The root of the problem, I think, is that there is a lack of understanding. And that lack of understanding is, well, understandable.

         I don’t know if there is any single industry in this country that is more pervasive than the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry covers music, film, television, plays, musicals, sports of all kinds, basically anything that can turn our minds, however briefly, from reality. To shut down entertainment, even for a short while, would be unthinkable. Yet, in the interest of preserving one’s own life and the lives of their loved ones, people are not squawking too loudly about it. The hot new movie is forgotten. The big games, while lamented, are just canceled. Television becomes a sea of reruns. People are posting things on Facebook and You Tube that they never would have thought of posting just two months ago, but now they are bored just enough to put the family cat on the web. Board games are being dusted off, families are talking, phones are ringing. People are finding out that entertainment can be had within their own homes and with their own families. Big entertainment is canceled, yet still the world goes on.

         Work. We hear a lot about people who play the system and who get through life without breaking much of a sweat. But there are millions and millions of people who get up and do whatever it is they have to do to get ready, then go to their jobs. Shutting anything down for very long would make people crazy. Yet, again, in the interest of preserving one’s own life and the lives of their loved ones, people are accepting restricted work situations. Some have had hours cut. Some are working from home. Some are laid off. Some have just lost their jobs. Some are working because their jobs are essential, but they do so with fear. It is getting to where folks are suffering economically, but they will hang in as long as they can. Even my son, the picture of a workaholic, is now off for fourteen days and he is philosophical about it. It is a little hard for me to grasp that he is sitting at home and doing……nothing? But people have accepted a different work situation.   

         Then there is travel. Travel is way down. Airline companies are struggling with massive layoffs. Amtrak, which has always had problems, is really suffering now. Even getting into a car or truck and going to see Aunt Matilda can be problematic in some parts of the country. And this coincides with the fact that fuel prices are lower than they have been in decades. The roads and the air should be packed, but people are being advised against it and most folks are taking that advice.

         So, with all the restrictions and all the cutbacks and all the hardships that have swept the country, and the way the American people have accepted it, you can hardly be surprised that authorities around the US are flummoxed about the fact that there is a subset of people who really want to go to church, even at the risk of infection.

         Indiana’s governor, Eric Holcomb, understands the situation. When he put out the travel restrictions, he encouraged churches to post their services online, either through recording or by live stream. However, the governors of Michigan and Kentucky, and numerous other states, are baffled by the desire to be at worship. They can hardly be blamed for reasoning that if people can give up pro and college sports and horse racing and work and travel, they can surely give up church. Most people don’t attend church regularly anyway. Church was the least of their problems.

         What they didn’t realize, probably because they themselves are unfamiliar with the Christian life, is that to a Christian who is walking with the Lord, being in church is one of the really important things in life. Not because it is fun, although it can be, and not because it is required. But for a Christian who is in sync with the Lord there is an urgency, a drive to be with other Christians for the gathered worship experience. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. We are supposed to come together. For a Christian who is walking the path, nothing else is quite like coming to the gathering.

         I am not saying we should abandon all restraint and flock back to the church. I think we have to realize that there are things that need to be done right now. We are not being banned from worship for life or any such thing. What I am saying is that there should be within us the desire to gather. We will, too, and fairly soon. But some of you can hardly wait to be back, while some are OK doing as it is at the moment. However, it does my soul good to hear folks say they are really looking forward to being back in church.

         It is completely amazing. When I started in the ministry there were very few television ministries. If you wanted to reach a wide audience you made yourself a radio program. Once a week. Cost depended on the time you were on the air and how many minutes your program ran. If you were going to have fifteen minutes on a Sunday morning between the hours of 7 AM and noon, you were going to pay a lot of money. Of course, that depended on the radio station. Some stations could barely be heard a mile away. Those were fairly cheap. Some stations could be heard in ten states. That was expensive. If you ran a broadcast on a small station at 2 AM on Tuesday morning, you could do it fairly reasonably. Of course, maybe six people would hear you. Here, though, we have our own web page. That was already in place. The per year cost of the page is very small. It was on the heart of a couple of people in the church to put a video of the weekly message on the page and they donated the equipment to do so. We have a small number of people who are willing to do the work to produce a weekly program that, right now, takes about an hour. Our cost is next to nothing and we have world wide access. Someone might say that only our locals will listen. But get this; Mary and I write blogs that are also on the webpage. I don’t think Mary’s blog is set up to record readers in various countries. But my blog has been read in 79 countries. How can that be for a little blog written in a little bump in the road in Indiana? There are millions of people who are hungry for the Word of God! And they are searching. We can track how many are watching our videos each week. So far, since we posted on Sunday, 897 people have accessed the web page and 438 people have accessed our worship video. God is so good.

         When we do come back, we will still post a video each week. It will just be out by Tuesday at noon rather than on Sunday morning. But no matter how good that is, it will never replace the joy of being in the same room at the same time and greeting each other.

         Our web site is urbanayokeparish.com When you get there you will see the menu bar at the top of the page. That will direct you where to go. So, until we can gather together as our heart’s desire causes us to crave, we will touch base there.

         Blessings.