No room for laughter

Michelle Heyne and I have an ongoing conversation on the fate of liberal democracy in the United States. She might disagree, but I experience her as getting more agitated about the threat than I am. I have to admit it’s partly the perspective of age. I would like to think it was also my wisdom, but in the end she may be right. 

A couple of nights ago we participated in a Zoom meeting of the Seattle Police Department’s African-American Community Advisory Council. We’ve been to several of their meetings in the last couple of years. I always learn a lot. First from the reports of the county sheriff and the police captains of various districts in Seattle. Second, as I note the climate and process of the meeting. The law enforcement professionals do their best to serve and Victoria Beach, the president of the Council, conducts the meeting so all can be heard and respected. I always come away in hope.

Still, on refection, I’m worried. A Black pastor wanted to know what he and his congregation should have done when a mentally ill man was wandering in the street, the police weren’t responding, and a patrol car officer who just happened by said “there’s really nothing we can do.” The Zoom room was silent. Finally, an officer took a shot at responding to the pastor. He didn’t say it the most direct way because the truth is simply too hard to say or hear these days—but the message was there, “there aren’t enough cops and many of our officers are afraid of what happens if they make a mistake.” There was some talk of social service resources being available. Sort of.

It was just a small corner of the world but the threat to liberal democracy was there.

The “broader perspective” stuff

When Michelle and I have those talks, I often throw in the towel. Not really acknowledging how reasonable her anxiety is but moving to a broader perspective. It’s a wonder she hasn’t exploded into pieces when I start in on the “broader perspective” stuff. My enlarged take on things is to mention how the church has survived and done its work under all sorts of political systems. True of course. I tend to not dwell on how hard that is for the church when the far-right or far-left control the political system. The saints go to the camps and underground. The church gets led by the weakest and most corrupt; in Germany it was the “German Christians” (Deutsche Christen), in China it’s the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and  National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China. And if you don’t think it can happen in America, you’re not paying attention. And yet, it’s true that God keeps the church going even under the worse conditions.

But…all in all, I’d rather not go that way.

It’s a bit of selfishness and fatalism when I have the thought, “I’ll be dead by then.”

We are not as virtuous as we think we are - David Brooks

This morning I’ve been reading conservative writers of the “I didn’t vote for him variety.” I’ll be getting to PJ O’Rourke next but his logic about voting in 2016 probably strikes a chord with all those I read today.

"I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises,…It's the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but she's way behind in second place. She's wrong about absolutely everything, but she's wrong within normal parameters."

Of course, old lefty that I am, I voted for her with more hope. But I see his point.  Back to David. 

Brooks offers a useful overview of the underpinning logic of our form of government. He goes on to note where we have weakened

“Many of America’s founders were fervent believers in liberal democracy — up to a point. They had a profound respect for individual virtue, but also individual frailty. Samuel Adams said, “Ambitions and lust for power … are predominant passions in the breasts of most men.” Patrick Henry admitted to feelings of dread when he contemplated the “depravity of human nature.” One delegate to the constitutional convention said that the people “lack information and are constantly liable to be misled….So our founders built a system that respected popular opinion and majority rule while trying to build guardrails to check popular passion and prejudice. …. The founders divided power among the branches. They built in a whole series of republican checks, so that demagogues and populist crazes would not sweep over the land.”[i] 

He goes on to the underpinnings of practices and institutions that make liberal democracy work: churches and virtue, leaders educated regarding human virtue and vice, civic groups to engage public service, patriotic ritual to instill a love of country, media to inform and so on. He compares it to farming. “Planting the seeds is like establishing a democracy. But for democracy to function you have to till and fertilize the soil, erect fences, pull up weeds, prune the early growth. The founders knew that democracy is not natural. It takes a lot of cultivation to make democracy work.” He continues, “over the past decades, the institutions that earlier generations thought were essential to molding a democratic citizenry have withered or malfunctioned. Many churches and media outlets have gone partisan. Civics education has receded. Neighborhood organizations have shrunk. Patriotic rituals are out of fashion.” He ends with a prescription, “we need to fortify the institutions that are supposed to teach the democratic skills: how to weigh evidence and commit to truth; how to correct for your own partisan blinders and learn to doubt your own opinions; how to respect people you disagree with; how to avoid catastrophism, conspiracy and apocalyptic thinking; how to avoid supporting demagogues; how to craft complex compromises.”

