On this Memorial Day weekend 2020 it appears that our multi month “exile” into all the COVID-19 restrictions on our activities may be abating to some degree. You may have witnessed the fervor that many of our fellow citizens have displayed in their avid return to beaches and other recreational areas.

I hope that we Christians are also longing for the restoration of our gathering for corporate worship in the facilities that have been closed to us during this Coronavirus exile.

 

After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C. by the army of Nebuchadnezzar the survivors were taken captive to Babylon for 70 years. Imagine what it was like for God’s people to be denied access to the beautiful structure in which the glory of God dwelt in the Holy of Holies for more than a generation.

Well a faithful Israelite wrote a song of mourning and commitment to commemorate this period of time.

   “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

    There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’

    How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.”

 

A couple of thoughts to ponder in our current exile from corporate (physically together) worship. 

 

What do you think it was like after one year of captivity in Babylon? 10 years? 

 

Your children, grandchildren never experiencing the temple?

 

What do you miss about worship in our current situation?

 

How have the alternate “means/media” available to us filled the “void” of being in a physical gathering in a “sanctuary”?

 

Could we ever envision a time when Christians were not allowed to gather in corporate worship because of a governmental restriction with no promise of restoration?

 

Pray that our freedom to worship will continue to be protected and promoted by those we have entrusted the power to govern our nation and constituent states.

 

Pray that our hearts will continue to be encouraged by this Scripture, “I was glad when they said to me ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD'”. Psalm 122:1

 

A musical rendition of Psalm 137