We're early risers so yesterday we "went to church" in our family room just after 7:AM via the Youtube link from Trenton United Church. At the time we would have "normally" attended in-person worship we were taking advantage of a sunny, albeit frosty morning to get out for a cross-country ski. Trenton United went virtual just before Christmas. Leaders, including Rev. Isaac, have put a lot of time, discussion, and prayer into when to invite people into the sanctuary of the church building during different phases of the pandemic, always following provincial mandates and Public Health guidelines.
In the afternoon an email went out to the flock saying that we will resume in-person worship on Sunday, February 20th, two months after the last service where we physically gathered together, We will be there, God willing, with our "trinitarian" vaccinations. When we first came back together in the Fall of 2020 none of us were vaccinated but we masked up and took care.
Those of you who follow this blog will know that I've supported decisions to move to on-line worship but have been somewhat critical of an overabundance of caution on the part of some congregations. We need to be with with another in all the subtle ways in which we are the Body of Christ. It's not a matter of either/or and I imagine that the hybrid will continue in many congregations.
Beneath the Trenton UC email there was the weekly missive from Tish Harrison Warren, a New York Times writer who is an Anglican priest. The headline read: Going to church in person should not be optional and the crux of her argument is that even though she supported on-line worship as "loving your neighbour" two years ago it is time to return to embodied worship:
For all of us — even those who aren’t churchgoers — bodies, with all the risk, danger, limits, mortality and vulnerability that they bring, are part of our deepest humanity, not obstacles to be transcended through digitization. They are humble (and humbling) gifts to be embraced. Online church, while it was necessary for a season, diminishes worship and us as people. We seek to worship wholly — with heart, soul, mind and strength — and embodiment is an irreducible part of that wholeness. There was swift pushback against Harrison Warren's premise, and justifiably so, it seems to me. She has been admonished as ableist and ageist in our outlook. Online worship has been inclusive for those who are most vulnerable to COVID, including the elderly, and the immuno-compromised. Many are physically unable to attend worship at any time and are often excluded from participating in the sacraments. I agree with her that online worship is not a substitute for physically gathering as Christ's people and I've talked to a number of people who wearied of the online experience and have essentially dropped out of worship. Still, Harrison Warren's rather fundamentalist approach isn't building up the Body of Christ. I served congregations where the sermon and worship materials were mailed out to what we once called shut-ins. and in another the service was videotaped, copied, and taken to those unable to join us physically by a team of committed volunteers who often had chats with those members at their doors. Why not provide a flexible online option? And didn't the apostle Paul do just that with his letters? Even though we drive nearly half an hour to get to the Trenton UC bricks and mortar we look forward to seeing people in the sanctuary once again, to waving the passing of the peace, to hearing others chuckle, and even to muffled singing. I pray that the day comes when we are freed from some of the constraints of the pandemic, but until then we continue to be faithful and creative and inclusive. |
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