Prineville Presbyterian Church

“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

It’s easy to forget that there’s so much more to history than the lived experiences each of us personally knows. We can pick pretty much any subject and quickly realize that just because some thing is the way it is right now does not mean it’s always been that way, nor will it stay this way forever.

And something this pandemic has done is to change the way we now “do worship.” Where once we had only physically joined together in worshipping on Sundays, and then moved to virtual in response to the pandemic; we’re now doing more of both.

This may also change the way we define ‘community.’

As the saying goes: “necessity is the mother of invention;” and this dates back to Aesop’s Fables from the mid-6th century BCE – long before Jesus walked the earth and the Christian church got its start.

Starting before then even we see changes in the way people gathered for worship. In the Old Testament we find the tabernacle; worship “on the go” for God’s people during their desert wanderings. That led to the temple; for a time the belief was that was where God dwelled. Furthermore there were synagogues for smaller gatherings, and lacking the number of people needed for a synagogue, people gathered outdoors.

Moving into the New Testament, the early Christian church also met in catacombs and upper rooms, and the first Christian church building didn’t come until the last half of the 3^rd century.

The important thing to keep in mind is that throughout these different times, God’s people kept figuring out new ways to be in community.

Which is continuing as the COVID vaccines are more widely used thereby allowing faith communities to think about how to safely return to indoor worship - yet - virtual worshipping is expected to continue.

While this allows us a greater reach (evangelism), how do we foster strong community bonds (ecclesia) with this emerging hybrid of virtual worship added to the in-person worship?

I don’t know what the future holds – but I’m excited to see what comes from it.

Together We Serve,                                                                                                                  Pastor Mike