It’s strange not going to church on Sunday.

I have been in church almost every Sunday as far back as I can remember. When I was 5 years old, my sainted Grandmother got me and my four brothers dressed up every Sunday and marched us over to Tulsa Bible Church for Sunday School and morning worship. We just lived a block away (near McClure Park).

On Easter Sunday, we got dressed in our best clothes and went to church. We were part of the Christmas programs every year and we went to Vacation Bible School for two weeks every summer. At least for a couple of years, VBS was under a big tent with straw on the ground.

I can remember when I was a little kid I pretended to be sick one Sunday so I could stay home. My Sunday School teacher came to my house to see how I was and I was really embarrassed that I had faked being sick.

Now, thanks to the Chinese coronavirus, we don’t go to our church building on Sunday.

We still listen to our pastor (Dr. Matt Brooks of First Baptist Church in Broken Arrow) and watch him on the big-screen TV in our living room.

It is good but it is not the same as being in the building.

A worship team sings and plays instruments and it’s really fine. But I miss our choir, which is also very good. There’s nothing like singing Christian music with a large choir and an orchestra. It’s very worshipful.

Americans have been able to sit and watch preachers on TV in your living room on Sunday mornings for decades. My late Dad wasn’t a big fan of going to church buildings but he would watch TV evangelists (he liked Billy Graham) each Sunday.

I miss our Sunday School class. They are fine people and great friends. We pray for each other every week. We can’t physically meet because of the coronavirus pandemic but we are meeting electronically every Sunday morning using Zoom – a computer program that lets you see and hear everyone on a conference call. Zoom is easier to use than I thought it would be. I guess it’s the next best thing to being together.

When our son Brian was in the Oklahoma Army National Guard and deployed to Kuwait, we used to visit with him using Skype – another computer program that lets you see and hear the person on the other line. It was great because we could see him and also because it was free because it was online. Imagine how much it would cost to make international calls to Kuwait every week.

We are creatures of habit. I bet a lot of people know someone – especially a young person – who grew up going to church every Sunday. But then something happened and they missed a few weeks. Then it because easier to miss. Someone in the church might have said or done something to offend them or the pastor said something they didn’t care for.

They then exchanged the habit of going to church to the habit of staying home.

Staying at home Sunday morning means you don’t have to get up early or get dressed up. It’s a chance to be lazy and to break the weekly routine.

But you won’t grow as a Christian if you don’t spend time with fellow believers.

And here’s another problem with absentee church services.

We give to our church on a systematic basis through tithes and offerings. But some people don’t give until they see the offering plate headed down the aisle toward them. You can see them hurriedly writing a check.

These days, you can give to most churches and non-profits online. Our church is unique in that we don’t pass the plate but we just have boxes around the church where you can drop in cash or a check.

I have visited with pastors and church leaders who were very fearful of closing church for a snow Sunday because giving would drop to almost zero.

Another problem with the Chinese coronavirus is that a lot of people have been furloughed or dismissed. They are not getting paychecks right now and they are therefore not donating to their churches. That’s a problem for many churches, especially those that carry debt.

I feel like everything I own belongs to God and He is just letting me use it. He is our Provider. And “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills…”

This exodus from church should pass when the Chinese coronavirus pandemic subsides. The danger is that some churchgoers may decide that watching NFL pregame shows in their pajamas in their living rooms is more valuable that worshiping God with a local body of believers.