Perhaps you’ve thought about the challenges to your congregation as we continue to slog through the pandemic. Marginal members may be falling away, although being online may be increasing “attendance.” Financial support drops, although the committed will still contribute faithfully. The camaraderie of being together with fellow believers is largely gone, something I especially miss. As we plod toward some new normal, how should we care for our local gatherings of God’s people, the people from our neighborhoods and communities who, as Martin Luther wrote, are “holy believes and ‘the little sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd.’” (Smalcald Articles, 12).
Leviticus is one of the least read books in the Bible, and if you’ve ever tried, you know why. It’s filled with minute laws about life and ritual for ancient Israel but that’s actually the first thing to tip us off to its relevance for today, although it was written before the coming of Christ in whose light we now live. Leviticus laid out in detail how God’s ancient people were to be distinct from the nations around them. How will you and I with our congregations come through the pandemic as winsome places for people to come, as special refuges for world-weary people? Leviticus has plenty of clues.
“If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally…when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering….” (Leviticus 4:13, 14). Our western culture has bred us as individualists, but here it’s the whole group, the congregation that has sinned. Is that possible today in a Christian congregation? Skim Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and Romans for the answer, yes.
One indicator of health in a congregation is attendance at Bible classes. Do the individuals of a congregation gather in person and now also virtually as the Body of Christ to study His Word in greater depth than a sermon offers? Given the daily assault of media, sermons aren’t enough. Yesterday we heard the parable of the sower. “Other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:8). When good soil people participate in Bible study, God’s purposes will be accomplished, even in pandemic times. “My word…shall accomplish that which I purpose” (Isaiah 55:11).
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