The Covid-19 Pandemic forced me to learn quickly about online church. In a very short time, we began videoing worship services and making them available over social media to members of the congregation who were not able to attend church in person. Our retirement occurred during the height of the pandemic, when our congregation was not able to worship in person indoors. Our farewell service was conducted outside in the parking lot of the church. When we moved from South Dakota to Washington, we joined our new congregation in an online service. Our covenant with the congregation was recorded in advance with us in our home and others joining the church in their homes as the lead pastor conducted the ceremony over Zoom. The recording of that ceremony was replayed as part of the online worship the following Sunday. When we returned to work as interim ministers of Faith Formation, that congregation was still not worshiping face-to-face. There were many weeks when a small number of us would be present in the sanctuary while the majority of the congregation was worshipping online. I quickly became skilled at attending meetings and conducting small group sessions over Zoom.

Online worship never caught on for us. While we participated online when we were not able to participate in person, it never seemed to work well for us. Even joining the leadership team so that we could be in the sanctuary for worship seemed like a step in the right direction and we were so grateful when our congregation was able to return to face-to-face worship.

There are, however, some pandemic-induced changes that continue to be part of congregational life. Our church has very few evening meetings at the church any more. The official boards of the church all meet over Zoom these days. A major adult-education program and a couple of book clubs continue in their online format. I continue to serve as Zoom host of meetings that would have been in-person events prior to the pandemic. Susan and I both are members of a poetry-writers group that meets online. I like some of those changes. In the dark of winter it is nice to not have to leave home to participate in groups. Some weeks we can get by with only a single trip to the church, though I continue to make a second trip to volunteer in the church library many weeks.

There are, however, some things that just don’t work online. Except for a few highly edited pre-recorded special performances assisted by significant technical skills, bell choirs cannot perform unless the members of the choir are all in the same place at the same time. The same applies to vocal choirs. And choirs demand rehearsal which also requires in-person gatherings. I enjoy singing in the vocal choir and ringing in the bell choir and I am a person who requires significant rehearsal before I am ready for public performance.

The pandemic, however, has left its mark on our choirs. None of the choirs in our congregation have mid-week rehearsals any more. The regular vocal choir rehearses on Sundays before worship. The bell choir and a second vocal choir rehearse Sundays after worship. It seems that members of the choir, having gotten used to making fewer trips to the church during the pandemic are unwilling to make the extra trip to the church building for mid-week rehearsals.

For me personally it means that I need to be at the church at 8:30 am for vocal choir rehearsal before the 10 am service and I rehearse with the bell choir from 11:30 to 12:30 after worship. For my wife, who does not sing in the choir, nor ring with the bells, that means being at the church for four hours in order to attend a one-hour worship service. We do have the luxury of having two vehicles, but we feel it is wasteful for us to drive both to church and try to avoid it when possible. However, when our bell choir rings in worship, we also ring in the worship service of another congregation that meets at 2:00 pm. That means I have to be in the building for 6 1/2 hours and we do drive separate vehicles on those days. We save one trip those weeks because i do my volunteer work in the church library between the two services.

I am adjusting to the changes. Frankly, long days at church on Sundays have been so much a part of my life for so many years that I don’t mind going early and staying late on Sunday mornings. But there are no other members of our congregation who sing in the vocal choir and ring with the handbells. I think that if rehearsals were at a different time, there might be a few others who would do both. Four hours on Sunday mornings seems like a stretch for most members.

Before the pandemic and before my retirement I used to bemoan all of the meetings adjacent to worship. I needed quiet time for prayer before worship to be ready to lead. I wanted to be fully present with my congregation during the coffee hour following worship, not attending to meetings. I am sure that there were times when I was more vocal than I should have been about Christians who say they love the church, but who wouldn’t consider making more than one trip to the church building each week.

It seems that one trip to the building a week has now become the norm. It is pretty much entrenched in the culture of our congregation at this point. I’m learning to live with it, but it is not what I would prefer. I’m sure it is frustrating for our music director and our bell choir director to have to cram so much into such a short amount of time. This morning our vocal choir will sing during worship music that we won’t have seen until just before worship. We aren’t much more than a pick-up choir at this point. That has a direct impact on which music our director can choose. And as members of the choir, we don’t get to sing some of the more challenging anthems that require additional rehearsal.

Change is inevitable. I am resolved not to spend my aging years complaining about change. But I confess that it is a struggle for me.