For a while, it was the world’s favorite saying. Every time I scrolled through social media, it was plastered on about every third post. Even people that I knew hadn’t seen the inside of a church building in years were sharing it. I know you saw the grand announcement, too. “The Church,” it declared, “has left the building.”
Now, I get the point, but I’m not sure I embrace the unspoken insinuation.
The point is that the COVID-19 pandemic forced Americans into isolation, and we are temporarily unable to attend church. As a result, most churches are streaming their services, flooding social media with an unprecedented number of worship events. That’s the point.
The unspoken insinuation is that before China shipped us this scary sickness, the Church was a self-centered and ineffective civic club, knowing little and caring even less about the world beyond its closed doors.