We're leading with what "shelter in place" means for churches during Lent.

While COVID-19 forces churches to cancel worship and even shutter their doors, how are parishioners coping?

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Congregations and online technology - now or never?

We are sharing a moment. It won't be like this forever, and most things will return to normal. However, as weeks go by with no congregational gatherings, this moment feels awful for regular church-goers. Theatre maintains that "the show must go on" despite the worst of personal circumstances. Similarly, church leaders feel they fail their flocks when they must cancel a service - for any reason.

For professional church staff, congregational worship is always a priority above personal desires. We don't celebrate holidays with family; rather, we lead worship on holy-days. We preach and teach to the bare walls on Superbowl Sunday. We often don't give a second thought to conditions that would keep our flocks at home. We put chains on our tires to dismiss the hazards of a snowstorm, because these kinds of obstacles don't compete with our call to serve.

At this moment, however, to gather would be to put the very lives of our parishioners in harm's way. Not to mention, it is against the law to gather in large groups in some cities and states. Worse, in some places, folks are being asked or mandated to "shelter in place." Therefore, even gathering as small groups in homes to worship (like the early church) isn't viable.

Fortunately, we have the technological capability to bring church into the homes of our parishioners - virtually. We have several social media platforms at the ready. We can post videos to YouTube. We can have meetings online. We can live-stream worship from our sanctuaries.

For this moment, let us set aside the justifiable concern that virtual church is in some way inauthentic, and you still have significant populations in our congregations that are averse to communication technologies. There are some folks in my own congregation who do not have email addresses.

My husband offered the passing comment today, "Well, if what's going on now doesn't urge them online, nothing will."

I'm a steadfast critic of online education and virtual worship. There is no replacing real, physical human contact and experiences that engage all the senses in live, congregational settings. Bodies matter. Bodies gathered with a unified purpose are powerful. Fodder for another post, let it suffice for now that virtual experience compromises our humanity.

But for this moment, when we have no face-to-face option, we can take full advantage of online resources that seem tailor-made for our predicament.

Will the pain of being unable to worship together, as we prepare for Easter, urge us to learn the technology available that could help ease that pain? Could we invite our children or grandchildren to teach us how to use our computers and, thereby, forge or nurture relationships across generations?

Online technologies are tools and modes that can serve greater purposes. They are not ends in themselves. I want to challenge our congregations to grow into this moment and to use technology so that we might continue to learn, gather, and worship.