Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era –Part XXI
“Let us lay aside every weight… and run the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12.1)
One of the hardest lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic is how to “disconnect” from what use to be “normal” and reconnect to the “new normal”. Unless you’re Amish, you have to give up your horse and buggy when you get a car. We need to disconnect from old mindsets to embrace the new when change is evident. We are in that period. Let’s examine some disconnects before we establish some connects.
Disconnect:
Church: Quit singing, “Give Me That Old Time Religion. It’s Good Enough For Me.” No it is not! We no longer speak in King James English. Roman Catholics no longer do mass in Latin. People no longer “go to church” four or five times a week. Stay-At-Home Orders exemplified that the Church is not a building; believers in Jesus are! Many Protestant churches still follow Wesley’s & Luther’s “order of worship,” and yes, the writers of most church hymns died over a century and a half ago.
School: We think “school” is a designated building (Elementary, High School, or College Campus), but education is becoming virtual. Libraries are obsolete; textbooks are archaic. The nine month school calendar built around farming is also obsolete. College social life of partying and drinking are gone if virtual education reigns.
Social Life: Teens “Hang Out”; 20-somethings bar hop. People love sporting events with thousands of fans and outdoor concerts. Letters and snail mail are history. Cyber bullying has become a 21st century problem.
Economics: The tooth fairy still uses coins, not plastic. ATM machines are replacing bank tellers. Paying interest on a “savings account” is minimal; paying high interest on credit cards is acceptable! Malls are dead; strip-malls may follow. Retail stores are going “online.” The service, vacation, and entertainment industry has no idea what hit them. Everyone wants “safe” shopping.
Jobs: Both parents must work to maintain the American Dream. Wages have stagnated, while CEO’s and Wall Street Tycoons get rich. American Unions have been marginalized. Minimum wage and most entry level jobs are below the poverty level.
Connect:
Church: Contemporary worship teams with drums, electric guitars, and amps have replaced four part a capella singing and the pipe organ. You can now go online to get music, offertory, and a professionally delivered sermons; you don’t need to go to a “church” building. The Internet has expanded our world globally supplanting our “little world” local church mentality. Institutional names and labels are falling. Acceptance is being more tolerable. The need for relationship supersedes the need for religious affiliation.
School: You can “Goggle” or use Wikipedia or search engines instead of using your local library because education is becoming virtual. Merging person-to-person and virtual education is a reality. College social life has to come through social networking. College education may be more “exploratory” and “self-discovering” with more internships than lecturing.
Social Life: Stay-At-Home orders forced families to focus on one another again. FaceTime and Zoom have allowed families who lived miles or States away to experience real-time communications. Instagram is a snapshot of one’s day. Texting has replaced talking. On line dating has become popular.
Economics: Virtual banking and ATM’s are eliminating bank tellers. Plastic has replaced copper, nickel, and paper. Amazon.com has refurbished the cardboard industry. Santa Clause does a large part of his business “on line” and deliveries through UPS, Fed-Ex, & USPS; not by home delivers on a sled!
Jobs: Manufacturing jobs died; replaced by robots and Artificial Intelligence. Truck drivers may soon disappear, as self-driving trucks become the norm. 40% of the jobs that exist in 2020 did not exist 25 years ago before the Computer Age. Commerce will be global.
