When You Can't Be At Church

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet...

Revelation 1:9-10

The first thing we find is that this letter is written by John. This is, of course, the Apostle John. One of Jesus’ disciples and the author of the Gospel of John as well as books of the Bible known as I,II, and III John. Church history tells us that the wicked Roman Emperor Domitian had tried to kill John by boiling him alive, but John had survived. So Domitian exiled John to the island of Patmos to put him out of the way. It was on this island around the year 95 AD when John received this vision and wrote his book of Revelation.

What I want you to notice is this…look what John is doing. John was cut off from the people of God. He couldn’t gather with them on the Lord’s Day. He couldn’t go to church, but he didn’t let that stop him from communing with God. If you look again at vs 9 and 10 you will see that John was exiled on the island of Patmos but He was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” 

Over the past year and a half it has been more difficult to attend church than at any other point in my lifetime. Even as I write the numbers of COVID cases are on the rise again and church attendance is plummeting as many believers feel that it is unsafe for them to attend. My point isn’t to make you feel guilty about that. Sure, I had hoped that all of this was over, but it obviously isn’t. And now I am hoping that it will end soon and we will be able to get back to normal but what if it doesn’t? What if there are more Sundays that we can’t gather together Or what if your age or preexisting medical conditions put you at a high risk for COVID and you don't feel comfortable gathering in large groups? What should you do then? 

You should follow John’s example. When John couldn’t gather with other believers for worship, he worshipped alone. He wasn’t going to let little things like not having a song leader, or a choir, or pews, or a church building, or even someone to preach to him stop him from worshipping God. John just went right on worshipping God alone. He preached to himself. I imagine he sang songs and prayed prayers by Himself. He drew near to the Lord.

I hope our churches do everything they can to preserve our ability to gather in person, but if for some reason you can’t be with other believers right now, then don’t let that prevent you from being with God. We have technology now that John didn’t have. If you can’t be at church in person, then be there via livestream. And if at some point in the future you can’t even gather with your church by livestream then worship God alone, but don’t let a single Sunday pass without worshipping your God.