Just a quick note to answer a question that has been coming up. Many of you have asked about communion during this long hiatus in gathering for worship together.  You’ve seen other churches advertising “virtual communion” and have wondered if we would be doing something similar. The short answer is that we do not plan to celebrate communion together virtually, because “virtual church” does not allow us to celebrate together.  There are some parts of our worship services that we can adequately reproduce virtually. We can sing. We can read Scripture. We can listen to a sermon. What a blessing! But there are other parts of the service that cannot be reproduced. The sacraments – baptism and the Lord’s Supper - would fall under this second category. 

It is not our practice to celebrate the sacraments privately. We believe that they belong to the whole body, because we belong to Jesus as a body and not just individuals. Christianity is not a “me-and-Jesus” thing. As such, it cannot be reduced to private religious experiences.  We live in a consumeristic, highly-individualistic society. Jesus’ vision for church is a challenge to this way of life. There is a horizontal (“me-and-you”) aspect that is just as central to the purpose of the Supper as the vertical (“me-and-Jesus”). It is a meal, after all. And everybody knows that a meal is meant to be enjoyed together with family and friends. We think it best to wait to eat until we can be together again as a church family.

We also believe that the sacraments carry a unique spiritual potency and should, therefore, be handled with great care. Paul, for example, warned the Corinthians that in their wrong practice of the Lord’s Supper, they were actually eating and drinking judgment upon themselves (1 Cor 11:29). He even reported that there were some in the church who became sick and others who died because of it. It’s jarring to read those words. He warns the Corinthians (and us) to eat the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner and not in an unworthy manner, which primarily is concerned with the way we eat together. If we are not together, physically but also in unity, then it is not the Lord’s Supper we are eating (1 Cor 11:20).  There is no way for us to do the pastoral work we’ve been charged with in administering the Lord’s Supper from a distance. The proper reverence for the mysterious way God works through both baptism and the Lord’s Supper would lead us to wait until we’re together again and to trust in His provision for us in the meantime.

This is a chance for us to grieve the loss this virus has brought into our lives.  There are parts of church that are incompatible with social distancing.  Watching on TV is not the same as walking across the sanctuary and embracing one another during the greeting time. Zoom meetings will never replace sitting in a living room and laughing and praying with one another.  There is no way to do church in a time like this without grieving. When it comes to the Lord’s Supper, we are in a forced fast. And there is a great opportunity in it. It is possible that this time without the Supper would create in us a stronger spiritual appetite - not just for the bread and the cup, but for the Bread of Life Himself.   May it be so!

In C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, the Sr Demon devises a brilliant strategy that he shares with his Jr Associate. “To make a wound in (your “patients”) charity, you should first defeat his courage.” This strategy was founded on an equally profound piece of wisdom about the way the human heart works. People don’t love well when they are afraid. Or, as Lewis put it, “Hatred is the compensation by which a frightened man reimburses himself for the miseries of fear. The more he fear, the more he will hate.”

This is a time of great anxiety. So, how do we fight against the temptation to turn away from others and towards self-preservation? That might not sound the same as hatred.  The gospel, however, defines it as such (see 1 John 3:15-17). “This is love,” John writes, “that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.  The battle against anxiety if fought in two different theatres. Vertically (with God), you fight anxiety with gratitude. An anxious heart is full of all the things that could go wrong in the future. A non-anxious heart is full of thanksgiving for God’s past and present faithfulness. Horizontally (with others) you fight anxiety with grace. If selfishness is the way we reimburse ourselves when we’re anxious, you put it to death through radical generosity.

This is the church’s long legacy in times such as these. When plagues came, and every fled the cities, Christians stayed and cared for the sick to their own harm. They were “the light of the world” and “a city on the hill” - full of beautiful generosity that caught the eye of the world and showed God to be the greatest treasure that can be had (Matt 5:14-16).  Now is the time for the church to flex its faith muscles and show off an even greater generosity – with time, talents, and treasures. If you’re a business owner, be extra generous to your employees. If you’re a teacher, be extra generous to your students as they struggle with the new normal. If you’re a parent, be extra generous with your kids through the monotony of this stay-at-home order. Be extra generous to local businesses and restaurants. Be extra generous to the ministries and missionaries you support.  Now is not the time to pull your funding. Now is the time for extra generosity as a counter-measure to fear.

Obviously, I would also ask that you be extra generous to our church as well. We are expecting a considerable drop-off in giving through the weeks that we are unable to gather for worship services. You can mail checks to the church office or now would be a great time to set up online giving. You can do so by visiting our online giving page on our website or app. (You'll be prompted to create an account with your email or facebook account and then add a payment option. Note: ACH has 1% processing fee vs ~2.5% for cards. Redeemer automatically covers the fee unless the donor chooses to cover it. Reach out to Joe Ragsdale if you have any issues). Our staff if still working hard, though remotely, to equip the saints for ministry. We appreciate your prayers and your financial support as we labor through the days and weeks ahead.

In order to abide by the stay-at-home order put into place by Governor DeSantis, we will continue to stream virtual worship services at 10:30am each Sunday in April. So, no in-person worship for at least the next month. We will re-evaluate ahead of Sunday, May 3 and communicate with you then about our plans moving forward. In the meantime, please subscribe to our YouTube and follow us on Facebook. That is where our services will be made available on Sunday mornings.

The church office is closed. The Redeemer staff will not be physically in the building, but we are virtually present. Should you need assistance please call the church office at 863-298-9849. You can also email any of our pastors and staff.  Email addresses can be found on the church website.  Please refrain from going to the church building during the “Safe at Home” period.

I continue to pray Romans 12:12 for us all: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Affectionately,
Drew Bennett