It's classic David Brooks. Thoughtful, grounded, and a bit depressed. A place where I always end up stuck is where I think he is stuck. Maybe. He frequently states how much he values religious practice especially because of how it undergirds liberal democracy. But as far as I can tell he doesn’t practice.[ii] At least not fully. In a critical mass model like Shape of the Parish he’d be somewhere in the C&E or Vicarious ring. My interest isn’t in judging Brooks but in noting that whatever is going on with him in regard to religious practice may be the same thing that is going on for many people. The difference may be that he sees the problem; or at least I think he does.

In any case, he makes the case that the Christian and Jewish traditions have an understanding of human nature that underlies liberal democracy and that religious groups play a significant role in nurturing healthy democratic life.

“Aren’t we all ridiculous? - PJ O’Rourke

From Christopher Buckley on PJ O’Rourke, “Of all human failings, he found humorlessness the funniest. Back then, the political left was so earnest about saving the world that there was no room for laughter, which denoted a lack of earnestness. Self-deprecating humor, P.J.’s trademark, wasn’t allowed because it could undermine the mission. Saving the world was no laughing matter. One titter and the whole edifice could come crashing down.”[iii]

And from Matt Labash, “He didn’t just laugh at people, he laughed with them. Even when playing the put-down artist, he smiled it, instead of snarled it. This is what he taught me, even if he didn’t try to. He invited people along for the ride. As if he was saying, “Aren’t we all ridiculous?  Let’s not take ourselves too seriously.” And so even if you were the one getting filleted, you didn’t mind so much in P.J.’s skillful hands.  But being trenchant without being angry put him grossly out of step with what’s happening now, when even the funny people have grown deadly serious, as everyone chooses up culture-war sides.”[iv]

Labash quotes from O’Rourke’s 1991’s Parliament of Whores: “We had a choice between Democrats who couldn’t learn from the past and Republicans who couldn’t stop living in it, between Democrats who wanted to tax us to death and Republicans who preferred to have us die in a foreign war. The Democrats planned to fiddle while Rome burned. The Republicans were going to burn Rome, then fiddle.”

In an interview “O'Rourke revealed that his ‘wife is a Catholic, the kids are Catholic,’ and described himself as, therefore, a Catholic fellow-traveller.’ ”[v] So, another soul on the journey who like Brooks seems to hang out in the outer-rings.

I keep thinking about Ed Friedman talking about the need for humor, a lightness of spirit if religious leaders were to function effectively.

Prayer is the alternative to illusion

My mind today was on the work of three vicarious religious people. I think of Victoria, conducting that meeting with patience and compassion, as being of a Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Baptist tradition. David with all his seriousness and insight as a practitioner of Jewish and Christian (with Episcopal influences) communities. And PJ as a Catholic fellow-traveller. What they all share, at least in my mind, is a stance about human nature. I’d put it as a belief in people as being in the divine image and capable of great things and also as being caught in sin and human limitation.

None of them seem to have much tolerance for illusion. So, much of our lives seem driven by the illusion of the fanatics, right and left.  I’d describe the illusion this way: “Things will be perfect after we cleanse things a bit.” I remember thinking that the Cuban revolution was a good thing when it threw out a nasty and corrupt dictatorship. Then they started lining people up against walls.

Prayer is the alternative to illusion. So says Henri Nouwen. Me too. Maybe it’s a bit of Paul Tillich in my head when I think that the alternative to illusion is Ultimate Reality. Which in my catholic soul means prayer, meditation, contemplation, wonder, awe, and adoration.

In Reaching Out,[vi] Nouwen writes, “How do we know that we are not deluding ourselves, that we are not selecting those words that best fit our passions, that we are not just listening to the voice of our own imagination?...Who can determine if [our] feelings and insights are leading [us] in the right direction? …Our God is greater than our own heart and mind, and too easily we are tempted to make our heart’s desires and our mind’s speculations into the will of God.” He goes on to suggest the need for spiritual guidance from others as a way of addressing that tendency toward self-serving illusion. In our tradition the threefold rule of prayer offers another source of needed grounding and balance.

