Do you want to go back to Egypt? What guides the next two years of digital worship?
“COVID freed us to rethink everything.” Rev. Jonathan Heierman, Calvary Lutheran Church, Clarkston, Michigan
We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Numbers 11:5 [NRSV]
Of course you could go back. Do you want to?
Flashback 24 months to congregations that had some form of expanded worship presence whether that was radio, local cable access TV, or streaming. There was a general awareness of the viewers looking in on the service and watching what was happening in the sanctuary. The primary focus however, remained on the people gathered in the sanctuary. What did they see, hear, sing, and do? Worshipers outside the sanctuary were a background presence who received access to observe from a distance the “real” activity of worship in the building.
During the shutdown of in-person worship due to the pandemic, worshiping at a distance took center stage. There was no gathered congregation, but a worshiping community gathered together over distance. Genuine worship not only emerged, it has gotten better. Every worship leader has made adjustments to meet the needs of online worshipers.
Where we stand now: Hybrid worship, that is worship that invites people online and people in the pews to worship together, is at hand. As pandemic restrictions on gatherings wane, congregations are inviting people back into sanctuaries. In fact, congregations are eager to get back together and can see that day on the horizon. Energy is building to shift back to something familiar for worship leaders and worship participants alike.
For congregations that began offering online worship during the pandemic the question is, “will you continue to offer online worship going forward?” Every congregation that we visited has said yes. Online worship is here to stay and it will operate alongside in-person worship.
The tension for the next six months will be around integrating the things that we have learned about online worship with the expectations of people returning to in-person worship. What are the things that you have started doing over the past year of online worship that you would like to continue? What adjustments to in-person worship will you consider to retain the best of what online worshipers value? Those who choose to livestream an in-person worship service will need to address the needs of both groups of worshipers.
All of these decisions will be navigated at a local level. Fortunately, since nearly everyone has had the opportunity to worship online in the past year, there is a broad base of common experience that can help shape the conversations about hybrid worship going forward.
Two examples:
Pre-recorded portions of worship- Many congregations prerecorded some or all of their worship services over the past year. Prayers were an element that some congregations used. Individuals could pre-record prayers that were inserted and played during a live worship service. As people gather in-person once again, the default could be to return to offering the prayers live from the sanctuary. An alternative would be to continue to offer pre-recorded prayers as an acknowledgement of the online worshipers in their homes as present with those in the sanctuary.
Communion- Distribution of communion doesn’t take much time at all when there is no one else in the sanctuary. Trinity Lutheran in Crookston, Minnesota, provided in-person worshipers with prepackaged communion cups to consume in their seats. The invitation to receive the body and blood of Christ was given and all (in-person, and online) consumed together. Christ Lutheran in Charlotte, North Carolina, extended the invitation to communion, but asks those gathered to wait until after the final song and sending dismissal before coming up and communing in a continuous line- that also serves as the distancing mechanism during the pandemic for ushering people out of the sanctuary after the service. Online worshipers see the livestream end as those in-person go forward to receive communion and then proceed to their vehicles. Both of these ways have made sense during the pandemic and are designed for the online worshiper. What choices make sense for ongoing hybrid worship in your congregation?
Another important decision facing congregations in this hybrid time is how to staff and support the online presence for worship. Are camera operators and technicians volunteer or paid positions? Are there enough trained people to prevent a crash when there is an unavoidable absence? Does the content of worship itself value and speak to the experience of online participants? These questions are real and are going to lead to lasting adaptations of worship practices. “COVID freed us to rethink everything,” said Pastor Heierman. If you could go back to a time when the only participants who mattered were in the pews gathered together, would you want to?
Rev. Kristina Weber, Senior Pastor Trinity Lutheran, Jamestown, North Dakota
Rev. Erik Weber, Senior Pastor St. John’s Lutheran, Jamestown, North Dakota
July 2021