'It's Not the Same!'

As I write, we have returned to a season of enhanced precautions and online worship. To say that we’re starting to get tired of the pandemic would be an understatement. I can hear it in the voices of people that I talk to, especially when I talk to church people. Some of them got especially frustrated when church leaders made the decision to put a hold on in person worship. More than one person has said to me “They just don’t understand: they think online worship is just as good as the real thing!”

No, of course they don’t. No one in a position of church leadership really thinks that. We all recognize that online will always be a shadow of the community that is built when people come together in person to pray together, to sing together, to break bread together, and equip one another for life as Christians in the world. But sometimes we also have to recognize that while online is not as good as in person, it’s a whole lot better than letting churches become COVID hotspots.

More than that, it doesn’t take a COVID outbreak to make online worship an important connection for an aging congregation...

This post originally appeared in the February 2022 issue of Anglican Life.

Click here to read the whole article.