Three thoughts in summary. First, I believe it is true that if we lose this liberal democracy tradition and the autocrats of right and left hold sway, the Holy Catholic Church will go on by God’s grace and serve in witness against all that would deny the image of God in people. Second, liberal democracy, in all its messiness, may be the best we can do in political life to account for the best and worse in human nature. The alternatives are all much more malevolent and fouler. So, it’s worth fighting for. Third, two quotes. “I think most of the time God is laughing with us," Desmond Tutu. And, “Delicate humor is the crowning virtue of the saints,” Evelyn Underhill.

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[i] The Dark Century, David Brooks, NYT

[ii] David Brooks, “I really do feel more Jewish than ever before,” he said in a recent interview. “It felt like more deepening of faith, instead of switching from one thing to another.” He has no plans to leave Judaism, he writes, calling himself “a wandering Jew and a very confused Christian.” His wife said “my husband ‘sits at the crossroads of Christianity and Judaism’ but he says the Nicene Creed, a profession of faith, and he takes communion. ‘I couldn’t have married him if I hadn’t sensed that he had crossed a certain place of surrender to acknowledging who Christ said he was,’ she said.

Despite identifying also as a Jew, Brooks ‘would call himself a Christian,’ she said. ‘But he’s subtle about where he does use that name.’ “He is not a member of a synagogue and observes Jewish holidays in a “less than rigorous way,” saying he practices faith mostly through reading and book discussions.” Is David Brooks a Christian or a Jew? By Sarah Pulliam Bailey, WP

[iii] P.J. O’Rourke and the Death of Conservative Humor, Christopher Buckley, NYT

“He was a fellow of infinite jest. I can scarcely recall, over the 40 years we were friends, P.J. saying anything that wasn’t funny. Of all human failings, he found humorlessness the funniest. Back then, the political left was so earnest about saving the world that there was no room for laughter, which denoted a lack of earnestness. Self-deprecating humor, P.J.’s trademark, wasn’t allowed because it could undermine the mission. Saving the world was no laughing matter. One titter and the whole edifice could come crashing down. Humorlessness has crept in its petty pace to the right, where it is conducted with North Korean-level solemnity by the bellowing myrmidons of MAGAdom. A sense of humor, much less self-awareness, are not traits found in cults of personality. If Tucker Carlson has said anything advertently funny, witty or self-knowing from his bully pulpit, I missed it. Maybe you had to be there.”

[iv] P. J. O'Rourke, 1947-2022: Brilliant writer, beautiful soul by Matt Labash

[v] Shackle, Shamira (January 9, 2012). "The NS Interview – P J O'Rourke". New Statesman. Archived from the original on January 15, 2012.

[vi] For an overview of Nouwen’s three movements of the spiritual life see this PDF

Parish options

Over the years I’ve worked with dozens of parishes as they made decisions to move in a different direction. Decisions to grow, to close, to merge.

Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.  ― C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

In every case there were hard decisions. Decisions full of pain, uncertainty, fear. But finally, in acts of humility and courage, parish leaders made the decisions that were necessary for the future.

Stories

A few examples of parishes moving from decline to a stable and healthy life. And one story of a garceful closing.

A historically Black urban parish in an area that was becoming gentrified and white. The members were older. Few lived in the neighborhood anymore. They were doing okay at the moment, but they could see that not too many years down the road they would have trouble surviving. At first, they did some of the things you do to attract new members. Their efforts were not working. We met. I asked them to each share what it was like to be at St. John’s now. They went around the table sharing memories and frustrations. There were tears. They used the Parish Options model to consider their choices. Eventually they decided that merger was something to explore. They contacted several parishes and informally discussed the possibility. That narrowed down to one. They entered into discussions with the other parish and after about a year merged.

