Three Church Things that Haven't Changed Under COVID

I don’t have data to back this up, but I have plenty of anecdotal evidence.

1 - People still show up late to church services, even when the service is on-demand. One mom who will remain nameless complained that her kids are consistently late to church. I asked, “Pam Hawley, how can that be? Services are on-demand.” She explained that they set a time to participate as a family, and her kids are about 10 minutes late every time.

2 - Some people still don’t sing during worship songs, even at home. Actually, I think this is more the case at home where everyone can hear you.

3 - Even under stay-at-home, people missed the church service at about the same rate as when they had missed when sports, vacations, travel, and other activities competed with worship attendance on weekends. I’ve referred to FOG episodes or a story from a sermon with folks where they kind of sheepishly say, “I think I missed that service.” The pastor in me wants to say, “Really? How did that happen?” But I’ve refrained.

Does this upset me.

Not really.

Showing up late - I’m one of the least time-conscious people I know, so I’m always amazed when an entire family shows up on time.

Not singing - I’ve stood close enough to people singing who should not be singing, if they cared about the people around them. Just kidding! Truly, I’m kidding.

I don’t know why some people don’t sing, but part of it might be that they know they can’t carry a tune. Or it might be a subtle form of pride or even ignorance about what the Bible says. I can never know, even if I ask. (I have come to assume that people rarely give the real reason or the whole answer for something to their pastor when asked.)

I’ll point out from time to time that the Bible doesn’t seem to give a pass for some of God’s people not to sing in worship, but everyone is growing at different speeds and some don’t even know that. And I can’t even count the times I’ve sung with my mouth and left my heart out it, which can sometimes be a form of hypocrisy and posturing.

Attendance - Are some people so addicted to doing their own thing on weekends that they miss corporate worship way too often? No doubt. Do some people have messed up priorities, failing to prioritize spiritual development for their children or themselves? You know that’s true.

But most of our members seem to miss for good reasons, and they don’t stake all their spiritual growth on attending a weekend service.

Families spread all over the country, vacations, air travel, sports, sick aging parents, a sick kid, chronic exhaustion, work related travel, and dozens of other factors impact church attendance.

What about under stay-at-home conditions? Some people don’t connect well with video services so it’s a chore to participate, some people tried on a given week and gave up because the kids were crazy that day, some people forgot as days blended into each other…I could go on.

Conclusion: It’s true that “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” And that’s not always bad or good. It just is.

Photo by jurien huggins on Unsplash

Some things I just don't understand during COVID

I don’t understand twenty-somethings, biking by themselves, wearing masks.

Maybe there’s a logical explanation, but I literally can’t come up with even one that makes any sense.

I don’t understand people that say scientist don’t know anything, COVID experts are hopelessly misguided, and data can tell us almost nothing, then they proceed to offer their own “scientific” perspective on the virus and it’s impact, they site data, and they speak as if they know what the governments of the world should do or should have done.

I don’t understand people who decry the politicalization of COVID and science, then proceed to bombard me with a political diatribe of their own regarding COVID and science.

Okay, actually I understand some of this.

It’s like when I told a friend that he was terrible at social distancing.

He looked at me like I had gone mad. His voice said he thought I was insane.

“YOU are worse than everybody I know,” he said. And he proceeded to give me recent examples.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand the masks on bikes thing, but the other examples I gave have a simple explanation, I think.

We are creatures with a massive lack of self awareness.

I think we can do a better job of becoming more self aware, and we can do better at gently and humbly calling out blind spots.

But mostly I think what we need is to extend grace to each other, especially now with the massive frustrations we’re all experiencing.

That simple act, extending grace (as recipients of God’s grace), is probably one of the most gospel-proclaiming testimonies we can offer our world right now.

But if I’m going to be frank, I have to say that I’m not sure it applies to those bicyclists.

After all, the science clearly says…

Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash.