LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING ALL OF YOU AGAIN

          It’s been a blessing to be able to worship at the Church building again. I know many of us cannot be there physically just yet and we still have to maintain the rules of social distancing, but I am overjoyed to be there on Sunday morning. I look forward to the day when we all will be able to worship together in the same building, but for now I am very grateful that God has been taking care of us and giving us the wisdom and the technology we need to keep moving forward as a Church family. However, the last few Sundays presented certain challenges in my home. To be more specific, my son Andre always wakes up asking me to take him to Church. “It’s time to go to Church daddy,” he says, but I cannot take him with me because he does not understand what’s going on with this pandemic. One day, my wife attempted to put a mask on his face, he took it off and ran away so fast that we couldn’t stop laughing. So, we decided that it was best to keep him home for now away from crowds. Sometimes I wish I were as innocent as he is.
          It breaks my heart that entire family cannot go to the Church building with me, especially having to tell my youngest son “No, you cannot go to Church with me.” As a Christian parent, I cannot imagine having to say these words to my kids: “No you cannot go to Church.” Frankly, it almost sounds sacrilegious to me. The last couple Sundays, I had to wake up earlier than usual so that I could go get dress secretly and just leave the house without him seeing me, because I do not want to see him cry about not going to Church. Now, I know he is only 2 ½ years old and he is more excited about running around the Church building and play with his little friends in the kids room downstairs or the playground in the back, but I want to share this story with you because I certainly hope all of you are looking forward to come back to the Church building and see each other again, as soon as it is possible for all of us to do so. Currently, we have to take precautions because being a Christian does not make you immune to this pandemic; However, let us never lose the joy and passion of being together physically fellowshipping under the same roof. Like always, it is my prayer that “all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit” (3 John 1:2)
          I do not expect everyone to be crying on Sunday morning like my son Andre because they cannot go to the Church building, but I certainly hope we miss each other – we miss each other’s smiles – we miss each other’s hugs – we miss each other’s voices – we miss each other’s encouragement and exhortation. The apostle Paul often wrote in his letters to different Churches how much he always looked forward to seeing his fellow believers to encourage them and strengthen their mutual faith (Romans 1:8 – 13), and I believe we all should be like Paul right now. Brothers and sisters, may we always continue to grow deeper in our love for one another, whether we are present in the body or not. May we always look forward to our fellowship, because we are always united in one Spirit. “I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to do it with paper and ink. For I hope to visit you soon and talk with you face to face. Then our joy will be complete” (2 John 1: 12)