A parish in an area that city planners had targeted for development. They had been sharing their space with the congregation of another denomination, so some kind of cooperative relationship was on the table. But that option was driven partly by inertia and partly by their liberal impulse to be ecumenical. The series of conversations surfaced feelings of discomfort. They didn’t like the compromises that had been making to live with the other congregation. So, they looked at being on their own. There was an exploration of, and some training, in growth strategies. That had some positive results but not enough. Finally, they worked out a deal with property developers. New buildings were constructed on the site that included condominiums and a new church building.

A suburban parish that was never able to develop much traction around membership growth. They had a meeting with a parish development consultant and one of the bishops. The consultant laid out a way in which they could explore their options and receive some help in attracting new members. It was a lively session. Members were engaged. The spirit was hopeful. The consultant and bishop asked them to spend a few weeks praying and thinking on it and to get back to them with their decision to proceed or not. They decided that they simply did not have the energy for the work that would be involved. They decided to close.

A parish in an area of the city that had been largely working class. The members were older. A small group of white people in a neighborhood that was becoming increasingly Hispanic. The diocesan bishop imposed a new arrangement. The existing congregation would now gather for an 8 AM Sunday Eucharist and a new Hispanic congregation would be formed. They would meet for the Eucharist at 10:30. The parish would have a new vicar who came from Central America. This was a parallel development strategy of caring for an existing congregation that was in decline and nurturing a new congregation that seem to have more potential in the situation.

A parish that had been experiencing a slow decline in attendance and membership over a 15 year period. Some members were convinced that they would not be able to survive. They began to informally explore the possibility of merger with another parish and even began to think about whether closing was going to be the responsible action in the future. A new rector was selected who had training in parish development and a charismatic and extroverted personality. The new rector used a strategy that focused on the three purposes of a parish church, was an appreciative process, and made use of marketing skills. Within a few years the parish almost tripled in average attendance.

Not safe or easy

I want to discourage you from choosing anything or making any decision simply because it is safe. Things of value seldom are. -- Toni Morrison

It was as though they were jumping off a cliff with no safety net. Leaders in these parishes had no certainty that the path they took would be fruitful.

Was this a mistake?

He felt that he was still groping in the dark; he had chosen his path but kept looking back, wondering whether he had misread the signs, whether he should not have taken the other way. ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It was natural enough to wonder, to second-guess themselves. They had all prayed, given themselves to hope and also to facts and data. Still, they wondered. The decision had to be made again and again. Persistence. Wisdom.

Parish Options Model

Maybe parish life has become static and is drifting toward trouble. Attendance is down 30% over the past decade. But giving is up. An example. We spend time and money upgrading the bathrooms. But we can’t seem to have the discussion about where we will be another ten years down the road. Or maybe it’s totally clear. We are in decline. Our energy is flat. We have no idea what to do and we fear asking for help.

In all the stories above, leaders engaged in a process of identifying the possible pathways to turn around. They didn’t want the future they saw ahead of them. In humility and courage, they looked at their choices and set out in a new direction. At some level they knew that hope was not a plan and despair was not a solution.[i]

Some consciously used the Parish Options Model. Here’s a PDF of Parish Options

The model assumes that there are seven broad options available for these parishes. Of course, there are variations on each. 

 

They engage a process of discussion, prayer, and prioritization to narrow the list down. No parish has the energy to investigate all the options. Usually, it’s obvious that some options make no sense in a particular case. Often, they will be attracted to an option that might allow them to experience minimal disruption to the way they were currently living and doing ministry. Grow in membership seems to be a favorite. And at times that is a sound decision ether on its own or in combination with one of the other options. And at other times it’s a fantasy solution, wishful thinking. There was one parish where everyone was in their 70s and 80s. They actually did some of the things you do to try to attract new members. But after a year of that they accepted that they simply didn’t have the energy to stay with that option.

Once a parish begins to focus its attention on an option the work really begins. They’ll need to work with a credible developer if they want to work out a way to sell some of their property and use the proceeds to build an endowment large enough to maintain the church building. If they want to consider merger, they’ll need to enterer into conversations with other churches to see if anyone is interested. If they want to work on membership growth, they’ll need to look into the standard options for doing that. See Six Strategies for Growth and Evangelization.

