By Pastor Kelly Chatman
Since the beginning of the pandemic and death of George Floyd, the world seems to have shifted. The ways we gather and seek to walk in close relationship with God and neighborhood have changed radically.
I miss how we were able to gather on Sunday mornings in the company of one another. I miss the opportunity to greet and be greeted by people who were familiar to me. I also miss the opportunity to greet people I had never seen before.
I love church. I love Sunday morning.
Sunday morning worship did not go away. Church has not gone away either. The challenge – or opportunity – that this time of pandemic has offered us is to take what we have experienced in church all these years and go mobile. Yes, that is right, I am saying let us take this time of COVID-19 to the streets, to our neighbors in our neighborhoods.
I HAVE LONG BELIEVED in the church as a powerful institution. There is no other institution I know of that claims that it does not matter who you are or where you come from, you are welcome here. What if the “here” is not just a building or hour of the week but the very promise of God, embodied in the people of God.
I am excited by the radical realization that the church is a teaching institution. The church forms us for life not only on Sunday morning but also in everyday life. The curious church not only teaches through our consumption of cognitive thought, but also through our experience and exploration as well. Visiting nursing home or distributing food offers encounters with people who are different from us, an experience at least as valuable as what we learn from a book.
“What if the ‘here’ to which all are welcome is not just a building or an hour of the week but the very promise of God, embodied in the people of God.”
And this experiential view of learning through the church brings me to an opportunity I hope might interest you. This month African-American faith leaders in North Minneapolis decided that, in response to COVID-19, the murder of George Floyd and increase in gun violence, they would take faith to the street. Under two large tents set up in a parking lot along Broadway Avenue, these leaders have dedicated the month of July as “Thirty Days of Prayer for Healing of the City.”
Each hour clergy and lay leaders gather under the tent for prayer lasting 8 minutes and 46 seconds. If you are not able to attend, please consider joining in this dedication to prayer. Take time out and pray for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in your home or in your neighborhood. While you are at it, invite someone in your neighborhood to join you on Sunday morning when we can safely gather once again.