Like most churches, Joy Lutheran has stopped having public worship services during the Corona crisis.  Pastor Art, however, held a live online service that was accessible through Facebook.  Paulette has a Facebook account, and we were able be a part of the service, but Facebook definitely put a different face on it.  Pastor Art was in his living room, and Silas Daniel was playing the piano, which was along the wall behind the Pastor, more than six feet away.  Taking up the offering presented a challenge, but Pastor Art urged us to continue giving, either through the mail or with payments direct from our bank.  There was no communion offered, although I did have a funny thought about Jesus being able to turn coffee into wine.  Next week he’s going to stream the service from our sanctuary.  I have a few reflections I would like to share.

It was a pleasant and enjoyable experience.  We were in our living room sitting on our recliner loveseat with our feet up.  It was very comfortable, and Paulette even suggested that the Church Council should explore alternative seating for when we can once again worship together.  We had coffee and muffins, which reminded us of the many Moravian Lovefeasts held at our church in North Carolina.  We did have a few technical difficulties, which meant that we were late to church, but that shouldn’t be a problem next week.  We were using Paulette’s mini-iPad, which didn’t have the best of sound, but the sermon came through loud and clear.  And it was a message matched to the day and times.

I have deliberately not used the words “view” or “watch” to describe our Facebook service.  That’s because it was not meant to be something performed by someone else and watched like a TV show.  The desire was for us, as much as possible under the circumstances, to be a worship participant.  There was one part of worship that we missed, and that was the fellowship with other Christians.  Even that was mitigated to some extent by the “likes” that were posted from time to time by other online participants.

These are trying times full of known inconveniences and unknown trials to come.  The online service helped Paulette and I to have faith in the face of the unknown, and I believe that next week’s online sanctuary service will help even more.  I invite you to join in.  It’s a good way to remember that God loves YOU and me unconditionally, no matter what the situation.

Jim