 

Always light

There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it. — Amanda Gorman, inauguration poem, The Hill We Climb

Parishes can turn things around. They can find the stuff within themselves, nudged and added by that “energy not its own”[ii], to shape a new life. Character matters here. Such work requires humility, perseverance and patience.

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[i] Thanks to Jonathan V. Last for the phrase. The Bulwark, February 5, 2022

[ii] A Charles Williams phrase for the Holy Spirit

Some Key Factors

Periodically people at the national level of the Episcopal Church go through an exercise of trying to decide what to measure. What should be reported on the parochial reports each year? Every parish is supposed to maintain a register in which the priest records services – how many celebrations of the Eucharist, the attendance at each, marriages, baptisms, and burials. You get the idea.

Long ago and far away, I was the vicar of an inner city parish on the East Coast. I had only been ordained for 4 years. Not much parish experience. I did a year as part of a team in one church. It was a Sundays only position. My daily work was split between being a staff associate at one of the church’s industrial missions, as the director of planning and strategy for the council of churches, and doing a lot of parish development consulting for the diocese.

I knew enough about parish administration to look for the register when I arrived in the parish. I was also curious. It was frustrating and illuminating. The former vicar had stopped recording attendance several years earlier. I figured out he had done that because he found the decline in attendance depressing. Leaders sometimes change measurements because things aren’t going well.

I was trained in the field of organization development. So, I knew that what you measure is what you see as important. Changing what you measure can contribute to a change in an organization’s culture. When a non-profit executive director decides that in addition to measuring how many clients are served, adds a new measure of how satisfied the clients are with the service received—that may stimulate change. Or, if she adds a measure of how employees see the quality of their work life – that may introduce a new value into the organization’s life.

It’s a side note to the purposes of this article, but I’ll say it anyway—as the decline in Sunday attendance has continued, pressure has built in some circles to discount measuring average Sunday Attendance (ASA). Just saying. Yes, I know, there is also a desire to measure other significant factors (see the paragraph above). But maybe, just maybe, it’s also an attempt to deny reality.

The vicar before me had stopped measuring attendance. It wasn’t just that he was depressed. He didn’t know what to do about it. He didn’t have any competence in parish development.

Parish development 

If the parish is stable and healthy—how to maintain that? If the parish is drifting and static—how to address that? If the parish is in decline—how to turn that around?

It always begins with getting people to talk. “How are we doing here at St. James?” And for such a conversation to be fruitful people need to believe that it is okay to say what they think. So it helps to know something about psychological safety and trust development.

Often the starting place is to acknowledge the truth. To look at the facts. When your average attendance has been dropping year after year—you begin by saying, “Our average attendance has been dropping for the past 10 years? Simple, right? Except that sometimes people get upset and angry about an invitation to look at uncomfortable information and inconvenient facts.

But if leaders can stay with their adult minds--you look at the numbers. Same thing if the attendance has been growing or stable.  Do the same with any measure that you see as significant.  

Some key factors

One tool Michelle Heyne and I have used is Some Key Factors. You can find a PDF of it – HERE. The assessment worksheet gets used by a vestry or a group of parishioners to begin a conversation. It might also be a way for a bishop to understand the parishes of the diocese. 

It asks people to rate four broad factors: overall satisfaction, the three purposes of a parish church, vibrancy, and alignment. Here’s the worksheet.

  

Understanding the key factors

I’ll offer a few thoughts about each. But it’s important to note that most people have an adequate grasp of the factors when they read the worksheet. When we work with a group we usually offer a brief introduction, have people fill out the worksheet, and record their assessment on a sheet of newsprint in the front of the room. It’s enough to get the conversation started. A deeper understanding of the factors usually develops as people talk.

In those conversations there is sometimes an opportunity to deepen the group’s understanding of the factors. But we always start with first thoughts.

A.    Overall satisfaction – After a group’s ratings have been posted one of our first questions is, “Would you share why you gave the rating you did?” Even when all the ratings are at the higher end—it’s fascinating to hear the different things that add to people’s sense of satisfaction with the parish. They usually don’t know why others see things as they see them. People have a reason behind the rating. So, leaders need to ask and be respectful and non-defensive.

