Submitted by Angie Benjock
Working from home can feel very inefficient when you aren’t used to it. You don’t have everything you need, and remote access to your work computer can be slow. Online meetings have technical difficulties. The distractions are endless at home. I see laundry and housework that needs to be done, and leisure activities I would rather be doing. With the gorgeous weather we’ve been having, I just want to go out and work on my flower beds or take a walk. It's hard to feel like an actual team working toward a shared mission. You really miss what you could accomplish at the office. Eventually you get into the routine, though, and start to get used to working alone, not having to dress up, sleeping later, and not having to drive very far. You get comfortable with it.
Sunday mornings also feel very different. Watching church on a screen has left me thinking, "I hope people don’t get so comfortable watching a sermon from their couch that they decide they don't need to go back to church". The author of Hebrews in chapter 10:24-25 reminds us of the importance of meeting together as members of the body of Christ when he 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."
The church has many purposes in society. It is a place to learn biblical doctrine, fellowship with other believers, pray, worship, show God’s love, and bring others to Christ. Many of those things can be done at home (if you have discipline). To make the most impact, however, having a place devoted to the mission of Jesus Christ where followers are working together is best.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 ESV
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
Everyone using their individual skills, gifts, and talents together can greatly benefit the body of Christ’s impact in the community. It would not be so useful for everyone to bring the same thing to the table. Some gifts are very noticeable, while others are hard to define. The only thing that showed up even slightly strong when I took the spiritual gifts test years ago was “helper”. Makes me feel like the “appendix” in the body of Christ. Hopefully that’s improved a bit in the years since then.
We can certainly show God’s love as an individual part of the body of Christ, but when we show love and “shine our light” as an organized whole body of Christ, there can be no doubt any good deeds we do are to “glorify our Father in heaven”. Looking forward to seeing everyone back at church!
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