replace live fans. The NBA plays in a “bubble” and artificial crowd noise is piped over public address systems. Since Americans love to be entertained, the entertainment industry is getting use to change, but 2020 has been extra ordinary.
The church is a different story. Since “Behold new thing have come,” is part of being “a new creature in Christ,” you would think that the church would embrace change. Wrong! After temporarily experiment with virtual reality, they ran back to their pews in their buildings to do their routine order of worship that required listening to a sermon, giving financially in an offering, and staring at the back of heads of people sitting in pews in front of them, as soon a restrictions were lifted. Why does the church reject change? Why did they belly ache, “we got rights,” instead of adhering to mandates put in place to save lives and stop the pandemic? If they were Pro-Life, why did they portray the attitude that elderly lives don’t matter; the economy does? As the church rejected change, the year 2020 became a whopper!
Why does the church resist change? Probably because the church is composed of people who like familiarity and order! We don’t like surprises, so we dutifully follow our bulletin, sit and stand when told, read printed prayers, sing the doxology in unison, passively listen to the sermon, and sing hymns by composers who died a century and a half ago. We know when to shake hands, smile, and greet the pastor when going out the door. It’s like the movie “Groundhog Day” as everyone returns each week to do the same routine.
What if Christians got radical, rejecting the familiar, and began listening to the Holy Spirit to tell them what to do. The first believers in Jesus were told to remain in Jerusalem until the Promise of the Holy Spirit came upon them. They knew not what to expect, but they were obedient. The Holy Spirit came in a way they never dreamed, and life was never again routine, boring, or a Groundhog Day experience!
If the Church is you and me, then the question becomes why are we (you and me) as Christians currently rejecting change and running back to what is familiar when restrictions are lifted? “This is the day the Lord hath made,” why aren’t we embracing it? Why aren’t we trying to define the “new normal” instead of it dictating restrictions to us? Why aren’t we embracing blogging, texting, tweeting, FaceTiming, Zooming, and other forms of social networking when it is the new technology of our generation? Luther, Wesley, and other Reformers embraced Guttenberg’s printing press and Dwight L. Moody and Billy Graham embraced radio and television. Look how the world changed because of their use of the technology of their times! Through the Internet, the World-Wide-Web, communication happens globally, instantly. If we use it secularly, why not use it to advance the kingdom of God? That requires new mindsets, new ideas, a release of creativity, change.
If Christians are to change the world for Jesus Christ, they got to get out of this passive mode, embrace change, and use it to advance the “good news” of Jesus Christ without being religious. That’s the challenge, but it will require change. Are you ready to change?