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| "The pandemic is not over, Vicar!" |
I am suspicious that the Covid crisis - where mortality figures went down in 2020 compared to 2019 - was a long vacation for many clergy.
Bethany Lutheran Church was already geared for worship on fiber optic cable, blogging, emails, print and Internet (pdf) books. Parish ministers, forgetting the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights, allowed their congregational worship to be shut down in their building. Some borrowed the video sermons of others, as if the strain to preach the Gospel was too much. No high risk visiting! - But they hardly ever visited anyone in the first place.
Do some now long for a "spare room in a rented house?" It is handy for us - compact and dedicated for one purpose - the Means of Grace.
The pastor's office is a great way to communicate with the congregation and the world. I send each worship service out before the service begins - and I better not forget! Every sermon is written out (Walther's suggestion) but given without the script (Walther again). Therefore, people can read ahead or read afterwards. Writing condenses more thoughts on paper while speaking is far more personal.
Since each service is saved on video, many view the worship afterwards. They have all the hymn lyrics and tunes posted in the blog version. I am trying to merge the two afterward the service is over, and we are going to do more with video from now on.
We were already the blizzard and flu church, the default when people could not go to their own churches. We encourage people to worship locally when possible, and some worship at their own churches on the Net, then ours.
Our extra costs are almost nothing since Mrs. Ichabod and I needed a house, Internet, and a garden. Gifts have allowed us to send free books all over the US and to give them away as pdfs.
However, when I look around, I see very little use of the same capabilities in the synods. They could be doing a lot of broadcasting and printing for almost no cost. That is why the denominations will continue to slide.
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| They want me to work? Or - He wants me to? |
