(10) Zoom!

    (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for Zoom!, originally shared on April 30, 2020. It was the tenth video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   We are seeing a lot more face masks when people walk by, or when we have to go somewhere. In fact, we live in a place where someone could walk down the street in their underwear and they would get looks, like “Where’s your facemask?” They wouldn’t yell because, it’s still California. But, you’d know.

   We are also at a point now in the COVID-19 pandemic that we have begun to see more and more pressure to go back to the way things were. I understand that, but I also know that, while the early bird gets the worm, the second mouse gets the cheese.

   And, it seems that, as Christians, even while we long for the return of physical, corporate worship together, we are getting somewhat used to substituting digital community for physical presence.

   You may be working from home and doing a lot of your work on the Zoom Video Conferencing app. Zoom recently estimated that there are 300 million daily participants.

   Maybe you’re accustomed to seeing faces in boxes along rows and columns. You do have consider what people will see in the background of your video image, and to remember to wear pants, however, as Will Reeve, Christopher Reeve’s son, a reporter for ABC news, found out when sharp-eye views notices he was wearing a sport coat, shirt and boxers the other day during his reporting on Good Morning America. He later claimed they were workout shorts.

   Musicians and choirs have been very creative in using this medium.

   Churches have used Zoom for worship, Bible studies, committee meetings, youth groups and even Sunday School.

   Zoom is very popular, even with the security concerns that have resulted in government agencies and business banning its use. As far as I’m concerned, if China wants to eavesdrop on our Bible studies, that’s wonderful! But, not everyone can be that open.

   As its popularity rises, so does competition. Similar apps, old and new, from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Skype, and others are gaining traction.

   I have to say, though, that I have some reservations regarding its use in worship. Certainly, it’s the best we can do at this time of social distancing and flattening the curve. And, I’m not opposed to the use of video conferencing apps for worship.

   What gives me pause is the way it is set up. Worship is directed at God. It’s facilitated by  worship leaders, but its focus is on God.

   Worship is corporate, a Body. It is done in the name of and in the presence of God, present for the gathered community, a Body.

 Matthew 18:19-20

   “In the name of” is not a magic incantation. A person’s name was believed to contain the true reality of the person who bore that name. To act in the name of Jesus means to be consistent with the personal reality of God, to be on the same wavelength as God’s will, to be in tune with God’s desires.

   Christ is present in community because we are gathered in the reality of God, not just as a collection of individuals.

    So, am I just an old guy, uncomfortable with the new technology, should I…  “Hey, get off my lawn!”…  Sorry.

    When the congregation enters worship, staring at other congregation members from separate boxes, we no longer have corporate worship but many individuals doing the same thing simultaneously. We even more easily become spectators, or we play our part as in a play.

   I could be wrong. Ask me again a year from now and I may feel differently.

    But it seems to me that Zoom takes the focus off the community and places it onto the individual. Everyone is looking at you, if you want to be seen. You could take yourself off video to get breakfast, get another cup of coffee, answer the phone, worship in your pajamas because you just don’t have the interest in getting dressed, whatever.

    And what happens when this is over and our churches are open again? Will people return to actual, messy, real community?

   They are virtually there, they aren't really there.

   How far are we from, “Put your hands on the TV and feel the power”?

   Will we have become so accustomed to convenience that we will expect worship to conform to our desires?

    When we return, and we will return, when churches are allowed to worship corporately, we will likely have to live with social distancing, leaving 6 feet between people or safer-at-home families, and two or three rows or pews in front and behind us.

   On the plus side, that means that our churches will be full again. 😊

   On the other hand, seniors and those with compromised immune systems will likely be discouraged from attending worship even under those conditions.

   For now, it’s the best we can do.

   And, our next step may small house churches that gather for large celebrations only periodically. Who knows?

   So, when it’s safe and we go back, go back to worship! Be a living part of the living Body of Christ.

   Whatever form our worship takes, our goal as congregations is always to worship.

   The Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard said that the question we should ask after worship is not “What did I get out of that?” but “How did I do?”

   I might be bold to expand that idea to asking, “How did we do?”

    We have been given a living relationship with the living God, one that assures that God will never leave us, that we are still loved and saved by God’s unearned love. We belong to the corporate reality, the Body of Christ, the whole Christian Church on earth, all of us together seeking to love God and serve our neighbor.

   That is what sustains and will sustain us through this pandemic.