Worshipping by Faith, Not by Sight

For many of us—depending on where you are—either you have been or you soon will be looking forward to meeting together as congregations for the first time in a long time.

It will be great to see real people, rather than disembodied pixels on a screen, to holler and shout greetings and talk crossways and interject, and even have several conversations happening at once—and not have to patiently wait for a gap in the conversation or address your comments to an entire Zoom-ful of people.

Ah the joy of embodied worship! What a thing! No longer worshipping whilst imagining that our brothers and sisters are similarly gathered worshipping along with us in their living room or kitchens. No longer the minister trying to imagine an unseen congregation (trusting they’ve all tuned in!) and thinking his way round their faces as he preaches to a camera.

No more of not seeing those who worship with us.

Or maybe not. Read More

When we worship at home even if we are a household of one, we are not alone. We are united to the invisible Church, that great crowd of witnesses, past, present. and future, worshipping before the throne of grace. We hear a lot these days about the gathered church, the visible Church, and so little about the invisible Church--the Church that is not confined to one place or time. One might suspect that those who are placing so much emphasis on the gathered church are reacting with panic to the prospect that it might fade away. A BBC video that I watched described how each generation has feared the worse with each new development--novels, radio, TV, the internet, and now online church. The gathered church is not going to disappear as some church leaders fear. As long as the gathered church serves God's purposes, there will be a gathered church. 

Image Credit: Mission Bible Fellowship