2nd Day of Conference, morning prayer and music with Larry.

Further and deeper went our conversation into the 'online church' world. Jamie led us in thinking about why we do what we do: where has online church been and where is it now and what is its future?

Various ideas from the why/where & how corner: during the lockdown it encouraged people to 'join' together all be it, physically distanced, but together we came: Zoom, Microsfot teams (other platforms are also out there!!) the phrase 'You are on Mute!' became part of our everyday conversations! Meetings that once took 2, 3, 4 hrs to arrive at, could now take place in your kitchen, lounge or living space, the commute reduced to minutes!!

The biggest change for most churches came in the guise of the 'live' or 'pre-recorded' services. Morning Prayer, regular Sunday and evening prayers, started popping up across the globe, our weekly attendances went from 5/10 or 20 - 100/200+, reaching from our homes to the homes of others: people we knew, people we didn't know, family and friends, neighbours and stranger.

The digital age, caught us all by storm, books to laptops, laptops to mobile phones! In other areas pen and paper and good old 'phone calls' were the key to keeping in touch, when touching wasn't allowed.

The downside it isn't really sustainable: as we fit back into weekly services, which include the occasional offices (weddings, funerals and baptism's) filming/recording and editing which takes many an hour, is just not 'do-able'!

Some churches are able to allocate dedicated staff to these activities, but for the majority, we see less and less 'online' presence. Meeting once more, person to person, getting back to some semblance of normality.

But the one thing that gets overlooked is time for the Sabbath: a rest day, a time out! When Covid hit, most of the world shut down, people went home and stayed there: others like the medical staff, police, firefighters, ambulance crew, clergy and church workers, farmers, supermarket staff, well they didn't! But we forgot to take the Sabbath: ultimately we rushed headlong through 2 and a bit years but it feels like we've worked ten years.

As we begin to rebuild and focus on today, we are encouraged by Bishop Sid (Lutheran churches Saskatchewan) said in his address at evening Communion. 'Take it one step at a time!'