By Melanie Mar Chow
The church may have been caught off guard when the pandemic came to the US. Almost a year later, people still need best practices for corporate worship. The question should always be: How is our worship relevant to God, and then for God’s people? One West Coast church learned a hard lesson on how the virus spreads in close quarters from person to person from their nose or mouth. This caused fear of being with others when it involved singing or talking in person.
| With vaccinations more available, my church is considering the timing to return to in-person gatherings. This journey has been challenging to honor the dictates of government leaders. We trust God when we lack understanding. Knowing the Holy Spirit is praying/groaning for our best interests allows peace. God created people with the ability to be amazingly creative. For example, though many miss the ability to hug, an important realization is that embracing people is not limited to a church building. Hebrews 10:24-25 reminds us to consider how to “stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Pandemic meetings bring people to connect with God to be ready for the full reign of Christ. How? To do what the author notes as part of our worship to God for the greater good. Living out our lives for God with God-given gifts moves us from not being alone to shared lives. We cannot worship God if we are unaware of the reasons why we praise God for what He is doing. Hearing testimonies helps me know God is at work by a text, call, or a media post. Reframing perspective by employing creativity, my campus ministry students use connectivity sites like Slack, Discord, and others to better connect. There are new sites like Gathertown or Gatherly that allow casual conversations in visually recreated spaces. One group used Gathertown to translate their meeting room layout matching colors and the exact numbers of chairs and tables in each room! Creativity happens in abundance when we empower the priesthood of all believers. For example, we have been able to uniquely partake of communion at home. Ashes for Ash Wednesday were dispensed to our pods, with enough that we could have shared with neighbors. Baptisms have occurred on Zoom, as have weddings, funerals, and commissioning services. The other possibility is to postpone these events until people can gather. Though we miss being in person, life goes on. The value of meaningful worship increases by employing God-given talents. What creative means have you engaged for worship relative to God and blessing others? Commit to communicate with one person about one creative way to worship this week. Rev. Melanie Mar Chow serves God through Asian American Christian Fellowship, the campus ministry division of the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS). She has been an ordained American Baptist minister since 2004. A Pacific Northwest native, she currently lives with her husband and daughter in Southern California. |
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