Together, the Elders at Highview made the difficult decision to return to Online Services only, in what we believed to be a loving, Spirit-led response to the current surge in Covid-19 cases in Waterloo Region.
That means starting THIS Sunday we will not be meeting together in our building, but gathering instead around our TV and computer screens.
Everyone agrees this is not the same and not the best. The physical presence of other worshippers is, at least in part, certainly what God has in mind when He calls His Church to be a community. And yet, here we are, in a strange time in our lives when staying apart might just be the most loving thing we can do for one another and for our community as a whole.
We've done this before, and, to be honest, that seems like such a negative at first. "Not again!" is what my heart wants to whine. But on second contemplation, maybe what we learned together from the first time can make things better in this next round.
So here are some suggestions to experiment with. It's not a thorough list by any means. And I'm actually hoping I'll hear from you (Highviwers and otherwise) about ways you have learned to worship from home. The more ideas we can share the more connected we can be, and the more our times before God together-while-apart can mean something good.
Here's a start. I'll divide mine into Before, During and After.
Before
- Choose your viewing time intentionally. There is some flexibility with online services, in that you can watch it at a time most convenient for you. AND I might also suggest that we all might have a better sense of connection if we didn't go the convenience route and decided to watch together at 10:30 on Sunday morning. I won't argue decisively for this right here. Just sayin' that part of our feelings of disconnect might be routed in the 'whenever' factor. Not sure. Be glad to hear from you on this.
- Set yourself up. Wherever you're watching from, have something to drink ready if you like, get your Bible and notebook ready. Get comfortable, but not too comfortable, if I might suggest. Being up and dressed and 'present' just might put us in a better state for engaging in what's about to happen.
- Stand up during the music. It's more what we're used to, and your lungs and diaphragm have more room for singing when you stand. This can help get the message of the song into deeper emotional places.
- Experiment with different postures for prayer and worship you might not be comfortable to try in a public setting (although this makes me want to write something about that! Maybe later :).
- Take notes. Have a notebook or your phone and write down the highlights, even the whole of the outline of the sermon, making sure to include any action steps the Spirit might bring to mind for you.
- Pause for a moment to ask God if there was anything specific about the morning that He wants to bring to your attention. Any song lyric, or point in the teaching or any application point. And then thank Him for the gift of our church community.
- Call or message someone to say hello, chat about the service, or any of the other kinds of conversations we usually have in the foyer after service.
- Send an email or a message to at least one person who participated in providing the online service. One aspect of not being 'live' is the disconnect for those serving us to know if any of their efforts had any affect at all. Be an encouragement.
That's all I'll leave here for now. I'm actually really curious to hear from you if any of these were helpful, and if you have other ideas to share.
And I want to remind Highviewers that we will be experimenting with a Zoom gathering at 11:45 a.m. - a more normal time for us to be together chatting anyways. For now I'm calling it Hot Chocolate By The Fire. So bring something warm in a mug. Ken and I will put on the fire. And we'll see what happens.
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