It feels strange for me to write about the Lord's Day. The Lord's Day is meant for Christians to come together and celebrate the risen Lord as a “family”. However, I live alone and the lockdown restrictions during this coronavirus pandemic have left me further isolated from my fellow Christians. But perhaps it is this very isolation that helps me appreciate more deeply the value of our communion as the family of God. Most of us who grew up in community can have a tendency to take it for granted, or not appreciate just how much of a blessing it is to be in community. This is a blessing that many people do not experience in today's world! It urges us all the more to reach out to these people and invite them into the communion we experience with each other and with the Lord.
I was very happy to see many families from our People of Hope community gather together for the virtual Lord's Day on the 4th of April, 2020. Even though we couldn't see each other, the chat section was very much alive with a lot of members participating. It was also very pleasant to see families sharing that they are praying for other families in the community. As members of Compass, we too recently had an informal Lord's Day with quite a few houses participating. It was nice that we saw each other and could actually speak to each other through video conferencing.
The current lockdown situation surprisingly reminds me of Acts 2:44 - “And all who believed were together and had all things in common”. It seems to me that the suffering caused by this pandemic is common to all of us now, and is one more factor that unites us. I am thankful to the Lord for this time. Personally, it has been a time of tremendous spiritual growth, especially during the past season of Lent when I reflected a lot on the death of Jesus and how it saves us. The lockdown meant I found more time to think and reflect and spend more time with the Lord as well.
I miss in-person gatherings a lot. But God gives us different seasons in our life, so let us make the most of this isolation while it lasts. I believe and hope that this isolation will generate a greater desire in us for communion with one another. That means you are going to have to invite me for Lord's Day some time soon ;) and I'm gonna have to buy a dining table to start hosting a few myself!
- Wesley, Compass Member