August 23, 2021

I feel sorry for Paul, poor guy

beaten, tortured, shipwrecked

locked up in prisons as he was

penning his many lonely letters

bereft of good Christian fellowship

unable to meet with saints in body

prayed and met with ink instead

I feel sorry for Paul, poor guy

if only he knew as we now know

the proof of salvation’s pudding

depends entirely on being together

gathering as His body in one place

and how often and loudly we decry

any who could dare say otherwise

I feel sorry for Paul, poor guy

he came so close to being saved

yet he missed the boat entirely

Yes, this poem is a hyperbole. It overemphasizes what I've heard so many say during the COVID-19 restrictions, that in obeying the restrictions on worship (Capacity limitations. Masks. Social distancing.) we are disobeying God's command to gather together (Hebrews 10:25) and in so doing are putting our trust in man rather than in God and in doing that we are putting our salvation at risk.

I chose Paul to make my point because he spent much of his later life in prison and unable to take part worship gatherings and so, by extension, was disobedient to God. But there are so many more I could have chosen, Christians unable to leave their homes, Christians in long-term care or Christians who do not even have an underground church to attend, to name just a few. Even the man crucified next to Christ, who could not possibly have attended worship, was assured of his salvation by the One Who saved him.