Being Witnesses

This Sunday I’m wrapping up the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus recorded in the gospels before we celebrate His ascension on the 24th. This year’s Easter season has seemed so stretched out. I suppose that time itself seems so different in this shutdown and I keep forgetting which day it is (hence the lateness of this post).

In Luke 24:36-49 Jesus once again says “Peace be with you” and offers them His hands and feet as proof of who He is. But then He asks for something to eat. This story is mirrored in John’s gospel and is very similar except for the part where He asks for food. This stands out to me, because He has shown them that He is alive and Jewish culture still dictates that if you have a guest you welcome and feed them. It is egregious to not offer hospitality. Just think of the story of Abraham and the three visitors. He couldn’t do enough to provide for their needs. But the disciples are so amazed and afraid that Jesus has shown up among them that they are frozen in place.

As a friend said to me last night, who could blame them? If someone I knew who had died walked through a wall into my home a few days later, I would probably be overwhelmed too and not functioning as I normally would. If Jesus Himself walked into my home I might just pass out cold. In this story, as in the story of the disciples out fishing and on the road to Emmaus, Jesus reassures them but He also eats with them. Overcoming grief and fear with food, hospitality and welcome is pivotal.

Jesus shares why things had to happen as they did, citing the prophets in scripture, and then tells them that they are witnesses to the story. They are to wait in Jerusalem, the holy city of their faith, until they receive the power of God. This leads right into Jesus’ ascension. Suddenly their Lord is being taken away from them again, albeit in a much nicer and less violent way but He is still soon gone from their sight with little if any plan in place.

As I consider the time we are in so much comes to mind. If we are people who worship our buildings and our church family then we probably feel that our faith has been sorely tested and even taken from us. Many people I talk to are so missing worshiping together right now. They miss the routine, the lived experience of a service in real time and in person, the community of faith and their brothers and sisters in Christ. While we may feel frozen in time and are definitely safer in our homes than at church, we may forget that we ARE the church. Wherever we find ourselves, we are still witnesses to Jesus as His body on earth.

Our congregation made the decision to not make our service recordings public. We post to youtube with a code sent out to members of our congregation by e-mail for access. A friend on facebook from out of town was really disappointed to not be able to find our worship online. I’ve been thinking a lot this week about our conversation about this and what others have said about it too. Because right now it’s a lifeline for the whole congregation and not just for a few shut-ins. Although I know the link is being shared and others are watching our service too, it’s still about a particular family of faith and their journey.

I’m very aware that people may want to test-drive our worship, perhaps several times, before coming in the door. Carey Nieuwhof writes about this in his blog - how the church website is the new front door and accessing worship online is the first step for lots of seekers. There will also be those still uncomfortable with coming back to church because of being immune-compromised or anxious. We are moving into a ‘new normal’ in terms of the reach we are having and of sending out our link.

At the same time, I’m aware that we have young children and families whose privacy may need protecting. Their identities being spread over the internet is a safety issue. When we make worship public online we assume some risk. Do we owe our worship to the world? Is it our best and only way to be witnesses to Jesus? Of course we are more likely to engage more people if we’re readily accessible and searchable. Few people just walk in on a Sunday morning anymore. However, at the same time care needs to be taken to not commodify what is meant to be sacred. Some churches feel called to broadcast their worship to all, and answering that call is vital to many but it does need to be discerned well.

Preparing for a recorded service is so much different than a live one even though much of the content might be similar. In the coming weeks and months many decisions will need to be made about how church will look and feel when we’re allowed to gather together. Going back to exactly how things were is not possible, no matter how much we wish we could. Covid-19 risk is going to continue and we will need to be incredibly intentional to ensure that church is safe for all our people in every way possible.

One thing we know is that Jesus holds out peace to us in our fear and anxiety, in our worry that we won’t get it right and our concern about what has changed and needs to change. We still have people who are looking for Jesus and people who will turn up and show His face to us if we look carefully enough. They all need hospitality and welcome and to be well fed. And we are all called to be witnesses, even those of us who wrestle with doubt and who wonder how long we will need to wait for God to re-group and re-ignite us.

May God bless us as we each determine how we are called to be witnesses and peace sharers and hospitality providers in this time.