"I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live"
God declares this in Ezekiel 37 where our Creator causes dry, dead bones to come to life. I love this vision, and it animates this week's post because we're living in a time of COVID-19 dry bones, where church leaders might feel like they're in the midst more of death than of life. Even as we celebration Jesus's Resurrection, which is just around the corner...
Last week I ended here: As we look to the days when congregations can meet again in person, I believe there can still be hope if churches are willing to change. Maybe these dry bones yet will find new life. I think there's hope, even if we feel like the women, at the Cross, sobbing over the death of Jesus. As the preacher once proclaimed, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin’!”
I move then the two suggestions in the previous post. First, there is hope for churches that integrate technology into their worship services. The key word here is integrate: This doesn’t mean simply sticking one camera on a tripod and filming what’s always been
One of the things I did this week was to find online links for a "virtual worship service site visit" assignment for the college class I teach on western religions. The research was was surprisingly edifying. For one thing, I pointed my students to the gorgeous livestream of Washington DC's National Cathedral online and also found a very hip and engaging online worship service through Hillsong San Francisco (no surprise about the hipness). Moreover, I'm excited by what I see already with worship leaders using montages of how people are spending their stay-at-home time and sharing those in virtual worship, like my pastor and friend Jeff Smith does at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Houston.
My second point, however, might be even more important: There is hope for churches that emphasize relationships. I write this out of deep concern not for what we’re facing right now, but how we can use it to change the church for the better in the future. You might ask, How Body of Christ can withstand the coronavirus and actually become stronger? Too many worship services don’t help congregants connect with one another,
I started last week by underlining the growing reality of religious "nones," those who no longer affiliate with a church or any other religious institution. On a Facebook post I was asked something like, What is the church's responsibility for an exodus from its pews? I thought it was partly implied in this statement from last: "Frankly, [the nones] found that it wasn’t worth their time to attend worship services."
I don't want to sound too judgmental on my friends who are pastors! Still, I think many churches haven't lived into the relationships, the koinonia, that's part of the true meaning of "church" as the ecclesia, the gathering. We look at the back of people's heads during the worship service, and often don't do much to go beyond that. If church, as a gathering, will flourish when stay-at-home orders are lifted, we need to lean into the deep need we have for relationships.
(As a result of last week’s post, I’ve been asked if smaller communities may have an advantage. I don’t think they don't have a lock on this, but may have an advantage because it's more natural to have connections when you know everyone in the room. The key is whether relationships are highlighted.)
I believe the Church has a superpower (or perhaps, a gift directly from God's Spirit): the ability to unleash the awesome power of human relationality. And when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, and we can be in the same room, let’s exploit that.
I'll close with this, which is in fact the power of the Risen Christ among us when we come together:
We need to see the church as a gathering and not a building. The coronavirus outbreak is reminding us that of that particular truth.
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