by Pastor Karen Troxler

Scripture Reading: Acts 2:42-47

I can’t wait to get back to church, and I’m sure you all agree! While I am grateful for technology that allows us to continue to worship together from different locations, it’s not the same as physically being together. What a great day of celebration it will be when we can finally see one another face-to-face, or at least, mask-to-mask!

No matter what I have on my mind before worship, as soon as we begin singing praises to the Lord, all of those thoughts melt away; because my focus is taken off of myself and put on the Lord. Everything else is placed in its proper perspective, and I feel better as a result. The purpose of worship, however, is not to make us “feel” better or look good. The purpose of worship is to equip and strengthen us, so that we can go out to represent and be the incarnated Christ in the world, to be His hands and feet.

Too often, I think we focus on the negative in the Church, whether the Church as a whole or any given local church. The reality is there is no such thing as a perfect church. We read the description of church in Acts 2, and think “Why can’t we be like that today?” If you continue reading in Acts, you will find that the early church was far from perfect just like us. What is the answer?

A key can be found in verse 47, “They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved.” They were not putting on a show; rather, their Christ-like actions that we read about flowed from their worship! And the results were amazing—unbelievers became believers!

The Coronavirus pandemic has brought death and destruction, but it also has given us opportunities to show who Christ is, opportunities that we would not otherwise have had!

Dear God, help us to be Your Church and represent you well in the world. Help others to see our love so they can experience your love. Amen.