B.    The three purposes of a parish church – worship, formation, sanctifying presence. The responses to the worship of God, and 1a the Sunday experience, can create a pathway for members to consider a more rooted prayer life as individuals and a parish. In my experience if the ratings for the Sunday experience are low there may be serious problems present. For most members the “Sunday experience” is the parish. It may be useful background to understand the Prayer Book Pattern (threefold rule of prayer). Some may question aspects of the formation category. A fourth being competent in spiritual practice may strike some as being too demanding while others question, “why not 100%?” Sanctifying presence is something parishes engage in a wide variety of ways: just the presence of the church building, bells that ring from the tower, the use of meetings rooms by community groups, the priest going to the site of a fire or other tragedy, inviting people to come together to discuss a neighborhood issue, programs the feed the hungry, and so on.

C.     Vibrant – This is the extent to which the parish’s life is vibrant. Does it generate a "buzz", an atmosphere of excitement and investment? Does that energy that excites the congregation spill over to the wider community. Others can sense the attractive energy of the parish in the life of members who are friends and family.

D.    Alignment - The elements of parish life are mostly in alignment: income-expenses, the energy, and funds to carry out the vision we have; liturgical space or number of services to match the number of attendees, and so on. The issue isn’t how does our pledging or attendance or endowment compare with other parishes?  The alignment question is more like this, is our yearly income adequate to support the life and program we want?

Other possibilities

You may find yourself wanting to have a different list of key factors. Go ahead and write it out. It might be useful to test it with others. Or you may see the need for a conversation about the state of the parish but want a different starting place. There are a number of resources and assessment forms on the Shaping the Parish Resources page.

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Faith in the metaverse

I’m shocked that I’m offering a third story related to “digital church.” Still, the AP report does seem to connect to yesterday’s Tish Harrison Warren piece in the New York Times: Why Churches Should Drop Online Services. Embodied Worship is the related blog posting. (Be sure to read the comments at the end of the post.)

Today’s Seattle Times picked up an AP report: Faith in the metaverse: A VR quest for community, fellowship    It was as though the gods had decided to offer an illustration of Warren’s fears.  

The piece is on how “some traditionally religious, some religiously unaffiliated — who are increasingly communing spiritually through virtual reality, one of the many evolving spaces in the metaverse that have grown in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.” Those following this path claim that “the experience offers a version of fellowship that’s just as genuine as in-person worship. Here are a few quotes from the article.

• "But in the church of 2030, the main focus is going to be your metaverse campus.”
•  "the potential to build community and “get away from the brick and mortar”
• “We have deep relationships, hundreds of people from around the world who know each other and wonder, ‘Is your dog, OK? How’s your wife?’” than in a physical church.

And as for sacraments, those “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace. There was this in the AP piece.

Soto baptized her in a metaverse ceremony in 2018, submerging her purple robot avatar in a pool as relatives and friends cheered her on virtually. While even many VR proponents believe such sacraments should be offered only in a physical space, to Delp it felt like a real blessing.

“Jesus is who baptized me. Jesus is who changes me,” she said. “The water, or lack thereof ... doesn’t have the power to change me.”

“Participating in Community” is a chapter in In Your Holy Spirit: Shaping the Parish through Spiritual Practice. The chapter begins with a series of quotes from the Scriptures: “love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans. 12:10); “when you come together to eat, wait for one another.” (1 Corinthians 11:33); “be kind to one another, tender- hearted, forgiving one another” (Ephesians 4:32); “Love is patient[ love is kind[ love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way[ it is not irritable or resentful[ it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13: 1 -7) and so on.  What surprised me, okay, annoyed me, was that I had to acknowledge that just about everything being said in these Biblical passages was possible in “digital church.” I expected to open to that page and find a list of passages that wouldn’t be possible unless you were in-person. As I write this I’m defensively saying to myself, “yea, it’s there online but it’s a pale imitation of the real thing.”

