ruthe1213's Journal, 05 Sep 20

I'm in Virginia, and we are thankfully allowed to meet at 50% capacity. We don't often realize the liberties we have until they are taken away. 

Ruthe - I don't normally comment on such a personal matter but providing a different perspective may be helpful for you. My brother is a deacon of an episcopal (sp?) orthodox Christian church. Back in March when everything shut down the leaders made the decision to not look at this as a violation against the church's rights but rather looked to the gospel for guidance and comfort. As the Father sacrificed Christ for us this is a sacrifice to him they are making in thanksgiving. What members miss is the fellowship and gathering together. Worship, prayer and spiritual guidance doesn't require gathering in a church or in large groups. The past months have been difficult but they are doing a lot of zoom gatherings, daily you tube sermons and small gatherings. Not focusing on a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening service. Some members make home visits to the older members. They see this time as a personal sacrifice of their "right to assemble" as an offering to God. Being asked to give up what you love most. He provided me a place in the scripture that spoke to this and wish I could recall so I could share with you. Take care.. 

We have been able to meet the whole time. 10 of us chose to space ourselves and keep attending. Our law officers said they would not interfere. So grateful. We are gradually growing back to our normal numbers. Interesting times ahead. Faith is going to be essential. 

I heard that 20% of the churches in America are predicted to close permanently due to the forced closures. As I recall, Paul was told not to preach in the name of Jesus and was imprisoned for continuing to preach. Rome fell. Preaching in the name of Jesus is still going on in spite of government trying to silence the church. Jesus said He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it.  

And I thought I could get away from politics on this site. Wrong! 

I attend an extremely large Presbyterian church and volunteer in our kids area and we definitely felt it as part of our spiritual duties (not just our physical duty) to close down. We figured ways to worship. Zoom, YouTube videos that our pastors made, one-on-one calls, weekly lessons, private prayer times, and so forth. We adapted and continue to adapt. As a matter of fact, we’ve had MORE people join and tune in during this time. It would be a sin to engage in activities where we actively risk endangering ourselves and those around us. If you really want to Praise the Lord, you can and can find a way to do so. You don’t sincerely worship more in a church than you do at home. 

The liberties being "taken away" wrt assembling are being applied equally to society, ie not targeted at religious orgs. Is it inconvenient? Yes. Biased? No. If worship communities self-quarrantined for 2 weeks after services, I'd have no prob, but we all know this is unenforceable. My unsoliticited advice is to use technology to virtually assemble until COVID has run its course. Loving your neighbor sometimes means doing without yourself. PS: Please feel free to delete this comment if it offends you. 

Not offended. I appreciate hearing other opinions and am not threatened by them, causes me to think. That is a good thing.  

I appreciate the feedback. I am isolated as a single obese 75 year old woman. I misd going to the senior center to interact with others. When I was working my job was to help people by visiting them in their homes. The government saw the value of one on one interaction. I miss my church family interaction. When God said not to forsake the gathering of ourselves together as is the custom of some, He knew what science has discovered--we need one another.  

We really do need each other. Isolation is so devastating and unhealthy.