Greetings Church –
This week has certainly been another experience in the journey that COVID-19 has brought us. Words such as social distancing, restrictions, vaccine records and capacities have become familiar words that we have added to our vocabulary. The “roller coaster ride” that COVID-19 continues to be is something that I am sure we would all love to be able to get off of. And yet, despite all the external chaos, I am reminded that God, the Alpha and Omega, is still in control.
“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus.”
(Hebrews 3:1 – NIV)
We can become distracted as we wrestle through our own debates on the government’s approach to things. We can find ourselves in debates where at the end of the conversation we aren’t even sure what we are arguing about. We can feel like we personally have a “better way.”
I am reminded that the Jesus way – the mission and message of Jesus was to simply help people experience and extend the kingdom of heaven on earth. As Paul wrote “to be agents of reconciliation (or hope, or grace or even kindness) to a world that needs it.” I am not saying it is easy, trust me.
Hillel was a Jewish leader right after Jesus died (about 110 AD) and he said poignant words for us today. “"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being only for myself, what am 'I'?” He followed it up by saying this, “Jesus is life to me; the rest is commentary.” For me personally, I need the space in my head and my heart to be occupied by Jesus, not what is happening in the pandemic or what side of the vaccine debate I am on.
Bruxy Cavey, a pastor and author from the Meeting House in Ontario, said this, “Christ followers are called to provoke one another, to jab one another, to poke and prod one another toward loving well and living well.”
This week I once again found myself in the “trap” of self-absorbed questions about our rights as a church. In no way am I am saying that we don’t protect our freedoms. And yet, I am always intrigued that “the church” causes government (a mostly secular organization) to make exceptions for the church because they are concerned about our reaction? To me, that is a slippery place to occupy when at the end of the day, we are called to be bearers of the good news. Is the good news attached to the “need” for these exceptions? Would government officials find an “ally” with the church in Canada? Could they count on us to pray for them as they make these complex decisions?
We know and understand the importance of “meeting together” and as the author in Hebrews 10 tells us, “let’s not give up the habit of doing this.” As a church, we have sacrificed this for a long time. It was an incredible experience together last Sunday, to hear our unified voices in worship and to hear the chatter of people in the building. The “taste” of last Sunday might be why this past week’s announcement hit me as hard as the first announcement in March of 2020.
So, where do we go as Renfrew Baptist Church? First of all, we are NOT going to stop meeting together. Yes, we have capacity and space limits and out of our posture to honor the government, we are going to do our best to enforce this. This is not the time for us to not meet together nor is it the time to not follow the guidelines set out for us.
In line with these guidelines, at this time we will have around 40 people socially distanced and masked in the sanctuary as well as another 50 people socially distanced and masked in the Fellowship Hall downstairs. The Fellowship Hall will be receiving a live stream of the service. Children’s ministry will still be offered and will be in the educational wing of the church (dismissed part way through the service).
We know and understand that the Fellowship Hall isn’t like being “upstairs” in the sanctuary, and yet it will afford us the opportunity to still gather in our building. We would ask that you honor each other by choosing to sit upstairs one week and then the next week sit downstairs. As you read this, we are thinking through creative ways to use our parking lot over the next while to simply allow us a space to congregate after the service. We will encourage you to enjoy time fellowshipping out in the parking lot as our space inside the building is limited with our social distancing requirements.
Trust me, this can feel like we are making lemonade out of tart lemons (and we are) but more importantly, the leadership team at Renfrew Baptist Church, wants this to be a viable option for us for the next few months if this is what we need to do to be together. The next few months, let’s together make the most of every opportunity we might have to share the good news of Jesus.
Pastor Matt
on behalf of Renfrew Baptist Church Leadership Team