As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, churches all over the U. S. are beginning to return to worship inside their facilities. As they do, each church is forced to wrestle with the realties that being indoors creates a degree of risk for the church body.
We are doing that here at Malvern Hill, and I don’t like it. I don’t like the potential risk. I don’t like the fact that every decision will be wrong and right. I don’t like the reality that some of our people can’t worship outside in the heat and others can’t worship indoors during a pandemic.
But, something I do like is that COVID-19 has forced us all to wrestle with the importance and necessity of worship. In the United States, we have grown comfortable with the safety and security of our worship spaces. But, safety in worship is a privilege we are never promised.
Worship of Christ is an act of protest against the governing powers of our world. Worship of Jesus is inherently dangerous because when we bow to Jesus we refuse to bow to the world. When we bow to Jesus, we turn our backs on kings and rulers. When we bow to Jesus, we affirm that our ultimate loyalty and allegiance is to another King in another realm.
As Christians, we hold dual citizenship in this world and Christ’s Kingdom. Inevitably, our dual citizenship will eventually create conflict. At some point my commitment to Christ will conflict with my commitment to my country or my political party or my place of employment or even my family. Regular worship serves not only to help me grow up in Christ, regular worship serves as a reminder to the world that my ultimate allegiance is to Christ.
Worship is dangerous because public worship is a declaration of freedom from the tyranny of the world and commitment to Christ.
Avoiding public worship during a time of pandemic is not wrong. But, let us be careful in demanding safety before we return to public worship. Safety in public worship is the privilege only of those of us blessed enough to live in a free country. Safety can never be a prerequisite to worship because worship was never intended to be safe.
When a group of believers in the New Testament were confronted with persecution because of their faith, the writer to the Hebrews urged them to continue to worship anyway:
And let us 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.
Hebrews 10:24-25
As the pandemic lingers on, churches will continue to struggle to navigate the difficult terrain of indoor worship. We must do all we can to protect “the least of these” among us and to try to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19. However, beware of the dangers of safetyism. Any form of Christian worship that prioritizes safety above all else will eventually cease to be Christian worship. Christian worship is and always will be a form of protest and protests are inherently dangerous. The gospel is not a call to safety, but the call to come and die.
