Church life: What COVID teaches about losing our senses

I sensed the crunchy texture of food in my mouth, but there was no taste or smell. In the middle of COVID, I remembered the aroma and flavor of food. I bought a pack of mini-brownies with neon icing in hopes a sugar blast might re-ignite my senses. Nothing. I lost my motivation to eat. Sick friends told me they only smelled rotten meat and had a metallic taste. Relying on what I knew to be true , I told myself it was still good to eat even if it didn’t feel satisfying. A friend reminded me to keep eating and sent a box full of bone broth to be sure I would. My lack of taste and smell reminded me of my sick state and my need to be nourished back to wellness.

Have you lost your taste for church life? Have you stopped eating well?

In the middle of COVID, church life didn’t taste good. Worshipping online felt tasteless in comparison to sweet fellowship before. Singing alone in our pajamas before a screen of felt like eating a pack of mini-brownies with neon icing. We kept trying, in hopes it would start tasting better or at least smell good. Church life now is new territory in our walk as worshippers.

Churchgoers remember the aroma and flavor of the past. But walking past a sanitation station and into a distanced sanctuary occupied with eyes peering over masked mouths has a way of making us lose our appetite. People lost the appetite to keep being “the Church on mission” in months of restrictions, discussions, and decisions none of us had to make before. A lot of people put church life on the shelf and waited until it smells and tastes good again.

When you have COVID and you lose your senses, you may not understand it all, but you don’t stop eating. You might drink bone broth while you press through the senseless times, but you know you’d better keep nourishing your body and nursing it through the disease. You can’t starve while you wait.

Keep eating – God’s Word feeds us

We need God’s truth to nourish our spiritual health. Without it, we’re susceptible to disease of mind and heart. Just as we would cease to thrive without nutrition when we’re physically sick, we cease to thrive without the Word of God when we’re struggling and overcome by life. Pandemic pressure reminds us of our desperate need to keep feeding on God’s truth for guidance and comfort. When our taste is strained, we need nourishment from feeding on God’s Word individually and together.

• Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— (1 Peter 2:2)
• But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

Keep praying – God’s Spirit guides us

When the early followers of Christ first gathered in groups, prayer was part of their corporate DNA. (Acts 2:42) Under pressure in politically volatile times , their teacher Paul reminded them to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer,” (Romans 12:12). In the heaviest times, a regular diet of prayer gives us strength.

Keep meeting – God’s Church keeps us

Going to in-person church by reservation or with reservations spoiled the taste of worship for a lot of Christians. Going online tasted bland compared to the past sweetness of going in person. But meeting together to remember who we are and Whom we trust makes us stronger. If gathering to worship has been a regular part of your diet, you know the familiar verses of Hebrews 10: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near,” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

This is bone broth. This is the good nourishment we keep telling ourselves to feed on, no matter if there’s a time when the taste seems bland.

Church life: a 2020-21 translation of “Let us consider”

• work hard to figure out how to connected to your church
• problem solve how you can serve needs with others in Jesus’ name
• overcome discomfort and be committed to worshipping alone and together
• refuse to let fear or unfamiliarity lull you into losing your taste for fellowship
• be flexible to encourage others and get encouragement because this habit is holy
• snap out of depriving yourself of food your faith needs and eat up for good health

This is a season of disease, physically and spiritually. Children stopped feeling at home in their church family. Teenagers grieved being in energetic, truth-filled worship. Senior adults felt sorrow while trying to manage technology and feeling alone. Young adults drifted without regular, in person teaching by shepherds from God’s Word. Pastors and leaders have been beaten up for their decisions. Many adults started to think watching worship online is a convenient long-term substitute for relationships and regular gatherings. People are entertaining the lie we can live well without a commitment to Church.

For some, church life lost its flavor and savory smell. For others, it’s taken on a bitter aroma and taste. There have been spiritual effects of this physical disease. How has Pandemic life impacted your spiritual life? Not everyone recovers from diseases, but no one who stops eating recovers.

• What new habits do you need to leave behind for your spiritual & church health?
• How can you change your current diet of church life to get healthier?
• Do you need to make peace with church life?