A couple was once madly in love (Some words on Covid-19 and worship)

A quick word of disclaimer - there are many whom I've spoken with and witnessed who have genuinely been consistent in their concern about Covid-19. I know of some families who are still conducting themselves with the strictest protocols of lockdown. If you are in that category, I admire you, and want to encourage you to persevere. You are following through with your convictions in a way that we all as your brothers and sisters in Christ should encourage and foster. The following is not directed towards you.

A man sat down to lunch with a friend from many years ago. They had not seen each other for a long time. They discussed politics, religion, finances, and shared memories. The topic then came to their romantic relationships. They shared stories and smiles of old flings from long ago. After a moment of silence, one of the friends asked the other:

"How are things with your spouse?" 

"Oh things are great. Really great! I love her more than ever, and she loves me more than ever. We are madly in love" responded the friend. 

"That's great to hear!" replied the first friend. "What would you say has changed over the years?"

The man sat back in his chair and put his arms behind his head. "Well, we used to do everything together. We used to cook together, shop together, raise the kids together, go out together, work on the house together, go on trips together, sleep together, talk together, listen together, we did everything together". The man paused "that was back then". 

His friend leaned in, "Yeah? But what about now?"

"Well...now...like I said, things are great. Madly in love! They are better than ever. But they are different."

"How so?" asked the friend. 

"Well...now we don't do anything together. We don't cook together. We each have our own bank account. I don't know what the kids are up to. When we leave the house we go out in our own cars to our own appointments. We each have different projects in the house we are working on separately. Last year I took a trip to Europe on my own and this past fall she went on a road trip to New England on her own. We each have our own beds in our own rooms. We don't say much of anything to each other. There really isn't a cause for us to listen to each other. I guess we don't do much of anything together. Maybe that is because I'm doing all the things I really enjoy doing with a new girlfriend!"

"Friend" said the inquiring man "That doesn't sound like a couple madly in love. That sounds like a couple that can't stand each other, that doesn't want to share life together, and it sounds like you are being unfaithful to your wife with another." 

Over the last year I have read, seen, and listened to many who have sounded like this married man. Who have professed a love for their community, a love for their fellow believers, and a love for their God. Some who have said they are madly in love with the Lord Jesus and his Bride the church. Yet for many, being in the assembled gathering has been the last priority. 

If we are madly in love with God, then over the last year we ought to have grown in his word more than ever. Many of us have had more time available to us than ever before. A couple who is madly in love cannot wait to be in one another's presence. Over the last year I've been in conversations with friends, family members, and loved ones who have conveyed that they are "really missing" the community of believers and regular life of their church. Those same people then go out to movies, travel to different parts of the country and world, and go out to eat. 

Remember the story you just read. You might ask the married man "are you madly in love or not?" If someone is desperately in love with Christ they are growing in their desire and earnest pursuit of worship, and exercising the gifts of the Spirit. We cannot be both madly in love with Christ and then actively remove ourselves from Christ's people. What we've seen over the last year is that the gathering of God's people to worship and commit themselves to living out their faith through worship is not a priority for many. The countdown for reopening for many has been on vacations, parties, eating out, and other social events. Those things in themselves aren't wicked. We wouldn't say to the unfaithful man in the above story that it's wrong for him to have other friends to cook with, or to travel with. It's wrong that he has supplanted and replaced his spouse with another. It's not wrong that we desire to go on vacation, travel, attend parties, or eat at our favorite restaurants. The rubber hits the road when we willingly live life and take risks to do anything and everything except grow and participate in God's family. 

If we can go out to eat with dozens or hundreds of people around us who we don't know their cleanliness habits, we can certainly attend worship with a few brothers and sisters who are more transparent in their desire to be healthy and clean! If we can walk around a store with hundreds or even thousands of people, we can certainly stay socially distanced in a massive room for the express purpose to render worship to God. 

This is as blunt as I can be. If we can go to secular events, what is stopping us from attending spiritual events? Is it due to safety practices (or lack thereof) at your church that make you uncomfortable? In that case I encourage you to approach your churches leadership (invite them to a lunch or phone call) to express some of your concerns. For most however, we are attending events and going to places that are far less sanitized than our places of worship. 

Covid-19 has revealed a great many priorities in each of us. What we hold dear and what we are willing to sacrifice have all been tested. For some this has been a year where the social obligation to attend a place of worship is gone. For those only attending due to social obligation that has been a relief. In that case, go and enjoy whatever pleasures you may seek. However if you are in any way convicted in your spirit that you are not rendering to God what he is owed, then go to God and seek his forgiveness! If you are uncomfortable with how comfortable you have been going to this event, or that event, but not worshipping your Creator with brothers and sisters together then repent! 

A spirit of worship is a gift from God. It is not natural to those who hate the Lord. If you have a desire, even a twinge in your conscience to be in worship of God with his people, pursue this week how you may repent and seek God's restoration in your relationship with him. God has never turned away a repenting sinner, and you won't be the first.