Since today is Sunday, it seemed a good time to talk about Online "Church." Some larger churches have live-streamed their services for years, but during the Covid shutdown there was an explosion of churches learning and using this technology. And I am so thankful for it. When we are sick or home-bound by the weather, or even if we need to travel, it's nice to be able to connect with our church family, or another church, online. We can keep up with the sermon series we've been watching and conveniently do "church" at home or even in our car. I think it's wonderful we are using technology for such purposes and am very thankful to have it when we need it.
But do you, like me, ever find it just a little too easy? Are there times when you think, I'm running late, or I just don't feel like "people-ing" today, so I'll just do online church? I find it much easier to travel on a Sunday when making a weekend trip, while before the pandemic I always worked my plans around a church service. Is there anything wrong with this?
The short answer is, no, of course not. There is no requirement for how many times you must be in the church building each month or how sick you have to be to miss.
Personally, I've been very tempted to do online church a lot lately. I am a new empty-nester, my youngest having left for college a month ago. My husband is a VA Hospital Chaplain, preaching in a service that I am not able to attend. I've lived here for two years but for various reasons, I just haven't connected with any church in the area. I am very much looking forward to moving back to where we used to live, where we plan to retire, where we are members of a vibrant church in which we have been very active. Right now, I don't want to go to church by myself in the area where we are living. Maybe you feel the same way.
But do you feel like you are missing something when you don't "go" to church? I do.
Not to mention that the more Sundays I do "online church," the more likely I am to get busy and forget to do it.
The Greek word in the New Testament that is translated "church" is Εκκλησία. Ok, if you can't pronounce that, try "ekklesia." It meant "the called out ones," a "gathering," or an "assembly." It was the same word used when the Greek citizens in a city state had a meeting or an assembly. Although our derivative, "ecclesiastical," always makes us think of religious things, the root was not a religious word. It just meant the people were meeting together. In the case of the followers of Jesus in ancient Roman times, they were meeting together for the purpose of worshipping the Lord.
Acts 2:42 tells us more about their purposes for meeting together. The NIV says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
The apostles' teaching corresponds with both the preacher's sermon and Sunday School or Bible Study teaching today. Contrary to common belief, we are not going to church to hear a specific preacher. People who go to a church because of the preacher will quickly lose interest when that preacher leaves or is no longer available. We have no apostles anymore, and if the early Christians had only been going to church because they liked the apostles so much, the church would have fizzled quickly after the first century. The apostles' teaching, however, was based on the teaching of Jesus, and it was written down in the books of our New Testament during the first century while the apostles were living, or shortly thereafter when people who were eyewitnesses to the apostles were still able to record it. This is the teaching that we should still be going to church for. Can I get this from online church? Thankfully, yes. This is one of the benefits of being able to attend a Bible-teaching church online.
Prayer is pretty self-explanatory. When the people came together, they talked to God together. Hopefully we are still doing this in 100% of Christian church services. Does this happen online? Yes. I can certainly hear the prayers that are being offered online, and I can pray along with them from wherever I am. God is present everywhere, and he doesn't necessarily care where we are when we pray. Yet, I do think there is something to be said for praying for each other when we are together. The Scripture speaks of praying for one another and bearing one another's burdens. There is something very comforting about having Christian friends come around you and praying for you while you are physically together in a difficult time. Perhaps this purpose is even better achieved in a smaller gathering like a Bible study or prayer group than in the average corporate worship service.
"Breaking of bread" is communion or the Eucharist. We eat a piece of bread, usually unleavened (there is no yeast in it to make it rise), and drink the fruit of the vine (wine or grape juice) in the same way that Jesus did at the Last Supper with his disciples. He told them to continue to do this when they came together and to remember the sacrifice he was making for them.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (I Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV)
The early Christians seemingly broke bread together whenever they assembled together. We know they began meeting on the first day of the week, Sunday, since Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week, and because many of them were still Jews who practiced the Sabbath day of rest on Saturday. So they rested and perhaps met in the synagogue on Saturday, then met with fellow Christian believers on Sunday. The early Christians met in homes and sometimes may have met much more than once a week, but according to the history we have, they made a habit of meeting at least on the first day of the week, and breaking bread together then. Can I do this with online church? Well, sure. Everyone might not have several miniature communion kits sitting around their house like we do since my husband is a Chaplain, but it's not too hard to keep some crackers and grape juice handy, or even to use something else as a symbol if you do not have those items. I try to take communion when I am at home worshipping online, but it does seem to me that this was a remembrance that Jesus gave his followers to practice corporately. He wanted them to break bread together, talking about him and remembering him. He knew we make the best memories with people when we are eating together. Eventually this service took on the name "communion," as we are communing with both God and each other during this time. When my husband was preaching in a small church, we used to take communion to people who were sick or shut-in after church, not because they could not take it by themselves, but because the aspect of taking it together was considered important. So yes, I can do this on my own, but maybe it's not best.
Do you notice what is missing from the Acts 2:42 list? Music? Wow, and that is often treated as the most important aspect of worship these days! It certainly was an important part of worship in both the Old and New Testaments and still is today. We know from Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 that the early Christians sang psalms (from the Old Testament psalm-book), hymns (songs of praise, possibly a cappella), and spiritual songs (basically any other song of worship, some they may have written themselves, the equivalent of our contemporary worship music) in their corporate worship. But it didn't quite make the top-four Acts 2:42 list. Ah, but that is the topic for another blog post! For now, suffice to say, I can enjoy and participate in the music in my online church service.
And that leaves fellowship. That one did make the top four. It was important. It is important. Yes, that seems to be what is missing the most from our online church experience. We can compensate for it somewhat. We might be able to talk or text with the people at the church during the livestream. We might be able to get together with people some other time if we weren't able to attend church for some reason. But over the course of time, the long haul, if we get into the habit of only going to online church, oh how we will miss the fellowship. It's important, whether you are an extrovert or an introvert. It's important to be around God's people. We are difficult, we are less-than-perfect, we are hypocrites, we are human. But we are in the battle here on this earth together. No soldier can win a battle alone. We need to carry each other's burdens, encourage one another, lift each other up, hold each other accountable, work out the problems together. When Satan can get us isolated from the Body, it is easier for him to defeat us.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV)
We need each other!
Online church - what a blessing! What an amazing and wonderful tool we have available to us when for whatever reason we are unable to physically attend a church service.
For the rest of the time, however - when we do not have any reason we cannot be there - I'll see you on Sunday!
Happy Lord's Day!
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