By Pastor Abner Abatayo
STDC District Superintendent
Founding Pastor,
Redeemer’s Workmanship Assembly of God
“Who could have ever thought that a time would come when the way we worship as a congregations would be altered?
Regrettably, the time has come and is now happening. The pandemic COVID-19 abruptly disturbed the way we view and practice worship.
Traditionally, we normally do worship by coming together in physical assembly within a sacred place, the church. But, the implementation of the community quarantine to stop the spread of the corona virus in our city, which restricts mass gathering that includes church worship service, has disrupted our customary way of congregating in one place.
The present situation has lead me to revisit the theology of worship.
As a bible-based believer, I picked up two verses from the Scripture and I’ll try to exegete as the substance for rethinking the way we worship.
Christ was once asked, “… Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” His answer was, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one, love the Lord your God with all your soul, mind and strength.” (Mark 12:28-30). In this passage, Christ made a point that the One and Only God ought to be the sole object of worship to be expressed in love and with the totality of one’s being (soul, mind & strength).
I do not doubt that we all worship the One and Only True God, but I have some doubts regarding the manner with which we worship Him. For me, it’s possible that the object of our worship is pure, but the way we worship may be tainted.
Our struggle surrounding COVID-19 tests our worship, not in the object (God) but in the worshiper character. Bear in mind that worship is a matter of the heart, more of the inner character than the public self. If this time of suffering has revealed a distorted character of your worship, don’t stay lost; come back to the worship of the heart for God.
Christ told the Samaritan woman, “God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24). In this passage, Christ emphasized that worship demands a knowledge of the spirituality of God and a requirement for worshiping in the spirit and in truth.
God in the Spirit indicates that He can be found anywhere—He cannot be localized. Meaning, we can worship Him anywhere’ anytime. Now that the physical assembly in one place of worship has been temporarily prohibited due to the community quarantine, you and I can still worship God, even in our respective houses, or join our church’s live stream at home, for He is not confined to a certain place of worship. The act of worship won’t cease despite the restrictions on mass gatherings, for God is spirit, omnipresent and omnipotent.
The Lord requires worshipers to worship God in spirit and in truth. Worshiping in truth entails the truthful perception of God. I believe that our worship to be truthful must reflect the One True God, not our own picture of the divine. In this time of suffering, may our worship be a reflection of our One and Only True God.
Worshiping in spirit is a reflection of willingness on our part. We do not worship because it’s our religious duty but we worship freely and spontaneously; it is worshiping God “relationally”.
Our worship must be in the context of father-child and shepherd-sheep relationship.
In this time of ordeal, may we worship God as our loving Father and the Lord as our Great Shepherd.”
