Amy Lu's View

“For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name,
There is love, oh there’s love”

— “The Wedding Song” by Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul and Mary)

That’s a line from one of my favorite feel good 70’s songs. I love it so much that we had the song as an instrumental during our wedding (and I sang the lyrics in my head).

Today, my church gathered virtually (via Zoom) instead of in-person in response to COVID-19 concerns. There were more than 30 of us, truly young and old, and there was love — and silliness, and community, and technical difficulties.

We didn’t gather in Jesus’ name (although he would have been welcome), or in anyone’s name in particular, but in all of our names. I know it’s hard for many people to understand why Chad and I are so into church when we don’t believe in a separate spiritual entity, and I struggle to explain it. But our little experiment with virutual church is one powerful example of why participating in our church is so meaningful for us.

“Community” is woefully inadequate. Yes, it is that, but so much more. Or maybe it’s Extreme Community.

Nothing can replace the connection of an in-person worship gathering, but there are some advantages to virtual church. Most notably, being in my pajamas with my own strong coffee.

Okay, I’m not sure if being in my pajamas was actually a plus or a minus — we had our video turned off, and I think next week we will make an effort to make ourselves and our house camera-presentable, so we can participate more fully.

(We were actually scrambling today to log-in on time because I had another vertigo episode last night so slept in and also had some work issues to attend to this morning while we were trying to get ready for church. And yes, I know no one actually would care if I was in my pajamas w/o any makeup but I have my “Amy standards” to uphold. We are not at the stage of the Apocalypse where I stop “putting on my face.” If we start this crisis at 100 we won’t have anything to escalate to).

AND if we have our camera turned on, people will be able to see StanLee! That’s definitely a win-win. StanLee loved having us home more, and he was definitely intrigued by the sounds of choral music coming from the computer (not something he typically hears in the Chamy household). We’ll make sure to keep our sound muted, though, unless StanLee is specifically asked to share a Joy or Concern.

StanLee B’s Joys and Concerns seem to be the the same thing, and mostly concern birds, squirrels, cats and other dogs. And mom not petting his face.