07/14/2020
I wrote this on April 21, 2020, when our church was still not able to meet in person.
Israel had an obedience problem: They were told not to intermarry with the inhabitants of the land He had promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They did. The command was so that they wouldn’t be tempted to bow down to their gods. They were. Again and again, they disobeyed their God. Again and again He sent prophets and judges to warn them. They’d repent, then they’d forget. Again and again, they ignored His warnings. Patiently He disciplined them as a father disciplines his children. They’d repent. Then they’d sin again. Finally He banished them from His land. He banished them from His temple, from which His glory had departed.
In 586 B.C. God sent a foreign military power to lay waste to Jerusalem and to take His people into captivity. He sent the armies of Babylon.
To His people in exile, God sends a message through the prophet Jeremiah: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:5-7). He tells them to thrive. And it happens when they pray for the prosperity of the land of their exile.
In Psalm 137, we read of the anguish of the Israelites in captivity as they long for the time they could set foot in Jerusalem again:
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy. (verses 1-6)
Today we are like churches in exile. We worship in our homes, in our cars, in a park, wherever there’s internet access, while preachers and singers lead us in worship from their living rooms. It is good for now. It is the best thing we can do while we are ordered to stay home. But for anyone who has experienced the sweetness of worshiping God with other believers in a church facility, you long for the day you can park your car in the lot, come into the building, greet others as you walk in, take your seat and wait for the service to begin.
I can imagine myself being in the first church service since our city went on lockdown. I can imagine my heart welling up with an emotion I had never felt before. At last I can be with people I had before this time merely spoken with on the phone, or messaged or written to. I’m imagining that first instance of face-to-face interaction to be so precious I will never want to be without it ever again: koinonia. It’s fellowship coming out of our mutual bond as brothers and sisters in Christ. In koinonia, our flame is not easily snuffed out because another light-bearer holds their light close to ours when our flame is weak. In koinonia, we are inspired to be a better version of ourselves as we are encouraged by their vibrant walk with Christ. In koinonia, we know that we’re not the only ones who struggle.
Until the time we can be together again, I long to be in that place and time of face-to-face koinonia, where physical distancing will be a thing of the past. When staying home will be an option and not an order. Where we leave home to go somewhere. Where we go back home at the end of the day. We who have been away from each other for a long while will get back to gathering together with a newfound appreciation for the fellowship we had so taken for granted. When that time comes, we will joyfully move from longing...to belonging!
EPILOGUE: On June 1, 2020, New Hope Church began on-site worship gatherings, enjoying koinonia. We had moved from longing to belonging!
