Dear Family and Friends,

Before we move on to our next stage of life, let’s look at another facet of growth in our younger years – our social and emotional development.

This area encompasses understanding our feelings and those of others, learning to control our feelings and behaviors, and learning to get along with our peers. 

I wonder how many of us have mixed feelings about playground time. I do.

Those were great times making new friends, playing together, and sharing.

But the playground was also where we first encountered hurtful emotions like rejection, jealousy, shame, and loneliness; where we realized that not everyone was nice; where getting along with everyone was really hard.

We also learned that those who were not nice and fun to be with, the ‘special ones’, were unlikely to change. 

Have you noticed that those ‘special’ kids at the playground grew up and pretty much followed us through life, even into the workplace? 

Life as a newly minted Christian was so different from our days on the playground and the years that followed. We found that many of the folks we met at church seemed so nice and friendly.

People inside the church were unlike those outside; somehow different from those ‘special’ ones that we chose years ago to avoid or stop seeing… just like we did on the playground.

We used to wonder, what makes Christians so different? We all know the answer. The foundation of our faith is Love, and that is precisely what we felt.

It has now been over a year since we experienced our first pandemic lockdown. Oh how our lives have changed.

Our comfortable habits and routines all had to change, including our routine of going to church and engaging with other church members. 

Looking back at that first lockdown, did you miss going to church? We all did. Did you say to yourself, watching the church service online is good but it’s just not the same, that something is missing.

Would you agree that in those early months of the pandemic, what we really missed most, what our hearts were yearning for was gathering with our brothers and sisters and worshipping Christ together?

Fast forwarding to today, let me ask you a soul searching question: do you still miss going to church like you did in those early months? Or have you slipped into a routine of not going to church?

Yes, it’s comfortable to watch the service in our pajamas. It’s awfully convenient to watch it at our leisure, after we get through our busy weekend or perhaps later in the week. As for seeing our church friends, we shrug and say cannot be helped. They are friends forever and we will one day get back together – once it’s safe. 

A recent report by people who study habits says it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days or an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. My friends, we are well beyond those days. Our new routine has become a habit.

Did you know the scriptures stop just short of commanding us to go to church? 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.” 

The Greek word translated into ‘neglect’ is enkataleipontes, which means to leave behind, abandon, forsake, desert. It means not doing as we should.

In short, this verse is saying: strive to meet with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Gathering together is a major component of our spiritual growth and theirs; where we learn how to love each other as we do ourselves, and much more. Take a look at the following verses about interacting with our fellow followers. 
 

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10 

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:8-10

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-14

Friends, this is just a sampling of the verses about being with one another. To set you off on a good day, I included only those that are positive in nature and spared you the negative ones… 

Getting back to our word neglect – please note that none of what these scriptures tell us to do is possible in isolation. Or by doing church online. Or by meeting with your group on Zoom. Nothing can nor will ever replace the human experience that God wants for us. 

I recently heard a teacher talk about Genesis 3:8. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Have you noticed that it says God was walking in the garden? God actually came down to be with them. God could have used His booming voice from Heaven, but He didn’t. Instead, God came to have face to face time with Adam and Eve. If God felt it was so important to do so, shouldn’t we?

Let me conclude by saying I am not asking you to blindly rush back to church this weekend. Safety should still be your priority.

We all have different levels of personal safety and I suspect it will be awhile before in person church services feels safe for everyone.  

But how about taking a youthful step back into the playground of life?

In love always,