I continue in the chapter and find this: “Our personal and spiritual growth is bound up with being in community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way: ‘The new person is like a garment made to cover the individual believer...It is impossible to become a new person as a solitary individual. The new person is not the individual believer after he has been justified and sanctified, but the Christian community, the Body of Christ, Christ himself.’’ and this “Parker Palmer wrote, ‘Community is that place where the person you least want to live with always lives...And when that person moves away, someone else arrives immediately to take his or her place.’ That’s a reminder that there is no perfect community in this life. The parish is built with the stuff of human frailty. The heavenly Jerusalem is something we taste now and know fully in the future.” Hmmm…cuts both ways.

The chapter then offers images of what health looks like. There are sections on “There are odd people,” “There’s a shared way of being and a direction,” “There’s love,” “There are friendships,” “There’s a climate of acceptance and challenge,” There it is again. Things that are possible in “digital church.” And I add, “to some degree.”   There are also items in the list that weigh against “digital church.” Things such as “There’s the Holy Catholic Church” and “There’s tradition.”

“People touch” is a section that stands out because it is so aligned with Tish Warren’s views.  It includes this from Star Trek: First Contact.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: It’s a boyhood fantasy...I must have seen this ship hundreds of times in the Smithsonian but I was never able to touch it.

Lieutenant Commander Data: Sir ,does tactile contact alter your perception?

Captain Jean Luc Picard: Oh Yes! For humans, touch can connect you to an object in a very personal way.

From “Participating in Community” –

“Touch is innately humanizing. Jesus healed with his touch. Thomas believed through touching. Many doctors know about touch. The routine of using the stethoscope and pressing the patient’s belly may be less about diagnostic benefits and more because it’s expected and also because it makes a connection and offers comfort. At coffee hour you’ll see people hugging, patting a back, reaching across a table to grasp a hand.

Physical touch is a common element of liturgy. In the Eucharist we exchange the peace. At our baptism we are anointed and crossed with oil. On Ash Wednesday the cross is made on us with ashes. On Maundy Thursday there is foot washing. When we’ve ill there is the laying on of hands with anointing. All this touching is an expression of our communion with one another and God.”

There were three questions offered in In-person and on-line attenders.

• What’s the data?
• What actions are needed now?
• What do we make of things as we apply models of pastoral theology to the situation? 

That last question is essential to the conversation. Society and therefore the church are usually driven be the first two. It is the third on that is unique and central to the parish’s life.  

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Embodied worship

A few days ago I posted In-person and on-line attenders. It seems to have struck a chord. Lots of people have read it.

Today I’d like us to look at a different take on the situation. Tish Harrison Warren wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times: Why Churches Should Drop Online Services. You’ll only be able to access it if you have a subscription. So, I’ll summarize her case here.

“For all of us -- even those who aren’t churchgoers -- bodies, with all the risk, danger, limits, mortality and vulnerability that they bring, are part of our deepest humanity, not obstacles to be transcended through digitalization. They are humble and humbling gifts to be embraced. Online church, while it was necessary for a season, diminishes worship and us as people. We seek to worship wholly -- with heart, soul mind and strength -- and embodiment is an irreducible part of that wholeness”

It’s important to note that Warren isn’t some far out resister. When the pandemic hit, her church was one of the first in their city to forgo meeting in person and switch to online. She makes the case for dropping online worship in part because the conditions of 2022 are not the same as 2020. We are in much better shape to manage the virus. I know that the parish I attend, and many others are considering whether to return to in person worship soon. Warren want’s people fully vaccinated and for churches to obey the state’s norms.

But Warren is also suggesting dropping the possibility of online worship.

“Whether or not one attends religious services, people need embodied community. We find it in book clubs or having friends over for dinner. But embodiment is a particularly important part of Christian spirituality and theology. We believe God became flesh, lived in a human body and remains mysteriously in a human body. Our worship is centered not on simply thinking about certain ideas, but on eating and drinking bread and wine during communion. Christians need to hear the babies crying in 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.” She makes the case that these things are essential to real worship, the “shape who we are and what we believe.”

She’s making a case that the church needs to press forward with embodied worship because “a chief thing that the church has to offer the world now is to remind us all how to be human creatures, with all the embodiment and physical limits that implies. We need to embrace that countercultural call.”

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