Don't look back.
"But this command I gave them, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way I command you, so that it may be well with you.' Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward..."
(Jeremiah 7:23-24)
The command, 'Don't look back!' usually carries a negative connotation... and rightly so. God told Lot and his wife not to look back when they fled Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot didn't, but his wife did (and got all 'salty' because of it!). Explorers often remark that blazing new trails is all about looking forward, not back (otherwise their hearts long for the safety of home). Some private colleges even prohibit freshman from returning home during Labor Day weekend, for fear that "looking back," some students may choose to stay home and leave school after just starting. Heck, even the rock band BOSTON knows how profitable it is when you "Don't Look Back!"
As I was reading Jeremiah 7 this morning, I came across that same phrase. God is describing his people - whom he was in relationship with - and had given a covenant command: listen & follow me, and I will be with you as your God! Unfortunately, the Israelites couldn't hold up their end of the bargain. "In the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels..." says God. So instead of following God's guidance, they chose to make their own path. And here's the kicker: "... and (they) looked backward rather than forward."
2020 has been unprecedented. So many aspects of our lives have been interrupted. Even how we "do church" has changed. We haven't gathered in-person for worship since the middle of March. It's weird, of course. But at least here at Palmdale UMC, we have no plans for resuming in-person worship anytime soon. Other churches are coming back to worship together. That's fine. It's a choice that each congregation has to make for themselves. Personally, I believe 2020 has become a "Gutenberg" moment for the church. Just as the printing press changed how churches used Bibles (no longer was it only in the hands of clergy), so too the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has changed thew way people "do church." To me, attempting to bring PUMC back to in-person worship before it's safe is merely an attempt to "look back" and try to re-create "the way it was."
Church will never be the same as it was.
And that's okay. God is doing a NEW thing here (at least among PUMC)! Where God is leading, I can't say. And yes, at some point we will come back together for in-person worship. But everything has changed. Our online presence is here to stay. We must be thinking about how we can continue to integrate online worship & connection as a part of PUMC as we move forward (at least as long as I'm pastor here!).
Don't look back.