Worshiping in spirit and truth

by David Sellnow

I woke up this morning to hear Baton Rouge pastor Tony Spell being interviewed on CNN.  He was seeking to explain his church’s decision to go ahead with Palm Sunday services in defiance of the Louisiana governor’s shelter-in-place order. He had been quoted in the New York Post (4/5/20) saying, “We’re defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the gospel.”  The CNN interviewer asked Pastor Spell whether he was endangering public health by gathering 1,800 people for worship last week, and again this Sunday planning to bus worshipers from around the city together to be at Life Tabernacle Church. Spell responded, “We believe the science of this … however, we do have a command from God, and there are no governing bodies that can tell us we cannot gather to worship freely.” He went on to say that while his church has the ability to livestream and televise services, he refused to do so “because the Word of God commands us to assemble together.” He asserted, “Neither the pressure of our friends, family, lawsuits, jail or death will stop us from operating our conviction, which is, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’”  In a previous interview, Pastor Spell had told Insider (4/1/20): “I cannot baptize people in a livestream. I cannot lay hands on people in a livestream … and this is our biblical command—to lay hands on the sick and when they recover baptize them by immersion in water.”

Certainly, worshipers who are abiding by public health recommendations are feeling a sense of loss on this Palm Sunday. We’d like to be assembled together and commemorate Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem at the start of a momentous week. We want to sing, “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna!” and rejoice in one another’s presence in church—in a place dedicated to the praise of God.

We also know, though, that caring for the health of our neighbors is a biblical imperative, and that the worship of God is not restricted to any particular place. Once, when questioned by a woman about whether worship in a place outside Jerusalem was acceptable, Jesus answered, “ Believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. … The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21,23-24).

Ministers who are doing their best to stream online services to their parishioners are doing a godly thing. Churches that are providing devotions and resources for individuals and families to use at home are doing a godly thing. All of us, now realizing that delving into God’s Word is not just an at-church activity but an at-home priority, are learning how things were in ancient days for God’s people. When there was only one designated place of worship—the original tabernacle (then later the temple, in Jerusalem)—God instructed all households to keep God’s words always in their hearts, to “talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7). Before there were churches, before there were synagogues, the people of God prayed and praised and gave thanks regularly in their homes. Our present situation under shelter-in-place orders doesn’t stop us from worshiping. It simply asks us to adapt our worship and service to the needs of the community today. As Angela Denker, author of Red State Christians, said this past week: “Church in America will never be canceled, because the church is not a building.” The church isn’t a physical location. It’s not bricks and mortar. The church is the people of God, who, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house and offering “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5).

We believe God can and does bless people through the touch of a kind hand, as well as anointing with oil in the name of the Lord (James 5:14). But to gather hundreds together during a viral pandemic because a particular pastor thinks he has a personal mission to lay hands on people—that is presumptuous. Jesus’ response to such a suggestion well might be, “It is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’”  (Matthew 4:7).  Consider the fact that the Old Testament instructed that someone found to have a severe infectious disease “shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:26).  Our God is not one to ignore public health concerns.

We pray God enlivens the church by his Spirit now as he always does—through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether shared on websites, in blog posts, via livestreams, through mail and phone and other means of communication, God will get his gospel work done. With proper respect for the governing authorities who look out for our communities’ physical well-being, we will look out for one another’s spiritual well-being in ways that are appropriate to the current coronavirus situation. At a later date, in due time, we will go into the house of the Lord again with gladness (Psalm 122:1). Meanwhile, let’s work all the more diligently to encourage one another in faith, using every alternate way we can find.