to everything there is a season... even death

A few weeks back a local colleague posted a reflection wherein it was stated: the

Covid-19 crisis has pushed culture ahead by at least 20 years - and many of our churches are not equipped to catch up. That's a streamlined version of the post but accurate concerning the core assertion: many of our local churches have been drifting in days gone by and are now so obsolete as to be unable to adapt to our new reality. This rings true to me organizationally - and to my experience, too.

I know from decades in the ecclesiastical trenches that there is precious little value left in many of our local churches as they currently exist. Please do not misunderstand: wherever one-on-one compassion happens in this bottom line culture, that is truly holy ground. Same is true for experiential worship that feeds body, soul, mind and heart. What eventually wore me out - and will bury most congregations in this brave new world - are the stagnant imaginations and small hearts that have turned ministry into just another business. I read today in the NY Times a sobering article by David Leonhardt: In 2022 - What Will Life Look Like? It is worth the effort for all its clarity about our experience on the other side of the covid virus (check it out here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/

opinion/sunday/coronavirus-economy-two-years.html)

“It’s only when the tide goes out,” Warren Buffett likes to say, “that you learn who’s been swimming naked.” His point is that companies with flawed business models can look healthy in good times. Out of habit, many customers continue to buy from them. But when the economy weakens, people have to make decisions about where to pull back. They often start with products and services that they find the least valuable or that they can replace with a cheaper alternative. A downturn, says Emily Oster, a Brown University economist, “is an opportunity to revisit inefficiencies.” And the coronavirus is likely to cause a larger version of this phenomenon than a typical recession.

Local newspapers will be one casualty. They were already struggling, because Google, Facebook and Craigslist had taken away their main source of revenue: print advertising. Between 2008 and 2019, American newspapers eliminated about half of all newsroom jobs.Traditional department stores are another example. In recent years, they have lost significant business to online retailers and quietly lost even more to big-box stores. Many Americans have decided they prefer either specialty stores (like Home Depot) or discount stores (like Costco) over the one-stop-shopping experience that Sears, Macy’s and J.C. Penney have long offered...

Traditional department stores are another example. In recent years, they have lost significant business to online retailers and quietly lost even more to big-box stores. Many Americans have decided they prefer either specialty stores (like Home Depot) or discount stores (like Costco) over the one-stop-shopping experience that Sears, Macy’s and J.C. Penney have long offered. Now the virus has interrupted in-person shopping and caused many consumers to shift even more business online, to Amazon, Target and Walmart. “The retailers doing fair to poorly are absolutely not coming out of this,” said Mark Cohen, a former executive at Sears and Federated Department Stores who teaches at Columbia Business School. “Many, many of them are going to fail, have already failed or will fail when they reopen.” If they do, they will create spillover victims — the hundreds of malls that rely on department stores for rent and foot traffic. The roughly 250 fancier malls around the country, like The Westchester in suburban New York and The Galleria in Houston, are likely to survive, Mr. Cohen predicted. Some will convert old stores into spaces for experiences, like dining, bowling, medical care or a golf driving range. But many of the country’s remaining 1,100 or so traditional malls are at risk of failing. Even before the virus, Amazon turned two former malls near Cleveland into warehouses, a physical manifestation of changing shopping habits. A third at-risk industry — higher education — is a bit different from the others, because it’s so heavily subsidized by the government. Yet dozens of colleges, both private and public, are facing real trouble.

It was not the purview of Leonhardt to consider faith communities but they, too will be whittled away and transformed by the leveling of this virus. There was a time in my life when I would have been sad about this, but not any more. I will grieve for the faithful old-timers who have been unable to become the body of Christ for the 21st century. I HATE that congregational singing will be banned for the next few years for public health reasons. And I physically hurt at times as we are still unable to sit with our extended family and partake of Eucharist. Or the passing of the peace. Or the sacred music that has held God's people together for centuries. I wonder how my Jewish colleagues will figure out how to address their High Holy Days in the fall? So many questions...

... but that doesn't change the fact that most of the church closures are already

too late in coming. That truth kept gnawing at me over the past few weeks as I was working on my homily for our L'Arche Ottawa community retreat this week (via Zoom) as well as my live-streaming reflection for this Sunday on Be Still and Know (facebook - Sundays ! 9:55 am - https://www.facebook.com/Be-Still-and-Know-913217865701531/). These two places, both virtual at the present, have become my community of practice, my prayer center, and my focus in listening for God's ever still speaking albeit still, small voice. I suspect that is true for millions of other North Americans. We may miss being physically present in community, yet we've also made an important transition. To be sure, whenever it is both physically possible and medically safe, I plan to hold some type of feast/Eucharist on our deck for all who are able to be present. But most weeks, I rather like the quiet informality of gathering online. I am curious to know what you are thinking? And feeling? And praying? So shoot me a note if you are able, ok? You will be in my prayers for sure.