Snippet: Moments that Form and Shape Who We Are
Snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.
A friend recently sent me a NTTimes column by Tish Harrison Warren on why churches should stop streaming services. I don’t agree with that part of the article (although I resonate with her intent). But what she says about the importance of in-person, embodied worship is so thought-provoking on many fronts:
“‘Christians need to hear the babies crying in church. They need to see the reddened eyes of a friend across the aisle,’ Collin Hansen wrote in his Times essay about online church. ‘They need to chat with the recovering drug addict who shows up early but still sits in the back row. They need to taste the bread and wine. They need to feel the choir crescendo toward the assurance of hope in what our senses can’t yet perceive.’ These are not mere accessories to a certain kind of worship experience. These moments form and shape who we are and what we believe.”
That suggests a theory about why some haven’t yet returned to in-person: they weren’t experiencing those kinds of interactions when they came to in-person. Their in-person experience wasn’t that different than their online experience (or their experience of missing worship altogether).
As a pastor, I get to interact with people on the weekend at a level most miss out on. I get that.
But I know many non-pastors in our church who experience what Warren describes almost every week because they are either bringing the hurting person, or they’re on the lookout for someone they don’t recognize and are willing to start a conversation (much easier for “outgoing” people), or they’re involved in ministries that facilitate real conversations with people in diverse circumstances (which, by the way, is a great way for “shy” people to have some of those kinds of interactions, too).
But I can’t help but wonder if how we do church these days makes it harder than it should be, and whether we need to change in drastic ways.
Not a new thought, but one that I’m thankful people like Warren and Hansen are keeping at the forefront of my mind.