The Post-Covid Agenda. . .

Of the many things we have learned during COVID, one of them must surely be that we thought our people were better catechized into the faith than they were or are.  The mere fact that our people fell for the dubious promise of virtual communion online is testament enough to the fact that we have not done our best for the folks in our care.  I am speaking to pastors now.  Given the pressures of government and media, it might have been too much to presume that the Church had kept her integrity during the months of uncertainty when worship was deemed less essential than a frozen pizza at Wal-Mart.  But the rear view mirror does not show the Church at her best and she failed to provide the best leadership to her people.  At best we got a soft echo of what was being bantered about as real science and at worst we got all sorts of things best left unmentioned and forgotten.  So what shall we do now that things might have half a chance of returning to some sense of normalcy?

Lets start with catechesis.  Though the temptation is therapeutic care for the wounded, the more urgent and essential need is solid catechesis.  Maybe we ought to start with the creed and unpack again what it was and is that we confess every week.  Maybe we ought to continue with the Catechism itself and what it is that we claimed to know when we were taught the faith as a youth or taught the faith as an adult entering the Church's life.  Maybe we ought to check the theology of the hymns we sing and teach our people to understand what our hymns confess and why that matters.  Maybe we ought to review the Divine Service and remind people why we have the liturgy we do and why it matters.  Number one our to do list ought to be making sure our people are well catechized.  If not now, when?

We could continue this by remembering again what the Church is and what the Church is not.  Perhaps this would help us understand why online preaching and the Eucharist cannot replace in person participation in the Word and Table of the Lord.  Could it be that our people have either forgotten why or were never taught why a sacramental Church requires us to be present in person and why we need what only an in person experience can offer.  Frankly, I am sick and tired of those who think that the pandemic taught us how to get beyond in person and to capitalize upon technology.  Technology will be our undoing and the undoing of the people of God if they cannot distinguish why we must be present and what is offered to us when we are present that cannot be supplanted by digital, virtual, or online versions.

It is time to end live streaming anything.  While it might have seemed a good idea when we thought we had no choice, live streaming early on into the pandemic outlived its usefulness.  Live streaming gives the impression that listening in and watching on a screen is like being there.  It is not.  It cannot be.  The whole idea of video needs to be reviewed and some solid discussion on how it can serve the Church and how it cannot.  Certainly, it has value for showing people who we are (when they thought Lutherans were simply Baptists or Evangelicals with a different order of worship).  It may be a way for those who cannot be present to feel a deeper connection to the Church (military deployed apart from any local option to attend or shut-ins whose sacramental participation comes with a pastoral visit but who want to see and hear what is going on in their church).

Zoom was not and is not a replacement for in person meetings.  Even conference calls are difficult.  So lets leave the Zoom for the occasional time when someone cannot be present due to illness, weather and travel issues, etc., and lets meet in person if it is important enough for us to meet at all.  Consider this an extension of the above bullet point.

For a long time we have presumed that the people knew where to park, where the restrooms are, and the like.  Perhaps now is the time to look at our buildings from the vantage point of those who are not intimately familiar with our facilities.  We need to pay attention to where people enter and how they leave and do a more deliberative job of both welcoming them and giving them a clear pathway to where the action takes place.  And, by the way, make sure the building is clean and well kept.  Cleanliness may be next to Godliness when it comes to telling people that they are not only welcome but we have prepared the place for them.

Expect visitors.  Yes, you heard me right.  After a time like the pandemic, there are people who have awakened to the need for assurance more than science can provide and for a hope that does not have an expiration date.  This is your time to shine.  Proclaim the wisdom and mercy of God and let the strangers in your midst know that they are not only welcome but God has been expecting them.  Make sure they know that the Church is not simply an echo of culture, civil religion, and what people think but rooted and planted by God on the soil of His grace and favor.  This will certainly coordinate with the need to catechize the folks already there.  Teach them well.

The post-covid agenda will require us to give up somethings, relearn what we thought we knew, and prepare to welcome our familiar folks and the new faces into God's House again.  But then that is what we need to do all the time, is it not?