Once again there has been great provision for Christians to help us celebrate one of the high points of the Christian calendar. People have been working hard to sustain us spiritually through these strange and bewildering times. There have been suggestions that the lockdown has shown us the way forward, that online worship and devotion will become as important as our weekly gatherings. ‘The future has come to meet us.‘ I have heard that from a few people.
I have to say it is not easy for me to contemplate that. I have been described by a friend as a ‘technophobe’. Not strictly speaking true. Like most people I appreciate the blessings of the world wide web and the technology that allows me to get this blog out. It amazes me that people from Turkmenistan, one of the most oppressive countries for Christians, have been logging on. I also recognise how important the technology has been (for those who have it) over the past few months in enabling us to stay in contact with family and friends. It has been a real boost for us to be able to read stories to our grandchildren 350 miles away.
You’re waiting for the ‘But’. So making sure my tin helmet is in place here goes!
Reading Acts 2: 1-13 this morning I don’t get any further than verse 1:
‘When the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place.’
It was to a people together that the Spirit came. It was as a people together that each had their own personal experience of the Spirit. It was as a people together that they moved out into the street and spoke in languages previously unknown to them but understood by an international audience. It was to a people together that Peter preached and the Spirit moved 3, 000 people to become part of the Jesus movement.
Churches throughout the world are making outstanding efforts to reach out to members and non-members through online communication. I daily read of the effectiveness of all of this and I sincerely pray that this will be a part of our future strategy for mission. But I also pray for perspective and proportion. I don’t know what Church life will be like when we are once again allowed to get back to our places of worship. I imagine it might be a tentative return in many ways. But personally speaking I am longing for the day when once again we are ‘all together in one place.‘ When I can shake hands, hug, sing, break bread and share wine, baptise and once again know that unique experience when the Spirit binds a people together through the preached Word. And from all of this for God’s people to go out with hope to the bereaved, the broken, the sick, the disaffected and the unconnected.
This may not happen all at once. Perhaps it wasn’t all coming together before the lockdown. But it is surely where we want to be.
