Till we Meet

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”  Never was this truer than right now, when most of us are unable to gather, to assemble, as God’s church.  Being together is our life blood, and the arteries are clogging; the church’s viscosity is less fluid.  And we feel it - I certainly do.  The church is feeling the lack of actual, as distinct from virtual, community and communion. 

Whilst absence does make the heart grow fonder, it does so only up to a point, after which absence makes the heart grow numb, forgetful and sick.  

“Online is the future of the church.”  Absolutely, by way of supplementation, but empathically no if we think in terms of online is it.  It could only be yes if we fail to see and value the biblical injunction to gather, to worship, to hear scripture, to love, hug and pray for each other. 

Studies of children from whom a normal tactile experience is withheld, whether deliberate or otherwise, show clear and profound internal dislocation, mental health deficits and dissociative behaviours – every kind of dis-ease that is borne of lovelessness.  A child not hugged, shown love and affection is a child that doesn’t know themselves. Their soul is like a moonscape: barren, crater marked, without air.  

Love needs to be shown, it must be experienced, viscerally, tangibly.  Love cannot be successfully conveyed and imbibed via technology.  It isn’t as though God is bound but the manner of his creation along with creaturely needs militate against the ultimate efficacy of Zoom.  We are not so constructed.   I need a hug, and so do you. 

Online platforms have been a boon, but they are platforms – good places to start, bad places to stop.

God’s church is constituted by gift/s.  The church maintains and builds itself by what the Holy Spirit distributes to each (functioning) believer.  It has leaders and overseers, but the vital internal life of God’s church is not reliant on them, but as much by what each Christian brings to the table.  And it is ‘table’ that defines God’s church more than singularly occupied pulpits do. 

This simply cannot be effectively done via technology and talking heads – no matter how inspirational and compelling.  For the church to be the church it requires the saints be gathered.  It is in gathering that the Holy Spirit presides, that love and connection are experienced, that community is realised, and that people are changed.  

Till We Meet Again