Notice I said “sermon for,” not “sermon at.” Because like at churches all across the nation, Sunday worship is now coming through Facebook Live or You Tube or Zoom or some other video platform, beamed into people’s homes.
I have spent the past three Sundays surfing worship (that’s the worship nerd in me), trying to get a sense of how churches are doing this, to see if there were some approaches that appealed to me more than others.
And it’s not always easy, either for members or pastors. As Pastor Kristin Gorton from Memorial United Church of Christ in Fitchburg wrote last week after a service with leaders in the sanctuary and others online, “For me personally, the service felt connected beyond the physicality of the building. Yet I choked up as service ended and I took the light of the Christ candle out of the sanctuary. The joy of gathering collided with the reality we would not be able to be together in this space for an indeterminate period of time..."
Even though I am a minister who has led my share of worship services, this is not a critical review of what people did or a handy guide to what might be done better. It’s a very personal reflection on the things that touched me with an awareness that each person and each congregation has to find the approach that works for them in this very unusual time.
“This is a period of time that is going to vastly reshape what church looks like,” said Pastor Breanna Illéné at Trinity United Methodist Church in Madison. “This is scary…Society is going to change.”
So here are some of what church in this era - or more specifically - worship - looked like to me.
At the other end of the spectrum was the Church of the Three Crosses in Chicago, where my daughter and son-in-law are members. Pastor Britt Cox leads the service all alone on Facebook Live from her living room. The service has evolved a bit over the past three weeks - more on that in a bit - but I appreciated the warmth and sense of community she created in a low-tech setting.
My home congregation, Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ in Madison, sent out a sort of do-it-yourself service before Sunday, an order of worship with links to musical presentations by youth in the congregation, a link to the text of the sermon, prayers, a link for the offering.
Some of the more traditional mainline Protestant churches beamed out the service from their sanctuaries, pastors in robes and stoles, perhaps a few musicians at the site as well. For some people, it may have felt comforting to see their church and pastor like it was almost a normal Sunday, but the impact on me was one of distance and a formality that did not fit the medium. I'm also not sure an hour-long service works as well in this medium - shorter might be better, although some of my favorites did run for an hour.
A few congregations I watched used a combination of Zoom and Facetime Live. This probably works better for smaller congregations, but seeing many people on the screen along with the pastor created a good sense of community. The handoffs from reader to musician to pastor were often more informal - pauses, "your turn now" - but it helped create a sense of engagement in the service.
Some churches are recording their worship services ahead of time, which provides an opportunity to make the experience smoother and weave in elements from other places online. Others are literally doing this live, which adds a sense of immediacy - and a willingness to deal with glitches - to the experience.
There were some interesting approaches I saw.
At Messiah Lutheran Church on Madison’s east side, Pastor Jeff Vanden Huevel led the pre-recorded service from a rocking chair in the gathering space at the church with a fireplace going behind him and his wife Melissa sitting next to him. He brought in a choir from a video, replayed a sermon he gave a few years back in the church and read the words of communion and shared bread and wine with his wife while inviting viewers to do the same at home with bread or juice.
At First United Methodist Church, Pastor Mark Fowler led the service from his study while Pastor Tina Lang participated from the back porch of her home where wind chimes and bird songs added to the moment.
Some churches have extraordinary musicians who could play a role. At First Methodist, a quartet and a pianist in the sanctuary performed a stunning rendition of “Breathe on Me Breath of God.” At First United Church of Christ in Washington DC, a pianist and French horn player offered sheer beauty while today, very talented child violinists offered music. Latanya Maymon sang powerful solos at Christ the Solid Rock in Madison.
Yet there could also be a sense of dislocation. At Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Madison, where their Gospel choir has a regional reputation, seeing only five singers in the sanctuary (appropriately spaced apart) seemed odd - although the music was great.
But sometimes simplicity has its own power. At Church of the Three Crosses, a husband and wife recorded hymns with vocals and a keyboard at home to lead the congregation in singing during the service. The congregation is seeking more of that from members in the weeks ahead.
And then there was communion. This is wholly new territory for many congregations. At Messiah, Pastor Jeff shared bread and cup with his wife while people were invited to share at home. At Blackhawk, Pastor Charles Yu explained that Jesus’ original communion happened in someone’s home and now people would share communion in their own homes. He read the words of institution and invited people to eat the bread and drink the cup.
“We are so used to doing communion in a certain way,” Pastor Yu explained. And like so much else, those ways are changing.
Church, as Pastor Moss said, has entered a streaming world.
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