This is the second time that I made an appointment to attend Sunday worship in a Beijing Church. The last time was on June 14, and the gathering was cancelled that Saturday, due to the resurgence of the novel coronavirus in Beijing. On August 2nd I made the second appointment, and everything went smoothly as I attended the service.
Before entering the Chongwenmen Church, they check everyone’s Beijing health code and temperature. Attendees need to use hand sanitizer and go through security. Those who enter receive a Sunday worship ticket with a seat number where believers are asked to sit.
I found a seat 5 minutes before the beginning of the service. Normally there are nine people who sit in a pew, but now there are only four. The service was still the same as usual, reading scriptures, singing hymns, praying, the choir singing, and preaching.
" How are you all as we haven’t met for a long time?" After a cordial greeting, the preacher, Pastor Li Peiying, asked the congregation to open their Bibles and read Psalm 103: 1-5, giving a sermon entitled "Recovery and Thanksgiving".
After more than half a year, the believers gathered in the temple to again worship and praise God. At the beginning of the sermon, Pastor Li mentioned the word “ungrateful”. This is not the kind of person that we want to be. There is a story recorded in the Bible of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus. Finally, only one person came back to thank Jesus, and other nine were ungrateful. During the new crown pneumonia epidemic, not only the infected people need to be isolated, but even ordinary people need to stay at home to avoid contacting people. During this period, we can think a lot.
The opposite of ungratefulness is gratefulness. This is the kind of person we hope to be. During recent days we are aware that gratefulness is a beautiful Christian quality that all of us who want to be like Christ need to have. We must show more gratitude. We are again able to worship together in person, but we have not fully recovered. The church was previously full, but today is partly filled. Everyone needs to keep social distance. We hope the church will be full as before.
Our faith also needs to be restored. From the inside, we should restore the image God has created in the first place, and our faith should turn back to the Bible. The reason why there are many heresies and new forms of Christian beliefs is they deviate from the Bible, so our faith must be based on the Bible. Every child of God must regain his original love, and volunteers must regain the enthusiasm and gratitude that they had earlier.
After the service, the believers exited in an orderly manner and were told not to stay in the church. I took a few photos in the courtyard as a souvenir, and left the church in a hurry.
-Translated by Abigail Wu
北京市基督教崇文门堂疫情之后重新开放 牧者劝勉会众要“恢复感恩"
这是笔者第二次预约参加北京基督教堂的主日崇拜了，上一次是6月14日，结果因为北京疫情反弹，那个周六被临时通知聚会取消。8月2日终于预约成功，并顺利参加了礼拜。
进入崇文门教堂前需要查验北京健康宝、测温、消毒和安检，这些都通过的会领到一张主日崇拜入场券，上面有座位号，提示信徒们对号入座。
那时距离礼拜开始只有5分钟了，笔者找到座位，发现原本一长排能坐9个人的礼拜堂现在只能坐4个人。礼拜还是跟往常一样，宣读经文、唱诗、祷告、诗班献唱、证道。
“好久不见，你们都好吗？”在一声亲切的问候之后，讲道人李培英牧师让会众打开圣经，看《诗篇》103章1-5节的经文，随后以《恢复，感恩》为题证道。
经过了半年多的时间，信徒们又重新聚集在了圣殿中，向神献上敬拜和赞美。讲道开始，李牧师提到了成语“忘恩负义”，我们不喜欢这个词，也不希望自己成为这样的人，可在圣经中有类似的记载：十个长大麻风的病人被耶稣医治了，可最后回来感谢的只有一人，那九个人是忘恩的。在新冠肺炎疫情期间，不仅感染者需要隔离，就连普通人也需要禁足在家，减少出门和接触人。在这个过程中，我们能思考很多。
忘恩负义的反义词是感恩图报，我们希望自己成为这样的人，在末世中的基督徒，学会感恩是走向基督的一种美好品质，我们要恢复感恩之心。我们的聚会渐渐恢复了，从网络崇拜变成了实地聚会，尽管还没完全恢复到原来的样子，之前教堂里坐满了人，今天只能坐一部分，人与人之间都保持着“安全距离”。这是从外面来看，我们希望恢复到之前的样子。
还有一种恢复是从信仰的角度来看，从内心来看，我们要恢复到神起初造人时的样式，让我们的信仰重新回归圣经。现在之所以有很多异端和新式的基督教信仰，都偏离了圣经，而我们的信仰要建立在圣经中。每一位属于神的儿女，要恢复起初的爱心，做义工的弟兄姐妹要恢复刚开始时的热情和感恩的心。
礼拜结束后，信徒们有序退场，被告知不要在堂内逗留。笔者在院内拍了几张照片作为留念，就匆匆离开了。
http://www.gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/53237
This is the second time that I made an appointment to attend Sunday worship in a Beijing Church. The last time was on June 14, and the gathering was cancelled that Saturday, due to the resurgence of the novel coronavirus in Beijing. On August 2nd I made the second appointment, and everything went smoothly as I attended the service.
Before entering the Chongwenmen Church, they check everyone’s Beijing health code and temperature. Attendees need to use hand sanitizer and go through security. Those who enter receive a Sunday worship ticket with a seat number where believers are asked to sit.
I found a seat 5 minutes before the beginning of the service. Normally there are nine people who sit in a pew, but now there are only four. The service was still the same as usual, reading scriptures, singing hymns, praying, the choir singing, and preaching.
" How are you all as we haven’t met for a long time?" After a cordial greeting, the preacher, Pastor Li Peiying, asked the congregation to open their Bibles and read Psalm 103: 1-5, giving a sermon entitled "Recovery and Thanksgiving".
After more than half a year, the believers gathered in the temple to again worship and praise God. At the beginning of the sermon, Pastor Li mentioned the word “ungrateful”. This is not the kind of person that we want to be. There is a story recorded in the Bible of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus. Finally, only one person came back to thank Jesus, and other nine were ungrateful. During the new crown pneumonia epidemic, not only the infected people need to be isolated, but even ordinary people need to stay at home to avoid contacting people. During this period, we can think a lot.
The opposite of ungratefulness is gratefulness. This is the kind of person we hope to be. During recent days we are aware that gratefulness is a beautiful Christian quality that all of us who want to be like Christ need to have. We must show more gratitude. We are again able to worship together in person, but we have not fully recovered. The church was previously full, but today is partly filled. Everyone needs to keep social distance. We hope the church will be full as before.
Our faith also needs to be restored. From the inside, we should restore the image God has created in the first place, and our faith should turn back to the Bible. The reason why there are many heresies and new forms of Christian beliefs is they deviate from the Bible, so our faith must be based on the Bible. Every child of God must regain his original love, and volunteers must regain the enthusiasm and gratitude that they had earlier.
After the service, the believers exited in an orderly manner and were told not to stay in the church. I took a few photos in the courtyard as a souvenir, and left the church in a hurry.
-Translated by Abigail Wu
Beijing Chongwenmen Church Reopens
