Like an anchor to a boat

LIVESTREAMING WORSHIP SERVICE:
PMD MULTIMEDIA CENTER, QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES
APRIL 12, 2020

By ALEXANDRA MEGIA

Pandemic. Lockdown. Quarantine. These are the words we hear and read from the news everyday because of the current global health crisis. The world will never be the same again, many people say.

The coronavirus disease 2019 or Covid-19, has drastically changed the norm of everyday life and created worldwide panic. It is feared that the world economy would crash. Experts even say that it’s very possible that a global recession much worse than the global financial crisis that happened from 2008 to 2009 would ensue (The Economic Times, 15 April 2020). Things can become more scary as a cure has yet to be found.

The year 2020 barely started and the world has changed so much. But this is the reality that we’re now living in, and it’s like something out of a movie.

“Fearful” is a word that can describe the condition of the world at present.

Early this year, I moved from the United States to the Philippines. I am thousands of miles away from my family and closest friends. Just as I started to adjust to my life here, the world turned upside down.

In these past few weeks, we’ve been staying in our homes for safety, going out only briefly if it was “essential.” And for members of the Church Of Christ, worship service is essential. But because of the lockdown or quarantine measures taken by the government, even religious gatherings were banned temporarily. That left us Church Of Christ members longing to worship God together in the house of worship.

I live right down the street two kilometers from the Iglesia Ni Cristo Central Temple in Quezon City, and my heart aches because I could not go to worship in the house where God’s name and glory dwell.

But God is so good to His children because He has blessed His people with a Church Administration that cares for us so much. The Church Administration uses every appropriate and beneficial means for all members to be able to continue their worship and service of God while keeping government-imposed measures for public safety. In addition to biblical messages being read in the household worship services, livestream technology is also utilized in order for families in the Church to receive God’s words.

On Sunday, April 12, more than 5,000 remote sites logged in to a livestream worship service that was officiated by our Executive Minister, Brother Eduardo V. Manalo. In that worship service, we deeply felt God’s strong presence and the outpouring of His love.

We look to the Almighty God for guidance in trying times such as now. And that’s what all of us in attendance received—His counsel taught from the Holy Scriptures by the Executive Minister.

We were reminded that we shouldn’t be overcome by fear, rather, we should have a solid and strong faith in our God and in what He can do for us. Because God has made a promise to His children, we were reassured, He would never forsake us, He will answer our cries to Him and He will keep us safe.

Even though we Church Of Christ members are not spared from experiencing the things that are happening in this world, and even though dangers threaten our lives, we are going to fulfill what we were taught during the worship service. We will put all our hope in God, which is like an anchor to a boat—indeed, the anchor of the soul. No matter how rough the seas get, the anchor will hold the boat in place, keeping it safe from harm. In the same way, our firm hope in the Almighty God will hold us—our souls and our whole being—in place, firm in our divine calling, to keep us safe from all perils.

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About the writer

Alexandra A. Megia is an Online Media Services Writer at Eagle Broadcasting Corporation. Born and raised in California, Alexandra has a decade of experience in INC Media Services (Burlingame, California) and has recently relocated to Quezon City, Philippines.